Food & Drink in South Africa
South Africa's food is as diverse as its people and you will find Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Moroccan, Korean, Portuguese and many more style of restaurant in all of its cities. Eating out is inexpensive and restaurants plentiful.
Traditional South African dishes are usually based on maize, with added root vegetables, berries and wild greens and are usually quite spicy. More exotic fare include crocodile and warthog steaks and fried caterpillers - definitely an acquired taste!
Dried salted meat, known as biltong, which is a little like beef jerky and is widely eaten by pretty much everyone and at just about any meal. The meat is marinated and then hung out to dry and while most people buy it ready prepared you will also see home-made versions hung out on lines to dry
Fresh seafood is one of the glories of the coastal regions, crayfish, kingklip, hake, cod and sole featuring on many menus, invariably freshly and locally caught.
A popular style of cooking uses a ‘braai’, the South African equivalent of a barbecue, with meat, fish, chicken, potatoes and onions cooked outdoors over hot coals. A favourite braai dish is boerewors, hand-made farm sausages made from minced beef and spices and sold as a coiled sausage up to a metre or more in length.
Look out for Farmer's Markets, both organised ones in cities and those signposted as you travel around. They are great places to get some genuine home cooked South African favourites.
Wine, Beers & Spirits
The wines of South Africa are justly famous and the highlight of many South African trips is a tour of the wine lands of the Cape. The wines you will drink will be uniformly good and remarkably inexpensive.
Most of the major international brands of beer are available, the best selling are probably Castle, Amstel and Windhoek with Black Label and Castle Milk Stout popular local brews.
Amurula Cream is a bit like Baileys, but flavoured by the Amurula fruit and is really quite delicious.