Mercado de Peixe, Maputo

We had an early start photographing a number of different fish dishes, Cape frikkadels with very good peach chutney, Liboké, fish in banana leaf and a fried Tilapia with peanut sauce. Later we met our Mozambiquan friends and closed this final day with a session (and a dinner) at the very festive Mercado de Peixe where one buys fish at the market, it gets taken round the back to a small restaurant area and prepared on the spot to be consumed. What a feast!

Sean & Danielle 

We were warned,- if we forget all else about Mozambique( not likely)- there’s one word should remember- “Kanimambo”- thank you in Shangana.

So - Kanimambo Maputo, Xai Xai, - and all your lovely people, especially- Dona Serafina, Lilita, Helena and Joaõ, Buinta, and Belito, muito prazer e a proxima!!

Another working day in Maputo

This day, a lot of time was spent in various police stations trying to report last night’s incident, between which, we still managed to get work done.

First we photographed the beautiful Mercado Central, market in the centre of Maputo and in the afternoon - Helena -who besides her regular day job also runs a catering business. Her signature dish was a Mozambique classic, Caril de Caranguejo-  a crab curry(containing no curry). We tasted it- it was divine!

Helena's kitchen

Later we went to the Bairro de Pescadores, the old fish market a little ouside town.

Bairro de Pescadores

A buzzing place, beautiful, on the waters edge with the cutest little bar where there was some very groovy dancing going on.

Stuck!

Today the water supply in our accomodation had run dry, so we really HAD to take that dip in the ocean….We enlisted the help of a local lad who was still on school holidays to show us Xai Xai.

By default we stumbled upon the most wonderful Pesaõ Africano, a local hotel and restaurant, just across the road from the central market. The owner’s daughter-in-law was utterly charming and the interior classic. Sean shot a photo serie while we chatted and were invited to taste some of the dishes served there.

It was time to return to Maputo to start the last leg of this first trip. Of course we first managed to get our vehicle stuck in the sand-city slickers…We settled into our new accomodation and did prep for the next day’s photography session. The evening was spent at a hotel with wireless internet, catching up on admin and updating our blog. Then nastiest thing happened, in front of our Maputo accomodation we were robbed. Our attackers tried to take the car, somehow in the scuffle Sean managed to fob them off, sadly they got away with Ingmar’s laptop. We were shaken and shocked, this incident really put a damper on things for quite some time.

Dulobo sisters and their mum

The only way to start your working day when it’s 35°C – a dip in the Indian Ocean!

Danielle and I prepared a variety of African chicken dishes to take along to Casa Innocentia where we met the sisters Dulobu- our stars for the day. 

They found their kitchen at the casa too hot to work in and had built some fires on their patio to cook. Despite the heat we all worked fast and efficiently (sometimes things just fall into place) and had some time to feast on some of the Mozambique specialties- the family’s famed spicy duck-“chacutim de pato”, delicious okra with shrimp in coconut milk and “matseu” a local dish of stewed fresh pumpkin leaves with peanut. 

our styling case

Towards evening we headed off to their mum’s house to take a portrait of daughter Lilita and mom Dona Serafina. What a warm and welcoming woman. Her home is a beehive attracting all who need a plate of food, a kind word or something to drink. At 74, Serafina’s eyesight is not what it once was but when checking the photos with photographer Sean, even without her glasses, she commented that her daughter was perhaps showing a little too much cleavage! 

Arriving in Mozambique

There is always a feeling of joy when visiting a country for the first time. It’s as if we are great explorers ourselves. While approaching Maputo by air, a rooftop sign read “welcome to the country of Coca Cola”. Luckily for us and the cookbook, Mozambique turns out to be way more than that. After a brief acquaintance with Lilita and her sisterhood of cooks, we taste some traditional ingredients and a peep into their kitchen.

We have Lilita to accompany us on the 3 hour drive to Xai Xai. 

She met her Dutch husband here and now lives in Holland. She tells us that the difference between Mozambicans and the Hollanders is that the Dutch ask so many questions. And indeed we did. We not only discovered her full life story but found out everything about life in this fascinating country. Mozambique is a mix of Catholic and Muslim faith, of colonial past and recent civil war. Yet despite all this, it’s a warm and kind hearted people who live in this land.

As we drove to our cabin on the beach, we see more stars than sky. Lilita tells the story about her first visit to Holland. Her mother in law enthusiastically calls her outside to look up at the Dutch night sky then points at a few twinkling stars. But Lilita can’t see what’s so special up there! We turned the lights of as we drove along the sand road and looked up at the Milky Way in awe.

Last days in South Africa

Our last photo shoot in SA! The setting- dear friend Carissa's colourful kitchen and the subject dear friend Sibu Mbhata. Professor de Cuisine, Sibu took the job at hand very seriously- we found him pacing the garden reciting recipes out loud between bursts in the kitchen. Sean photographed, Ingmar plated the food, Danielle took notes, Sibu cooked and Carissa gave her (valued) view on everything and brought us up to date on local gossip.

Shoot day 3, started bright and breezy, 6 am peeling black-eyed peas! Danielle and I, found a turbo method....saved us peeling them one by one!

Armed with acooler bag of African Snack Food (theme of the day) we finally met in person our charming subject, 60 year old Ivorian Etienne Gaba (known to all as just Gaba) in his restaurant in Yeoville, Johannesburg. His place was  ramshackle but vibrant with smells of cooking and animated (French) football chatter.

We started off our photo shoot outside in the restaurant's yard. Pics of our own dishes, Etienne's delicious Ivorian food and a portrait of the man himself. Initially our presence was treated with caution, but after about an hour we were old friends. At first onlookers were a little wary to taste our bites from all over the continent but it wasn't long before the "dabo kolo" from Ethiopia, got a West African nod of approval.

Throughout the day we were kindly reprimanded by Etienne. Our uncontrived approach to photographing food was not quite what he had in mind as he neatly spooned things back into shape.

During the afternoon it started to pour, rain coming down in lorry loads. We scurried inside where Sean took some candid pics of patrons from all over West Africa. All this in good ol' Joburg!

The shoot ended after 6 pm literally as the last rays of sun were in the sky and we were satisfied! Tomorrow off to Mozambique- Thank you South Africa and all the the wonderful people who have helped us, looked after us and inspired us, Dana and Bruce; Carissa; Sibu; Etienne; Hennie and Ab; Erika and Rasigan, you're all wonderful.




When we phoned Indo-African Rasigan, our next subject, to plan a rendez-vous, he starts calculating.... The leg of lam he has bought is 2 kilo's, it needs 2 hours cooking time, lunch should be ready at 2 am, but the dish still has to be photographed so... let's meet at 11. Rasigan's scientific background has great effect on the manner in which he cooks. He uses 4 kitchen timers to get everything organized....? Yet Rasigan says non-westner would never weight their meat to calculate the exact cooking time!
According to Rasigan South African Indians settled here 5 to 6 generations and their dishes are still called curries, but have become truly South African. The first dish he cooked is a great example of this evolvement. He calls it an egg-chutney on toast, or simply Hangover eggs.

During the cooking time of his "piece de la resistance" Rasigan and partner Erika keep coming up with one delicious Indo- African dish after the other. Thanks to their scientific approach we got a well curried and very satisfying photo shoot before our stomachs started rumbling too loudly.

First Shooting Day

Oh if only you could smell what we smell right now. The house is filled with a mouth-watering composition of all of today's flavours. We started of this morning with going to a local shopping area, called Marabastad. In the parking area we met Mavis, who cooks and grills mielies.

At the next stall Sean photographed this very brave lady who put flattened beer and softdrink cans on top of the fire with her bare hands. She did do so in order to make a kind of diffuser and said like this the fire would still be a great cooking fire in the evening.

Once home we had to get into the 'veld' with Catherina to look for some morogo. Apparently a lot of recipes in South Africa which contain spinach the ingredient list will tell you it can be replaced by any other green edible leafs you can find in the fields.

Finally we were ready to shoot all the recipes Hennie had come up with. Especially for the cookbook Hennie had reinvented the possibilities of pap. The first officially photograped dish he made was delicious pap tert.

Which was followed by pap croutons, pap slices on the braai, and many more pap dishes.

Not bothered by any of the thunderstorms that came up in the afternoon we managed to have a good and stress-free start of the cookbook and finalized the direction the book should follow.

Travelling..

The Flight to Johannesburg turned out to be a real taste challenge. According to the law of physics your taste experience is different when high up in the air. Ok right we thought, everybody knows what black pepper should taste like. So we choose the airline salt & pepper sachets as the subject of our simple taste test. And surprise, the pepper was completely tasteless.
However once we had arrived at Hennie & Ab, Ingmar's friends in Pretoria, we had forgotten all about this strange experience. While shopping for next day's shoot we found some amazing packaging and so Sean started shooting right away. After the light had gone we suddenly remembered our pepper taste test again. I became the guinea pig and began to chew on the black flakes...

Danielle tastes tastless pepper

Hoping for a more tasty day today.....

tuesday, 12 january 2010

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Did you know that a Bamako Bride will eat a meaty thiou stew with fermented soumbala spices on her wedding day? Are you in search of a rich, gingery alternative to Banana Bread? Or maybe you are curious about the mystery ingredient in Baba Mleppo’s Pepper Soup? Here at last is the birth of an enticing book on African cooking stuffed full of culinary wisdom to satisfy every desire!


'Who’s is The Next House At Which We Will Drink Beer?' takes a fresh look at the African eating experience. It is the work of Ingmar Niezen and Sean Fitzpatrick, a South African food stylist and photographer team. We wish to celebrate a modern African culinary identity with this book. To do so, we will travel through the diverse countries of the continent, searching for delicious new flavours, combining surprising ingredients and re-tasting traditional favourites.


Our journey starts on Tuesday the 12th of January 2010 when we set off for a 2 week photo shoot in South Africa and Mozambique. Come and follow us via this blog and we'll give you an insight into the birth of our cookbook!