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.