Cooking Class in Bo-Kaap

I think Jonathan Snook summarized it perfectly when he made Organize around passions, not destinations one of his travel tips. One of my passions is cooking and I try to take a cooking class wherever I go, preferably in a home or small restaurant kitchen. There just is something about cooking classes that allows me to dive deeper into the culture and everyday tales of the people around me which makes a trip to a different country a much more intimate experience.

This time I joined Faeeza’s Home Kitchen in Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap district—a predominantly Muslim but all in all multicultural neighborhood that has suffered—not unlike District Six—from racial segregation and today attracts tourists with its colorful houses and Cape Malay cuisine.

We were a group of seven people—a small family of three from Vienna/Hamburg, a Canadian couple from Toronto with her being Cape Town born, and a French lady from Lyon who lives in Berlin—who attended the very fun and yummy three-hour cooking class including the lunch meal at the end. Our host and cook was a lovely woman whose name escaped me, I’m afraid.

Together we made chicken curry with Roti (South Asian flatbread), corn and cheese Samoosas, and chilli bites. Our contributions ranged from preparing and adding ingredients, stirring, and smelling/tasting (chicken curry) to making the whole thing (Roti and Samoosas) while our host provided us with tales and tips around Cape Malay food, for example how she prepared 600 (!) Samoosas the other day for the whole neighborhood’s after-sunset meals of Ramadan.

Our lunch included our own cooked food and a dessert course comprised of Koesisters—a delicious little bastard of a pastry—and cold Rooibos tea with cardamom.

Make sure to drop them a line if you are in the area. The website states that you have to be a minimum of two people to join a cooking class, but it was no problem for them to squeeze me in on a rather short notice. And a little fun fact: Faeeza and her place is featured in the Cape Town episode of Somebody Feed Phil which led to visits of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle and Roger Federer.