Johannesburg

Johannesburg boasts a rich and diverse Pan-African cultural heritage and is rapidly becoming a foodie destination like Cape Town. A unique urban renaissance has enabled the city to evolve into a multicultural melting pot of unique cuisines from all over the continent.

The gentrification projects of the inner city have opened up previously unexplored spaces and made possible new food experiences for locals and tourists alike. You can spend a Saturday morning exploring the Braamfontein neighbourhoods’ street food market and enjoy amazing views of the city with cocktails on a rooftop. Maboneng’s Market on Main takes place on Sundays, offering a similar street food experience in the city’s creative design district. This openness to different cultures has fueled growth in the city’s food trucks scene and other smaller scale and curated food providers.

Food trucks in the city now offer delicious foods such as craft burgers, briyani, bunny chows (a quarter loaf of bread filled with delicious lamb or chicken curry) tandoori chicken, Ethiopian Injera flat breads with fillings, Somalian version of pasta known as baasto, Mozambican peri-peri chicken and Prego rolls

The city offers endless possibilities for Pan-African cuisine, but what about South African food? It would be difficult to define South Africa’s national dish. A national cuisine is a product of a shared national culture and this is something that has still not been defined in South Africa. The country still suffers from the terrible legacy of Apartheid, which promoted only white and European traditions. During this regime, the intricate and rich food traditions from Indian, Cape Malay, Zulu, Xhosa and Khoisan cooking were largely ignored. Awareness of the diverse local food culture is changing, however, and more traditional foods are now being showcased in the city’s street food markets and restaurants