Food for the Soul – Indulge a little

There is no doubt that we are a nation of foodies.  We may not be connoisseurs, but we love food all the same.

When there is a celebration of any kind, there will be food.  It can be a birthday, an anniversary, a bon voyage or even just a reason to get together.  Food soothes the soul, that is for sure.

The term “comfort food” is always mentioned when we think of teenagers digging into a tub of ice cream, or when it’s a cold wintery night and the stews and soups come out.

It’s an old adage and stems back to 1977 where a Washington Post writer quipped the sentence, “Along with grits, one of the comfort foods of the South is black-eyed peas.”  While he claims not to have invented the term, it has stuck and has been used by many a writer after him to describe food that … well … comforts.

If we dig a little deeper into why we love those comfort foods so much, one has to actually take away the food part completely and find out what the food represents.

It could be that we crave a time gone by from childhood.  A time when granny used to bake up a storm.  A time when the smell of vanilla essence and muffins baking in the oven would make us just sit and sigh.  Perhaps that time in our lives was idyllic and we were our most happy.

And, when we crave for those moments, we go to our senses.  The smell, the taste, and the sight of generally the food related to those moments.  And, then we indulge ourselves in those foods, trying to bring back even just a segment of a happier time.

While you can’t go back, and it isn’t always possible to get granny back in the kitchen, you can try your hand at crafting those delectable morsels.

And, what do you know, we have just the book for you.  Bo-Kaap Kitchen!  A collaboration of recipes from the Bo-Kaap families, as well as pieces of their heritage, filled with memorable and delightful photos.

Even if you never grew up in the Bo-Kaap and felt the warmth of the Cape Malay people, you will be able to imagine just what it was like through this historical and well laid out recipe book.

Buy it as a gift.  Or buy it for yourself and start trying out the abundance of recipes, from finger foods to full on meals, from sweet delicacies to snacks that brought families together.

This is so much more than a cookbook – Bo-Kaap Kitchen is a journey into the lives of the descendants of the Cape, once slaves, who realised that food was a way to connect and engage with others.

We urge you to indulge in a comfort food book and spoil yourself and your loved ones with all the amazing foods you will make.

Bo-Kaap awaits your senses.