There have been a number of interesting articles recently about how foods that we've come to associate with a particular place often have long histories of migration and displacement attached to them. Take fish and chips, which has been an iconic meal in the UK for over a century (there were 35,000 "chippies" in business by 1935 already), but as an Atlas Obscura piece explains, the story of fried fish begins in the 8th century in Portugal, where there was a fairly large community of Sephardic Jews. At the end of the so-called Moorish rule, the king's new Spanish wife made him promise to either expel or baptise all the Jews in Portugal, leading to a widespread exodus to escape religious persecution. Many of those refugees ended up in England, where they shared their culinary tradition of frying fish in a thin batter.
History is a little fuzzy on when exactly chips (or the "good companions", as Churchill supposedly called them) were introduced, but the first dedicated fish and chips shop was reportedly opened in London in the 1860s by a Jewish immigrant (and this year the first vegan "fish" and chip shop opened in London - hopefully not the beginning of a new trend!).
"Chicken manchurian", ubiquitous in Chinese Indian restaurants. (Image courtesy of Quartz)
There's also a fascinating story of how Chinese food became India's "comfort food" thanks to an influx of Chinese labourers in 18th century Kolkata where the British East India Company were routing imports from China to Britain. From food cooked in that original "Chinatown" grew a whole new category of "Chinese Indian" food more adapted to Indian tastes ('fiery hot'), which is now a firm staple across the country.
It's possible that these stories are emerging now in reaction to the many bad news stories we are also confronted with about poor cooperation between countries, and intolerant attitudes to immigrants. But these stories - and many others like them that would explain so much of what we find on local menus too - should be important reminders that at least one possible outcome of being welcoming to others is a plate of delicious food.
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For this instalment of Story of a Plate, we head to KZN to chat to Kayla-Ann Osborn, Executive Head Chef of The Chefs' Table about the amuse-bouche on the current tasting menu. Here diners are treated to an assortment of local seafood served on platters fashioned from driftwood from nearby beaches in a celebration of all things good from Durban waters.
For his latest review, Jean-Pierre visits Eike in Stellenbosch, the latest fine dining outpost by chef Bertus Basson, and concludes that "Eike is a restaurant that is a vitally important addition to the Cape, and South African, dining scene. It truly interacts with our indigenous cuisine, and it’s also dynamic – at once paying homage and pushing in new directions. The space is delightful and very comfortable, and the service is certainly very good".
Bits and Bites
Wine to break the bank: In a record-breaking sale, someone recently purchased a bottle of 1945 Romanée Conti at Sotheby's auction in New York for $588,000, which a writer for Jezebel worked out "is $93,000 per glass, assuming there are six glasses per bottle, and roughly $10,000 per sip, assuming you are taking eight to ten sips per glass (by offhand estimate)". Let's hope it isn't corked.
The Instagram restaurant where no one takes pictures: It was only a matter of time before someone took the idea of designing a consummately 'Grammable restaurant to the level of naming it so, as the owners of the recently opened The Pastagram in New York's Financial District have done. But according to one writer who ate there, hardly any of the other diners were actually taking pictures, and the interior itself didn't translate well to Instagram: "The light is cold. The textures are flat. It’s hard to get a picture without accidentally capturing someone else’s head. Nobody looks casually glamorous at the Pastagram. They look like frazzled people eating pasta". It sounds like a case of trying a bit too hard to be cool.
Looking out for the welfare of restaurant staff: One of the most sought-out (and remote!) restaurants is Magnus Nilsson's Fäviken in northern Sweden (featured in Season 1 of Netflix's Chef's Table). In a recent interview with Fine Dining Lovers, the chef explains how he once came close to closing the restaurant, "not because of money worries, or staffing issues (there is an 'endless stream”'of people who want to work there, he says), or a calamity caused by the extreme weather in that part of the country, but because, he and his partners were, well, just a bit miserable. 'We couldn’t make our every day lives function', says the chef of the tipping point three or so years ago when they decided things had to change or they would close-up. 'You realize, if I’m not interested in working six double shifts a week, I can’t very well force anyone else to do that'". Now, no one works double shifts anymore, and the entire staff are happier (and likely healthier!) for it.
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