Letter from Limpopo: Thabiso Sekhula does a food trip of the province and concludes: We’re eating well over here
Ever heard the saying, don’t argue before you eat? Or the word hangry — a play on hungry and angry?
Food has the power to change our mood instantly, turning a frown into a smile. It’s why we give ice cream and sweets when babies cry. It instantly lifts you up. And this lift and happiness through food is a movement taking Limpopo by storm.
Chefs are pairing gourmet meals with experiences that can turn any bad day into the best day of your life in small towns, villages, the bush and wherever their hearts pick as home in Limpopo.
I went on a food tour in Limpopo to test just how happy the food experiences in the province could make me. Let me take your taste buds on a journey to Limpopo I bet you never imagined.
The town of Tzaneen is home to Laaika Moosa, a culinary genius bringing the best international dishes to our little side of the woods.
She travels the world learning how to make pasta, throw down a delicious Turkish mezze, put on a food show making Spanish paella at private events and whip up a Middle Eastern pide bread for a farmer’s market.
But this global foodie’s favourite meal is something you would never guess. A pumpkin leaf and peanut dish famous in Limpopo province, it is growing in Tzaneen, a melting pot of cultures and languages that she credits for her fluent Sepedi and food choices.
We hop between English and Sepedi as her mom, equally talented, treats us to a beautiful dinner spread of Indian dishes at this Tzaneen fine food family’s table.
Laaika like myself left Limpopo for greener pastures and through loss and a longing for home, we find ourselves back and bringing home a little bit of what we loved out there.
Someone else bringing all the things we love is Riyana Vigeland of the Toasted Tortilla. The Toasted Tortilla is a family mobile food service which has transformed Limpopo food markets and we’re better for it. They make tacos, wings, noodles, burgers and anything else you can make on an open wood fire.
Coming from the coast, they blessed us with seafood options and one of the market favourites, their seafood tacos, always sell out. I’ve never been to a market where they did not sell out, get more supplies and sell out some more. Limpopo didn’t always have such amazing choices in dining experiences.
But it’s found itself as a location of choice for young people who want to fast forward to the retirement life, the farm life and views, kids running around for kilometres because there’s so much space without the crazy costs. And they are bringing their incredible world class skills with them.
And what’s more world class than a sushi bar in the villages of Limpopo? Chef Thabo Langa once worked at world class Montecasino and sushi was one of the dishes he prided himself on.
When love called him to Limpopo, he wanted to keep some conveniences and his favourite dishes so he started making dishes that he liked in a trailer at one of the busier intersections in the location.
Little did he know that his sushi dream would find an audience in the most unlikely place, where his heart had chosen as home.
Through their events and presence, these chefs are creating an ecosystem of fine dining experience, options which are accessible to even the smallest towns in Limpopo.
Pictured above: Laaika Moosa at a recent market
Photo by Thabiso Sekhula
