MEET KHANYISA MALABI - A CULINARY STORYTELLER
Garingani wa Garingani is a timeless literature piece that connects to the dreams of every young girl and boy from my generation. In those days, there were no TVs or digital platforms for entertainment at home. Storytelling was the evening’s entertainment, brought into existence by our African descendants, a beautiful escape and a source of history.
The love of language and teaching created strong family unity. Most stories were about wisdom, philosophy and African proverbs to live by, but often where the preparation of food was central. Some of the main characters of the stories were n’wa Nghala (the Lion), the head of the kingdom, n’wa Ndlopfu (the Elephant), the mobiliser, and n’wa Mpfundla (the Hare), the wise one, displaying the laws of nature and resembling modern-day Power and Politics, alongside Economics: who controls resources and the reality of inequality in society.
The idea of endless analogies and solutions to the scenarios drives me; I’m mesmerised and inspired by stories, and I love telling them, often in food. Food makes my voice heard, and I feel obliged to narrate those traditions that bind people together, give hope and liberate. Storytelling is no longer an evening affair, but a place that I can bring alive in my heart and mind when I talk about food. I was a curious young girl with apparently expressive hazel eyes.
My siblings and I knew how to cook, and we were often instructed by our mother to cook and bake for family gatherings, and as a gesture of our mother’s kindness to the community. I would chat away endlessly, not so much now that I’m much older, but I do see myself as a modern storyteller, a narrator, a woman with authority and knowledge who aspires to teach and tell stories through my love language, food.
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WHAT I'M ABOUT
I’m a home cook rather than a chef, my heart is warmed when I tuck into a simple classic and traditional dish whose aim is to fill you up, but my own cooking is also inspired by people, places and moments, that journey measured through happy relationships we make along the way and end with something authentic on my plate. I like it when a dish has a real history and reflects the attributes of people and the hands that prepared it. My cooking is eclectic, but accessible, influenced not only by my journey but the emotions that that journey has conjured up in me.
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MY TSONGA HERITAGE
I come from a small community of Soshanguve, outside Pretoria in South Africa, and was raised in a Tsonga home where respect, generosity and humility were as fundamental as valuing the elders. We learned how to cook by helping our elders in the kitchen and they, in turn, instilled in us values and morals from a young age. Although my siblings and I were taught all our family traditions, it was the wisdom of grandparents, extended family and the community that really shaped us.
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CHICKEN IS THE CUISINE OF AFRICA
Africans share the same love of chicken as the French; likewise, in our family, it is an all-time favourite – we just love chicken, and no one ever gets tired of eating it. It is always an occasion when a chicken is slaughtered, resulting in happier conversations in our homes. There are many breeds of chicken in South Africa, but in our family, we traditionally eat chickens that are organically fed for nutrition.
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ANY DAY IS A GOOD DAY IN STOCKHOLM
I count my blessings that I am able to enjoy such simple pleasures of abundant living. It is my career that first exposed me to some of the most magnificent cities in the world, like Stockholm, my home in Europe. Since my years living in Stockholm, the food culture has matured, and I am a confirmed Nordic minimalist.
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VISITING THE MIDLANDS
I draw inspiration from destinations here at home and a mere 400 km outside Johannesburg, I can already visualise soulful cuisine from the Midlands Meander. South African cuisine means diversity, each region and family offering a different representation of what is authentic on a plate.
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A PARISIAN COOKING CLASS
So, what must I prepare in a Parisian kitchen? I must cook a classic French dish and Michelin chef Michel Fenuex decides on the blue chicken, or Poulet de Bresse, complete with gizzards and feet. I was not going to miss out on a trip down memory lane, where we boiled water to remove the feathers of the chicken, cleaned the gizzards and intestines, and removed the skin from the feet.
