On Friday morning the crew behind the award-winning program, “Will Travel For Food” on India’s major news and lifestyle channel, NDTV, descended on Durban to get a taste of some of our popular, iconic and unusual dishes. Durban Tourism invited me along in the afternoon to help kick off their bit-sized adventures.
One dish that is unique to our city, that represents its history and the culture that drives and thrives within it, is the “Bunny Chow”. It’s a hollowed-out half loaf, filled to overflowing with meat or beans that are drowned in a rich curry sauce. It’s the idiosyncratic Durban melting pot, that unites palates of all ages, economies, and cultures, and a fitting food start to introduce a global traveling viewership to. The team from Durban Tourism organised the crew and the presenter, Aneesha Baig, to meet us at House of Curries on Florida Road and give this meal a go.
We took them behind the scenes into the small kitchen to observe how it gets made and assembled. I managed to trip on absolutely nothing and then nearly crash into a hurrying waiter, so generally made a nuisance of myself. The kitchen staff, in contrast, seemed fairly nonplussed at having cameras pointed at them and continued in their tasks unabated.
After the mic-ed him up, Aneesha interviewed Mike, one of the managers from House of Curries, while feasting on the drenched loaf and hopefully enjoying it.
It was great to see the process and the speed in which this segment was filmed, despite certain individuals who write on blogs getting in the way. After this, they were taken to explore traditional Zulu food along the Inanda Heritage route, bravely sampling crocodile, amongst other delectations. This was followed the next day with a few meals and drinks with a view at places such as the Panorama Bar at Elangeni, and then they departed for Cape Town. It’s not confirmed when this episode will be broadcast, but I will find out and then put up the info when it’s announced. I hope they enjoyed their brief stay and the flavours on offer in our province and hopefully their viewers will too!
