Cuizine Africa

The team behind the celebrated and award-winning KZN-focused cookbooks, East Coast Tables and East Coast Tables: Inland, have put together another tome, celebrating one of, if not the most frequently prepared meal in our colourful city: curries. Erica Platter, seasoned writer-editor, and Clinton Friedman, the talented photographer-designer, put their passion of their province and a city’s shared love of one of the most intrinsic and culturally diverse of dishes into a glossy, full-colour book. Durban Curry: So Much of Flavour is as rich and diverse in styles and secret recipes as the beloved meal it represents.

The book launch was held at the apt location of Jeera, the Indian-style cuisine restaurant at the Suncoast Towers on the Durban beachfront. Dishes made from recipes in the book were served up in amongst an attractive pastiche of spices, and a rainbow of curry ingredients.

Like any good professional, I unintentionally turned my plate of food into  face paint, by getting sauce all over my mug, before approaching the authors for a few pics, smearing the back of my camera in the process.

It was a pleasure and an honour meeting the duo behind the book. Erica Platter is inspiring to chat to, passionate and gregarious, without an ounce of pretension, and both her and Clinton Friedman were very amenable and patient with my unrelenting pestering (Pose for a pic! Answer my questions! Sign my book! Memememe!).  It’s wonderful to see people invested in ever-increasing and deserving recognition for Durban and KZN’s culinary appeal.