Bo Kaap

Already a week has passed and we have learned a lot from our lectures and activities, but there are still plenty of things to discover yet.  

Last Thursday we had a full agenda under rainy weather, but our stop in Bo Kaap brightened our afternoon.  This beautiful area is known to be the hallmark of Cape Town, with its rainbow streets and warm people welcoming you.  

Bo Kaap is a multicultural area; it is the center of Cape Malay Culture.  Bo Kaap offers a very nice experience for those who want to discover flavor in every sense!

The Cape Malay identity can be considered as the product of mixed identities through history.  Nevertheless, the Cape Malay started to form when the Dutch brought Malay slaves to work at the sugar plantations in the Cape. 

We took advantage of our location and did a complete photo shooting; after all we couldn’t miss the colored houses from the seventeenth and nineteenth century, as well as the many Mosques, including the first one built in South Africa.

We also passed the burial place of Tuan Guru, who is known to be the person that established Islam in the Cape and southern part of Africa.  He copied the Holy Quran from memory and established the first Muslim school (madrasah) in the area.

We could not finish our visit without trying the famous “Bobotie”, which we have been hearing since we all met back in April…

We were welcome by Yusuf, the owner of Bo Kaap Kombuis.  Bo Kaap Kombuis means  “Upper Cape Town Kitchen” in Afrikaaans.  Bo Kaap Kombuis specialized in home made cooking.

This is a wonderful place, with an excellent view of Bo Kaap and the city center. We were very pleased by the hospitality, especially by Yusuf’s gastronomy lecture on the origins of the Cape Malay food.  Yusuf told us that the creativity and exotic flavor of the food are consequences of the exchange of ingredients, when Malays, Dutch and Xhosa coexisted centuries ago.

I am looking forward to go back to Bo Kaap, as I will be moving there after the program finishes.  I am pretty sure I will have a great time!

Totsiens!