A city famous for it's weed, famous for the culinary delight that is the bunny chow, famous for it's endless summer and pristine beaches.
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At some point in the evening, I had enough and loudly confessed to a group of academics and socialites what I was craving: bunny chow.
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The price also includes a buffet lunch after the tour — you might try South Africa's famous street-food favorite, bunny chow: a loaf of bread stuffed with curry.
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There's another quirk to Durban curry that also doesn't have a complete explanation: the bunny chow to-go, a half- or quarter-loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with curry.
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While washing all that gravy off my fingers, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gentleman fingers-deep into his crass bunny chow, expensive tweed sleeves rolled up high.
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It was easy for me to walk away that night and head to one of the oldest bunny-chow places in town, a dive of a hotel, where it is said that in apartheid times, nonwhites received their bunnies wrapped in newspaper at the back door.
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Bunny chow, often referred to simply as a bunny, is a South African fast food dish consisting of a hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with curry. It ultimately originated among Indian South Africans of Durban. A small version of the bunny chow that uses only a quarter loaf of bread is sometimes called, by black South Africans, a scambane or kota ("quarter"); it is a name that it shares with spatlo, a South African dish that evolved from the bunny chow.
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Sharing a single bunny chow is not uncommon. Bunny chows come in quarter, half and full loaves. When ordering a bunny chow in Durban, the local slang dictates that you need only ask for a "quarter mutton" (or flavour and size of your choice), colloquially, people would say, "Can I have a quarter mutton bunny." Bunny chows are mainly eaten using the fingers; it is unusual to see locals use utensils when eating this dish.
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Bunny chow was created in Durban, home to a large community of people of Indian origin. The precise origins of the food are disputed, although its creation has been dated to the 1940s. It was also sold in Gwelo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during World War II and is still sold in the nearby town of Kadoma, formerly known as Gatooma. Stories of the origin of bunny chow date as far back as the migrant Indian workers' arrival in South Africa.
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Quarter mutton bunny chow in Durban, South Africa Bunny chows are popular amongst Indians and other ethnic groups in the Durban area. Bunny chows are commonly filled with curries made using traditional recipes from Durban: mutton or lamb Curry, chicken curry, trotters & beans curry and beans curry. Other varieties found across the country using less traditional Durban-Indian food include chips with curry gravy, fried sausage, cheese, eggs and polony. These are all popular fillings; the original bunny chow was vegetarian.
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During this time he joined The Pure Monate Show. He directed sketches in season one and directed and co-wrote sketches for the entire second season. He then wrote, produced and directed Bunny Chow which employed a retro scripting technique with the actors improvising their dialogue to communicate the outlined script written by Barker and David Kibuuka and later retro scripted with Kagiso Lediga, Joey Rasdien and editor Saki Bergh. He is working on a second retro scripted film Wonder Boy for President with many of his collaborators from Bunny Chow.
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John Barker is a South African filmmaker based in Johannesburg. He is best known for his feature film directorial debut Bunny Chow. The film was officially selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. The film received many awards.
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Each year, the "Bunny Chow Barometer" is held in September on the south bank of the Umgeni River, just above Blue Lagoon (a popular Sunday picnic spot for Durban Indians), attracting numerous entrants from across the Durban Metro region to compete for the title of top bunny maker.
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An example of bunny chow served in Durban, originated in the Indian South African community. Curried dishes are popular in South Africa among people of all ethnic origins; many dishes came to the country with the thousands of Indian labourers brought to South Africa in the nineteenth century. The Indians have introduced a different line of culinary practices, including a variety of curries, roti's, sweetmeats, chutneys, fried snacks such as samosa (called samoosa in South Africa), and other savoury foods. Bunny chow, a dish from Durban (which has a large Indian community) consisting of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry, has adapted into mainstream South African cuisine and has become quite popular.
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There are fast-food restaurants, clubs and other places that people go to on special occasions, such as on public holidays. Tsakane also boasts an active night life with bars such as: Chillas, Dinangwe, A2A and Welcome's place. The people of Tsakane like to eat out and support their local township food businesses which sell bunny chow or "kota" as it is referred to.
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Another local Indian Durban speciality is the 'bunny' or bunny chow, which consists of a hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with curry. The Portuguese community has also made its mark, with spicy peri-peri chicken being a favourite. The South African Portuguese-themed restaurant chain Nando's now has restaurants in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates.
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Bunny chows are often served with a side portion of salad containing grated carrot, chilli and onion salad. commonly known as sambals, this includes chopped tomatoes, onions, and green chilies served with white vinegar. Other sides include Indian pickles, such as mango pickle, lime or lemon pickle, vegetable pickles and other seasonal varieties which are pickled. A key desirable characteristic of a bunny chow is seen when gravy from the curry fillings soaks into the walls of the bread.
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Kagiso Lediga (born May 6, 1978) is a South African Tswana stand-up comedian, actor, writer and director. He is the creator and executive producer of the Netflix crime drama Queen Sono which was released on February 28, 2020. Lediga has written and directed noteworthy television comedies including the cult classic The Pure Monate Show, Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola, and the Bantu Hour. He has played leading roles in the films Bunny Chow, Wonder Boy for President and Catching Feelings.
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Continental and British recipes have also evolved alongside Indian South African curries. Continental and British versions use mainly traditional recipes with the addition of red wine, milk, cream, vanilla or butter instead of ghee. Bunny chow or a "set", a South African standard, has spread in popularity throughout the country and into other southern African countries and countries with large South African immigrant populations. It consists of either lamb, chicken or bean curry poured into a tunnelled-out loaf of bread to be eaten with one's fingers.
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A table of hollowed "quarter loaves" to be filled for bunny chow. One story claims that a South African restaurant run by Banias (an Indian caste) first created the dish at a restaurant-café, called Kapitan's, on the corner of Victoria and Albert streets in Durban. Another tale opines that the origin of this handheld dish was due to Indian golf caddies not being allowed to publicly carry sharp cutlery like knives during apartheid. "" in South African English is simply slang for "food" as well as the verb "to eat".
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An example of bunny chow served in Durban, originated in the Indian South African community South African cuisine is diverse; foods from many cultures are enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists who wish to sample the large variety available. South African cuisine is heavily meat-based and has spawned the distinctively South African social gathering known as the braai, a variation of the barbecue. South Africa has also developed into a major wine producer, with some of the best vineyards lying in valleys around Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl and Barrydale.
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Spatlo (also spelled sphatlo, spathlo and sphatlho) also known as a kota or a skhambane is a South African sandwich popular in all Provinces of South Africa including Gauteng and the Free State. It is made from a hollowed out quarter loaf of bread, filled with a variety of ingredients, often chips, cheese, polony and atchar. The name kota, used in such areas as Soweto and Johannesburg, is derived from the English quarter, referring to the bread loaf. As such, the term may apply to any dish using a quarter loaf of bread, such as bunny chow.
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African curries, Cape Malay curries and Natal curries include the traditional Natal curry, the Durban curry, bunny chow, and roti rolls. South African curries appear to have been founded in two distinct regions - one in the east (KwaZulu-Natal) and the other in the west (Western Cape) - with a variety of other curries developing across the country over the late 20th century and early 21st century to include ekasi, coloured, and Afrikaner curries. Durban has the largest single population of Indians outside of India, who have been developing traditional Natal curries since their arrival in the late 19th century. Natal curries are mostly based on South Indian dishes and mostly consist of simple spiced lamb and chicken dishes (with large amounts of ghee and oils), but also include very complex and elaborate seafood, chicken and lamb specialties (chicken and prawn curry is a Natal favourite).
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