Dennis Molewa is paying homage to traditional and authentic African food by offering an ‘African food and storytelling experience’ in downtown Cape Town.

The experience, which includes around three hours of walking, comprises between five and seven stops, where groups celebrate and get to listen to the experiences of African food entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs' stories show how they managed to create unique and meaningful community spaces despite harsh and challenging economic and social conditions with few affordable trading spaces available.

“During the tour we introduce the role of food in different African communities, mostly African diaspora communities. We start with East African restaurants and kitchens, mostly community kitchens – Somalian, Ethiopian, Malian, and also Capetonian. We also visit spice shops. The food experience itself is basically to learn about the different food cultures and there is live music at the end,” Molewa told Tourism Update.

Molewa is a food writer who celebrates the role of food in communities, and is mostly passionate about African cuisine.

“African cuisine itself is underrepresented and also undervalued. Here in South Africa, we are an African country but people mostly eat modern European cuisine. African cuisine is not really celebrated as much and people are a little bit reluctant to actually eat African food. It is also very difficult to find authentic African restaurants that are not ‘tourist traps’,” Molewa continued.

He said that the diaspora of African food entrepreneurs in the region still has to endure hardships, but hopes the tours provide a platform to overcome them.

“One of our partners, or vendors, is a Senegalese coffee entrepreneur from Touba, and he came to South Africa as a refugee like most of our food entrepreneurs. In South Africa itself we definitely struggle with xenophobia, there is a lot of hostility. So we are using food and the experience of learning about different cuisines as a powerful tool to bring people together, to build bridges and to deconstruct preconceived ideas,” Molewa said.

Cuisines such as Xhosa, Somalian and Malian are also part of the tour, with Molewa aiming to teach travellers what African and South African cuisine is all about, while celebrating the people responsible for creating the delicious meals.

“It is important to provide a platform for these small local chefs that have such an important role to fulfil, because their individual kitchens and restaurants play a really vital role in their communities – they are community heroes.”

Addressing future plans, Molewa said that he would love to take his tours to other cities, not only in South Africa, but also the rest of Africa.

“We are now starting another ‘African food and storytelling experience’ in Salt River and Observatory, and then next up will be Bellville, where we will only focus on East African food. After that the plan is Johannesburg. I would also love to take it to other places such as Ethiopia or Senegal. I think that these tours to showcase African food are definitely something that have a lot of opportunity for growth,” Molewa concluded.