CURRY
A country told
through its kitchens.
Across South Africa, recipes carry more than ingredients. They carry family, memory, migration, work, celebration and home.
Ishay Govender travelled across all nine provinces, cooking and eating with the people whose food tells these stories.
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The recipe is only the beginning.
CURRY begins with the Durban curries of Ishay's childhood and then looks beyond them.
Guided by journalists, librarians, museum curators and communities, Ishay travelled across South Africa meeting cooks whose recipes open onto much bigger stories.
Most contributors are home cooks, trusted by the communities around them. Their kitchens become a way into family life, migration, labour, segregation, celebration, heritage and belonging.
There is no single South African curry.
Across the country, recipes crossed boundaries, travelled between communities and changed according to place, circumstance and the hands that cooked them.
Indian, Cape Malay, township, Black, Coloured, Afrikaner and migrant food histories meet throughout CURRY, creating something unmistakably South African.
Food tells us
where we have been.
Across these pages, recipes sit alongside the histories, people and places that shaped them — making CURRY both a practical book to cook from and a record of how food carries memory.
Recipes & memory
Family recipes become records of people, celebration, movement and home.
Food & history
Curry becomes a way to explore migration, labour, apartheid, segregation and exchange.
Kitchens & community
The people behind the recipes remain at the centre of the story.
One journey.
Many kitchens.
Ishay travelled across the country gathering recipes, memories and food knowledge preserved through family, community and everyday cooking.
Come hungry.
A glimpse at some of the dishes that make up the journey through CURRY.
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Stories to read.
Recipes to cook.
South African customers can submit their delivery details below. We will confirm the courier cost, add the R20 administration fee, and then send the final Yoco payment link. International customers and trade buyers can use the same form.
South Africa: choose door-to-door or PostNet-to-PostNet. Delivery is for the customer's account and a R20 administration fee is added to each order. International shipping is quoted separately. All totals are confirmed before payment.
Tell us where to send it.
For South African orders, the book price is R560 per copy. Delivery is charged separately and a R20 administration fee is added to each order. Choose door-to-door or PostNet-to-PostNet and send us your delivery details. We will confirm the courier cost and final total before sending the payment link.
International customers, bookshops, retailers and bulk buyers can use the same form. Shipping or delivery will be quoted before payment.