Drive the country from coast-to-coast searching for the best in street food, cheese, convent pastries and cannoli. Ishay Govender-Ypma explores Sicily on a culinary road trip. This article was written for SAA Sawubona inflight magazine, June 2017. A ghostly mist settles over Erice on Sicily’s hilly western face, once a medieval fortress town and the [...]
Curry: Stories & Recipes across South Africa (Human & Rousseau) is out now! Available at bookstores across the country, such as Exclusive Books and CNA. You can also find it online. Click here: Takealot, Loot, Raru and Bid or Buy International orders can be made here: Exclusive Books We travelled around the country for a [...]
Green Berlin is not the future, it is happening today. Berliners are propagating the message that cramped urban cities can transform to accommodate a safer, more sustainable future. Ishay Govender-Ypma examines three projects in progressive Kreuzberg for Business Day Wanted Magazine. In 2011 former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang remarked: “Paris is always Paris, but [...]
On the southern shore of Lake Geneva, the pretty French belle époque town of Évian-les-Bains, an hour away from Switzerland’s Geneva, offers slow walks along the promenade and healing treatments with therapeutic Évian water. For SAA Sawubona. Vevey, an hour away. From the Source At Source Cachat, in the spa town of Évian-les [...]
Poland’s beloved herb and fruit liqueur, once the ambit of women brewers only, has been made famous by a man operating from his family’s garden. For Roads & Kingdoms, August 2016. The garden is resplendent in the glow of autumn. Thirty minutes outside Warsaw central, Karol Majewski, widely regarded the country’s top small-batch nalewka manufacturer [...]
I co-wrote this cookbook with Gus Silber for BrightRock, which won best one-off publication at the SA Publisher's Awards 2016. "The judges loved everything about the book from the quality of the content and design to the concept behind it." - Amanda Spohr, Reputation Management Executive at BrightRock. The book includes a collection of some of my most loved and [...]
Featured in Panorama Sunday Magazine - 9 October 2016 Welcome to our new weekly Sunday Magazine. Each Sunday, we’ll bring you selected works from around the world, from travel poetry to fiction to photography. This week, we begin with our new series, Eaten, which pairs travel with gastronomy, in an essay by South African writer [...]
Yum Cha! Yum cha, or dim sum as it’s known in the West, refers to the act of taking tea. Here’s a countrywide dim sum restaurant round-up to satisfy your cravings for these moreish bites. Dim Sum Restaurants in South Africa, written by Ishay Govender-Ypma (@IshayGovender) for Financial Mail. Dim sum has its roots in the [...]
If there’s a single nation whose food has received worldwide attention (and deserved adoration) of late, it must be that of Korea – South Korea, to be clear. And New York City serves up exemplary Korean food. Written for Fine Dining Lovers. Mokbar Korean Ramen - provided by Mokbar Last year, in the [...]
Photo by Ishay Govender-Ypma I arrived in New York on a day that the world changed. I had to lend my voice. For Marie Claire SA, 2 February 2017 I arrived in New York City, via John F Kennedy airport on 28 January 2017 around 11AM. Unbeknown to me, at almost the same [...]
Riding the Hallyu, the impressive K-pop culture wave, Korean food has won the hearts and bellies of the food world. For Etihad in-flight magazine, August 2016. Korean fried chicken (or cauliflower, in some circles) is widely hyped as the new KFC. While Colonel Sanders may need to spill the 11 secret herbs and spices to [...]
A lesson in kissing the wrong boys first, for Marie Claire Real Lives The Party of a Lifetime column, December 2016. “OF course I’ve done that. I was married, remember?” Thami* said, slow American-textured drawl and the span of his shoulders on a six-foot frame filling the living room. There was an audible crackle of [...]
Food Trends - from vegetable-only menus to shorter, less pricey tasting menus, Ishay Govender-Ypma delves into what's predicted to dominate the dining calendar. For SAA Sawubona, November 2016. If you went out to a restaurant last night, you might have experienced these changes already. From neighbourhood bistros to upmarket establishments, menus are being influenced by an [...]
Haute-Savoie Food & Fun Guide. The slopes of the Haut-Savoie in Eastern France invites families of skiers and snowboarding daredevils. Ishay Govender-Ypma opts for slower hikes on snowshoes and Savoyard specialities by crackling fireplaces. Written for Travel Update Magazine. It’s in Megève, in the Rhone Alps that I experience a proper snowfall for the first [...]
Photo taken by Hein van Tonder The Test Kitchen and Quintonil, both highly ranked on the World’s 50 Best restaurant list, recently hosted a collaboration dinner series. Ishay Govender-Ypma chatted to the chefs. Quintonil and Test Kitchen Collaborate for Mail and Guardian. (@IshayGovender) “Are those the escamoles?” I ask the waitress, in a [...]
As the Rio de Janeiro Olympic games come to a close, Ishay Govender-Ypma reflects on the issues and dissent during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a common thread between the two. For Mail & Guardian, August 2016. From here, at the highest tier in the Santa Marta favela in Rio, I can see the settlement [...]
South Indian Sour Porridge in South Africa Sunlight streams in the early morning over the vessels on the wood fire outside; the drums with water heating for bathing, the pots with the day’s lunch. A version of this appears on Roads & Kingdoms, August 2016. sour porridge with spring onions Sunlight streams in [...]
Koreatown in Manhattan may be a long way from Seoul, but its restaurants serve up delectable national dishes, from bibimbap to bulgogi. For Business Day WANTED, August 2016. K-Town Pops The steeply vertical expanse of Koreatown in Manhattan, fondly nicknamed K-Town, crams an intense scrapbook of neon signage, supermarkets, general stores, beauty parlours and restaurants [...]
The expansive inner city districts of Johannesburg, once sidestepped by tourists, are now thriving with a boost from investment and passionate locals. Ishay Govender-Ypma hits the lively streets and spends some time walking Johannesburg. For SAA Sawubona Magazine, May 2015. The Prince of Newtown Just outside the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown – hunkering and [...]
Tropes on Starving Kids from an 80s Kitchen - Things We Were Told Ishay Govender-Ypma reflects on an 80s youth of big hair, Band Aid and misguided rhetoric. Tropes on Starving Kids. This essay was written for Mail & Guardian. author with neighbourhood kids in the 80s It was the time of Halley’s [...]
