Live band at La Negrita The cultural capital of the Yucatán peninsular, Mérida is a compact city rich in colonial history with cosmopolitan flair and has the region’s broadest span of dining options, from market stalls and mobile kiosks to glamourous dining in lavish haciendas. Mérida Food Guide, written for Fine Dining Lovers. [...]
Wattleseeds Aboriginal cooks and chefs weigh in on the native ingredients made popular by famous restaurants in Australia. Written for Fine Dining Lovers, 1 June 2017. Rayleen Brown A Café Up North At Kungas Can Cook, a café in Alice Springs serving food like burgers, salads, ice teas, pies and brownies, [...]
Zayaan Khan, image by Ishay Govender-Ypma Food activist, seed librarian and community-driven leader, Zayaan Khan is changing the foodscape from the ground up. Written for Kulula's inflight magazine, Khuluma, 21 June 2017 Food As Sustenance, Knowledge, Life “Try this,” Capetonian Zayaan Khan (32) says, a headscarf draped loosely bandana-style over her cropped [...]
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 [...]
Beyond the glittery resorts in Zanzibar, Tanzania, we meet a family in a village who allow us a glimpse into Zanzibari food culture. For Business Day WANTED magazine, April 2016
Show Me the Way to the Next Corner Store - Cape Town, South Africa The small, independently run Cape Town Corner Stores are a dying breed, and those that still exist, do so valiantly and against the odds. Ishay Govender-Ypma shares the stories of seven local old stores, institutions to their loyal customers. For High Life, [...]
Queens – Feasting Along the 7 Line. A Mini Guide Known as the International Express, Ishay Govender-Ypma leaves the familiarity of Manhattan and the hip eateries in Brooklyn for dollar-dining and diversity along the 7-subway line in Queens. *This article was written for Business Day Wanted Magazine, October 2015* Finally, it’s our turn at [...]
Mine are the hands. For Juanita For Juanita, Elsa's grandmother. Back story from my Instagram account: Juanita is an indigenous Raramuri woman from Cerocahui, a small town at the base of the Urique Canyon in the Copper Canyon. Her granddaughter invited us to their home unannounced, and despite being surprised, Jaunita made us freshly ground thick [...]
Bharatanatyam in Chennai, Rhythm City The ancient art of classical Bharatanatyam dance has undergone a revival. Ishay Govender-Ypma returns to her ancestral roots in Chennai, India to explore further. For Singapore Airlines Priority Club magazine. Her dark eyes are lined thickly in kohl, intimating the drama of a doe trapped in tragic light. She is [...]
The Durban Curry - Kwa-Zulu Natal Spice Pot The cuisine of the Indian descendants, whose forbears arrived in Durban to work on the sugar cane fields under British rule in the late 1800s, has remained and grown to represent a significant culinary contribution to both the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the food of South [...]
How Travel Bloggers Influence your Travel Decisions - The New Guard Lola Akinmade - image provided Travel bloggers have long replaced the travel agent and guidebook as the go-to source for travellers today. Ishay Govender-Ypma chatted to some key players* This was written for Mail & Guardian 28 March 2015 If you are a [...]
Honest Café – Crowdfunding in Cape Town, a Success Story Honest Café - image supplied A Cape Town raw chocolate café is the first of its kind in the city. It’s a crowdfunding success story. Ishay Govender-Ypma explores the concept for Business Day. The People’s Choice “Have you tried our banana bread bunny [...]
VUSI KUNENE - Meet the Sushi King of Maboneng image by MARTIN RHODES Vusi Kunene, entrepreneur and owner of The Blackanese Sushi & Wine Bar in Maboneng Precinct, had a first encounter with sushi that would stop most in their tracks. *For Business Day* Working as a car guard at one stage and [...]
A go-to flop proof vanilla sponge recipe with master baker Mari-Louis Guy for Woman & Home April 2014
Soweto Calling For PnP Travel Ideas Magazine March 2014 Soweto (South Western Townships), once dusty, desolate and submerged in poverty with a reputation for being dangerous, has blossomed with vibrancy and artistic vigour, a welcoming place containing some of the most important historical sites in South Africa. Soweto for Travel Ideas magazine [...]
I See a Different You - SCENE Magazine Published in SCENE Magazine, Feb 2014 I see a different you Three lads from Pimville, Soweto in Johannesburg, are slowly changing the way we view townships and African life, by creating stylized, sartorial visuals of themselves in ordinary settings. The portraits encapsulate their experience of [...]
Expats Creating Waves on the Food Scene This article was written for Etihad Inflight Magazine, December 2013 From Europe to Asia and beyond, expats are becoming the new culinary connoisseurs, working with locals and local produce to showcase the most delectable aspects of their new chosen lands to a curious tourist market. The rise of [...]
Is it Halaal? The Gap in the South African Restaurant Market This piece was written for Mango Juice Inflight magazine, November 2013 Notes: this is a complex, multi-layered issue that I investigated over two months. The piece is not meant to be technical and needed to be brief. The more academically accepted spelling halaal is used, though [...]
South African Traditional Food - 4 local personalities weigh in This piece was published by Mango Juice Inflight magazine, October 2013 Soul Food When he lived in little village of Qunu, in the former Transkei, Nelson Mandela ate ukutya kwasekhaya or ‘home food’ like calabash fermented amasi (sour milk) and imifino (wild spinach and mielie [...]
Atelier Amaro: Poland's First Michelin Starred Restaurant - a snapshot of my dining experience.
