A culinary exchange with the community

If you truly want to understand South Africa, start with its food. This is a country full of spices, stories and cultures – and the kitchen is where they come alive. During a cooking class with local hosts, you’ll discover not just recipes, but the people behind them.

Your culinary journey begins in Bo-Kaap, the heart of Cape Malay culture. In a colourful home in this iconic neighbourhood, you’ll prepare traditional dishes alongside a local host – authentic, welcoming and wonderfully flavourful. Later, along the Garden Route, you head into the countryside: on a working farm, you’ll learn how to make a classic Afrikaans dessert – and of course enjoy a proper braai, cooked over real wood, never gas.

This isn’t a traditional cooking school – it’s a genuine exchange. You learn, you laugh, you cook, you eat – and you leave with far more than just a recipe.

South Africa is often called the “rainbow nation” – and you can taste it too. Cape Malay cuisine is a fascinating blend of Indonesian, Malay and East African influences, shaped by the history of slavery in the Cape. Classics such as bobotie, koesisters or dhaltjies are not only delicious – they tell stories of origin and identity.

Further inland, farm-style cooking with Afrikaans roots offers hearty, comforting dishes: baking a milk tart, grilling meat over an open fire, sharing stories around the campfire – it’s hospitality at its purest.

Cooking alongside local people gives you far more than a good meal – it immerses you in authentic ways of life. And the memory of those moments often lasts far longer than the taste on your tongue.