International Food week

Last week saw the first (of hopefully many!) GVI Cape Town International Food Festival. As we had a large group of different nationalities it was suggested we have a week of special dinners where each group prepared a dish representing their country. Australia (Chris, Annie, Claire and Sarah) kicked off the week on Monday with a barbeque featuring Vegemite snacks and delicious rissoles but the best part was their after dinner activity which was a raucous lesson on drinking your tea through a Tim-Tam!

Next up was Ireland (Aoife and Jim) with a mainly liquid focussed approach! The main dish was a lovely lamb stew accompanied by Guiness, followed by Bailieys then Irish Coffee while we watched an entertaining Irish dancing performance. Wednesday saw Lulama prepare traditional South African Stampmielles which is always a hit!

Then Thursday was a big effort from the British (Kevin, Emilia, Alice and Kate) as we had some VIP guests! We were honoured to be joined by Mama Lumka, her husband Wellington and twin daughters Bongi and Bongiswa. Mama had never tried British food before so jumped at the chance to and wasn’t disappointed. She, and particularly Wellington, enjoyed the traditional roast beef but the highlight for Mama was the bread and butter pudding which she refused to leave without the recipe for! The after dinner activity was a hilarious game of eat the sweet from the mountain of flour without your hands which everyone, including Mama and Wellington, got stuck into, literally in some cases!

The week came to a close with North and South America (Chris, Brigette, Catalina and Will) teaming up to make a tasty feast of nachos, fajitas and huge banana splits and a salsa performance thrown in for good measure. When all the eating was over it came to the vote. It was a close run affair in a number of categories but the run away overall winner was Ireland. Well done Aoife and Jim and well done everyone for a great effort all round!

International Food week