South African Chef Uses Immigrant Cuisine to Challenge Xenophobia

As hostility toward immigrants grows in South Africa, self-taught chef Sandile Tshabalala is using food to promote cultural understanding through the Yeoville Dinner Club in Johannesburg. Known as Sanza, the 51-year-old chef serves communal meals celebrating immigrant cuisines, particularly those of people from other African countries, in a country experiencing renewed anti-immigrant sentiment and violence.

Launched about a decade ago, the dinner club reflects Tshabalala's commitment to showcasing the culinary traditions of immigrant communities. The venture gained momentum after he appeared on an Anthony Bourdain show, and it takes its name from Yeoville, the Johannesburg neighborhood where he previously lived.

At a long table accommodating two dozen people, guests share family-style meals inspired by different cultures. Tshabalala's approach centers on discovering ingredients, cooking techniques and flavors in immigrant-owned restaurants and incorporating them into his own culinary creations.

During a visit to Al Raza, a Pakistani restaurant in Fordsburg, a Johannesburg neighborhood known as a South Asian hub, Tshabalala explored dishes including beef nihari, chickpea stew, butter chicken and flatbread. The experience prompted ideas for combining Pakistani beef with amagwinya, South African fried dough, or incorporating it into a stew inspired by gumbo.

At the restaurant, Tshabalala described his approach to food as a way of connecting personal identity with unfamiliar culinary traditions.

"Taste the dish and then find yourself," Tshabalala said.

His visits to immigrant-run eateries also demonstrate the personal relationships behind his cooking. He regularly visits small restaurants in parts of Johannesburg that many South Africans consider unsafe, greeting cooks from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Congo with the familiarity of old friends.

South Africa has faced renewed anti-immigrant tensions in recent months, with protests fueled by claims that foreigners contribute to crime, strain public resources and take jobs from local residents. Surveys cited in the source indicate growing public hostility toward immigrants, while politicians have embraced or reinforced those sentiments.

Against that backdrop, Tshabalala hopes shared meals can help counter xenophobia. His dinner club offers a setting in which guests encounter immigrant communities through their food and culinary traditions rather than through the political disputes surrounding migration.