Hi Abigail, what’s the story behind your restaurant, 4Roomed EKasi Culture?
I was a dental technician until 2014 when I appeared on MasterChef South Africa’s third season. Afterwards, I became a restaurateur, opening 4Roomed right here in the township I grew up in. The name comes from the standard four-roomed homes found in the oldest townships across the country. When my mother moved us to Khayelitsha in the ’80s, she built an incredible community by welcoming people to stay with us. The four-roomed homes were about sharing; there were no fences between homes. And I grew up thinking we were all family.
What’s the concept behind your South African township cuisine?
You’ll find a lot of South African restaurants don’t serve South African-inspired meals. It’s become a lot about fast food because of the demands of work and life. With our cuisine, we want to tell stories about growing up in a township. We want to evoke nostalgia and pride.
