Chef Vusi on changing the focus on African cuisine

A residency with many purposes – award-winning chef Vusi Ndlovu from EDGE in Franschhoek will be giving guests at Farmhouse 58, based in The Cradle of Humankind, a glimpse into his passion for African cuisine this weekend.

Chef Vusi will give a gourmet experience where people will have the opportunity to learn, experience and taste his holistic celebration of Africa.

As The Citizen learned, Chef Vusi’s focus is on under-utilised ingredients, as he talks about the movement to celebrate Africa in the cooking world and a meal he loves repeatedly making.

The Citizen’s interview with Chef Vusi

Q: How would you describe your style and type of food?

A: My style is about [a] holistic celebration of Africa, with a focus on under-utilised ingredients, innovative techniques, and recipes passed down through generations, my Chef-In-residency at 58 is really giving me the opportunity to express my style. I’ll be cooking on flames in the Lapa and elevating what we see at “basic” ingredients to fine-dining levels. I love to cook with indigenous ingredients sourced from local markets, traditional artisans, and I’ll be using ingredients from the farm on the Farmhouse 58 premises. Expect Oysters and beef fat, calamari and grapes, sweetcorn and hay.

Q: African cuisine isn’t as globally recognised or awarded as European or Asian food. 

As a chef, how have you found the reaction to the celebration of Africa and how do you want the continent to be celebrated more?

A: I have noticed that many people we have run into have said that they have had their best meals in Ethiopia, Senegal, Morocco and we do understand that some of the dishes can be challenging to approach but we’ve seen that if we shape them in a familiar manner people react very well to them. I feel that Africans should be more patriotic about their food so the world at large can see what we see in our food. 

We don’t need special awards for African cuisine, we just need patrons to be more open-minded when they try our food and hold African cuisine in the same high regard as they do other popular cuisines. The techniques and the philosophies around African cuisine are just as complex as European and Asian cuisine and we as Africans need to celebrate this more. We shouldn’t wait for the world to celebrate us, we should celebrate us first and the food will speak for itself.

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Q: The recipes you use have been passed through generations, tell us what they are and the meaning or stories behind them.

A: I’m taking childhood ‘basics’ and elevating them. 

Q: Your focus on underutilised ingredients, what are they and how have you spotlighted them in your dishes? 

A: Potato, cabbage, black label beer, boerewors fat, madumbe. This weekend at 58, my menu showcases these dishes.

• Oysters & MCC – dressing made of tomato, tamarind, chilli, and finished with burnt onion vinegar
• Vetkoek with Ethiopian beef tartare – heavily seasoned with chives, salt and Ethiopian – chilli powder and some oil similar to paprika in taste.
• “Pickled fish” – slow-roasted kingklip, onion puree, ember roasted leeks, pickled fish dressing with ginger and prawn
• Charred broccoli, West African groundnut sauce, pickled peanuts, toasted seaweed
• Grilled venison (springbok), sumac, avocado, and gooseberry Duck crown, corn custards, weiss pancake, pickled mushrooms, and stout barbeque sauce
• Palate cleanser: litchi sorbet and ginger and elderflower soda
• Ethically raised beef, grilled baby gem lettuce, fermented vegetables, with a beef fat and brown butter
• “PnP” – Pine roasted butter squash, rooibos and orange gel, white chocolate and peanut crumble, melon seed panna cotta.

Q: The dishes made during Farmhouse 58 residency, please give us a glimpse of what guests could enjoy. 

A: I’ll be cooking dishes like Vetkoek with Ethiopian beef tartare, Fire-roasted cabbage, Zamalek (Black Label Beer) mussel broth, mussels, finished with dill oil, Confit Madumbe.

Confit madumbe (baby potatoes), duck jus, smoked duck biltong, and thyme flowers. 

Q: Who is Chef Vusi and how did he fall in love with food?

A:  I am quite unassuming! People often don’t know what to expect and even think I am from the entertainment industry, when people truly get to know me they discover my layers. I started working at the egg buffet at The Sheraton Hotel – working with one ingredient and mastering it, made me confident but curious too. I wanted to learn more and experiment with more ingredients and food, I started relentless research and social media stalking of globally-renowned chefs, I went on to work in luxury hotels and pursue this passion.

Q: Favourite meal you can make repeatedly? 

A: The glorified Suya spice deserves its own cabinet! I have explored different versions of this, made it myself and applied it to different meats, an ever continuing journey.

Q: Traditional African dishes made modern trend- is it here to stay? 

A: It’s more of a movement to celebrate Africa, the continent and the ingredients we have! My menu for my Farmhouse 58 residency talks to this movement we are seeing, this “ Traditional African dishes made modern” change to focus on our continent.

Our narrative is more exploring African Ingredients and seasonings, like Bebere spice, Teff flour, Mopane worms, suya spice, the list is beautifully long. 

The idea of modernising African cuisine can be seen as offensive and we trying to respect snd pay homage to the traditional dishes. If you had to make a consume out of Pépé soup and if you give that to a Nigerian living in London, they would find that a bit offensive. We just hope that in this ‘trend’ the essence of the dishes and what they stand for isn’t lost.