Recipes for Success

'Bread making is one of those hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony'(John Steinbeck)

It's that time of year when festivals are upon us. Diwali. Soon, Christmas will be upon us.Different gods. But the one thing that that unites us is food; preparation, meals, savouries and sweets.

In our family, mince pies are the symbol of Christmas. How I salivate just thinking about those moments as a child, my mother bent over the Aga, the mixture of dried fruit and spices wafting past the Xmas tree and into the lounge. My brothers hoping for the addition of meat suet! And then they would be served. Wafer thin flaky pastry, fruit nestling inside, topped with another layer of pastry, baked, icing sugar gently dusted on top. More than even inheritance squabbles, family recipes are highly contested. My mother swears it cannot be made without Trex, lighter than butter, dairy free. However, like its' namesake T-Rex, it has become unfashionable and hard to come by! Substitutes are smuggled in, protestations that it can never taste the same. Blindfold tastings. Somehow, Trex or not, they all get eaten....

I am reminded of the longevity of recipes, tastes that transport us across the globe and back to what is in front of us. Recently, I was in Fordsburg, Johannesburg. My friend Ishvara took me to a historic church, built in 1897 for Scottish Presbyterians. It entered the history books when its' bell tower was destroyed by the forces of Jan Smuts, attempting to bomb the 1922 strikers in Fordsburg Square. From the 1930s onwards, the church was owned by the Ebenezer Congregational Church, and then Lebanese Maronites. In 1971, a family bought the building and named it The Divine Bakery.

It is an incredible building. Wooden arches cocoon the aroma of warm bread and delicately spiced biscuits, imparting blessings on the bakery. Recipes from the 1970s, many cultures mixed and baked, as Greek almond biscuits slip over koeksisters and hertzoggie, bagels muscle in on naan bread. Naan bread. It instantly took me back to those first forays into the centre of Durban. Victoria Street - puffed up round loaves like spaceships. They had just come out the oven. So light, ready for take-off.

How I long for my mother's mince pies. When last did I have one? Help is at hand. Below my bookshop is anotherdivinebakery. Throughout the year, I have been dropping hints. And now, a freshly baked book, written by Adam Robinson has popped out the oven. Mother's mince pie recipe is hopefully going to be featured.

Time to run-tutti fruiti.

48a Florida Road

Greyville

Durban

4001

Tel: 031 3039214

https://www.ikesbooks.com