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Would you like to get a glimpse of South African culture? If yes, then visit the ninth edition of Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) where South African brands are offering a taste of South African cuisine and the South African Embassy's booth is sharing about the Rainbow Nation's cultural heritage.
From traditional face-painting popular amongst the Xhosa community showcasing African beauty, to offering South African delicacies, and disseminating information about the country, the South African Embassy is doing it all.
South African franchisees Ocean Basket and Nando's are offering sumptuous delicacies.
Ocean Basket one of the most popular South African seafood restaurants has an array of delicacies which feature sushi among other foods. The dishes include prince prawns tempura and chips, salmon California roll, fried crab California roll, among others.
The Nando's stand presents the peri-peri curly fries with perinaise, peri-peri chicken wings with perinaise and chicken livers and garlic roll. Also on offer is the popular peri-peri sauce in different flavours, including hot, mild and garlic.
South African Ambassador to Qatar HE Faizel Moosa said that the food stalls will introduce the taste of South Africa to the world.
He said that people from different nationalities are visiting the South African Embassy booth since the festival kicked off Thursday."And that's the spirit we want to bring to Qatar through our food," he said.
South African cuisine, the ambassador said, is influenced by many cultures."There were the indigenous people. Then the British came to colonise us. The Dutch came too. The British brought slaves from India to work in Durban while the Dutch brought Indonesians and Malaysians. Each one of them brought their own food. We really have a diverse array of food such that anyone who flies to South Africa can identify with."
Moosa added that with 3,000 kilometres of coastline, South Africa offers a lot of seafood."We also have got a lot of Malaysia-inspired food."
He added that there are many South African chefs working in kitchens and cooking food in Qatar's hotels."That is an indication that South African culinary professionals are sought after in the world," he said.
The ambassador said that South African dishes have similarities with Arabian food too."We use spices just like in Arabian food. We use cardamom in almost everything," he said.
Talking about the South African franchisees, Nando's and Ocean Basket, the Ambassador said,"Nando's has nine branches in Qatar which is a good footprint for Qatar. Ocean Basket has just one outlet and they are looking at opening more branches."
Talking about their presence at the festival, the ambassador said the response was very good."We will definitely be back next year and we will do something more spectacular. It is a good opportunity for us to showcase our culinary offering as well as our hospitality. South Africans are known to be extremely hospitable. The festival presents us the opportunity for people to visit South Africa," he said.
Nando's Qatar Head of Operations Steven Holloway said the food festival is getting better and better every year.
Commenting on Nando's, he said,"Everyday, we try our best to enhance our experience and showcase what is unique in the market."
Maria, a supervisor at the Nando's stand, said that people from various communities have been visiting the stand since QIFF opened.
Tono, a waiter at the Ocean Basket stand said that everything they sold at the stand was fresh. He said that they were receiving quite a good flow of customers.
