Derban Heritage Center celebrates culture through food festival and garden tour

Heritage is reflected in the stories we tell, the traditions we preserve, and the memories we create together. For some South Africans, the feeling of home is associated with familiar music, the smell of barbecue, a family recipe, a Sunday dinner at the table, or the sound of wild birds in the distance.

Angelique Yse van Rensburg, one of the finalists of the Mrs South Africa 2026 competition, believes that heritage is the feeling of being surrounded by loved ones. This is reflected in the way we communicate, the jokes, the support, and daily life, as well as the feeling of coming home. Angelique Yse van Rensburg highly values family traditions that unite generations.

Gather Around the Table

A family meal can become a tradition without a formal announcement. Several Mrs South Africa finalists shared their views on the importance of shared meals. Megan Kaister recalls family dinners as a time for conversation and sharing stories, while Angelique aims to continue the tradition of family breakfasts and dinners. On this Heritage Day, it is worth setting aside time for a meal that is often postponed. Put away phones and spend more time at the table.

Megan Kaister is convinced that shared experiences create memories worthy of passing on.

Light the Barbecue Fire

A South African celebration would be incomplete without a barbecue. The finalists repeatedly mentioned barbecue, including boerewors, steak, ribs, braaibroodjies, and potato salad. Behind these dishes are the people who make the celebration unforgettable: the family barbecue master, the grandmother with the legendary recipe, or the person insisting on the best marinade. The essence here is not the perfect menu, but bringing people together.

We should not forget the four-legged members of the family. Angelique notes that in her family, dogs are treated like children, and Karika Beb describes pets as a source of unconditional love. For Aleche Landman, growing up surrounded by animals also meant learning responsibility and care for nature. Therefore, it is worth adding treats for beloved pets and lots of affection to the checklist.

Create a Memory Worth Passing On

The finalists spoke about the values they hope to see in the next generation: kindness, dignity, hard work, humor, resilience, and responsibility. These qualities are formed in everyday moments—through how we treat people and care for the places we call home. Heritage is also what we choose to continue doing. It could be a Sunday tradition or a story told again and again.

Aleche Landman highly values the lifelong connection with nature and animals. Mrs South Africa 2026 promoter and advocate for Soft Landings, Dotsure, believes that the most valuable thing in us is reflected in how we care for everything we hold dear. Although Heritage Day may fall on September 24th, there is no reason for the entire checklist to fit into one day. Brew tea, light the fire, call family, let the dog onto the couch. Then create memories worth inheriting.

Traditional cuisine will be the central theme at the Food Heritage Festival, which takes place at the 1860 Heritage Centre on Saturday, September 12th. The event will bring together Durban families to celebrate the tastes, memories, and cultural traditions shaped by the experience of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa.

The festival, held at 1 Derby Street, Greyville, will feature demonstrations of old dishes, live cooking shows, and entertainment. Among the participants in the cooking workshops are Tigam Natu and Solina (Mudli) Naidu, who will share recipes based on personal family experiences. This event is part of the Centre's efforts to preserve the history and heritage of South Africans of Indian descent.

Stories Through Cuisine

For Tigam Natu, food was an integral part of family life from an early age. She recalls becoming her mother's assistant in the kitchen, participating in kneading, whipping, chopping, and stirring. A special memory for her comes from preparing for Diwali, when she and her sister helped dye almonds, mix filling for poli, and roll soji vaurande in hot syrup. These early lessons contributed to her lifelong love of cooking. Later education in hospitality and hotel management expanded her skills from preparing individual portions to cooking for large groups.

Natu's culinary journey took on a Gujarati flavour after marriage, as her mother-in-law introduced her to a new range of dishes and mithai. At the festival, she will present Gujarati Banana Curry and Bajji—a dish that initially seemed unusual due to the combination of ripe banana with spicy tomato chutney, mint leaves, and a gram flour base. For Natu, this dish carries a strong family memory, as it was a favourite at weekly family dinners at her mother-in-law's home.

Evolution of Culinary Traditions

Solina Naidu's culinary journey also began at home, in the kitchen of her mother and three 'perimas' in Chatsworth. At the festival, she will demonstrate her Perima's Chicken and Lentil Curry in Durban style. Like Natu, Naidu's culinary skills developed in a home setting, among women who cooked mostly intuitively rather than from written recipes. By the age of 12, she could already cook some classic Indo-South African dishes independently.

Her main mentors were her mother and three aunts—her 'perimas,' who ultimately inspired the story of Perima's Kitchen, through which she seeks to preserve the knowledge and flavours passed down through generations. Naidu wants to show how small, thoughtful changes can start with familiar and beloved ingredients. However, for her, food is more than just ingredients; she remembers how her love for fish curry began during a family vacation in Spiopenkop, when her uncle Kessi cooked it over a fire. For her, the power of food lies in how scent or taste can connect a person to a person, a place, and a memory.

This connection is central to the broader story of heritage. Selvan Naidu, Director of the 1860 Heritage Centre, describes kanjikerai (rice porridge and wild greens) as a marker of acculturated identity, demonstrating how Indian indentured communities adapted their culinary traditions to the living conditions in South Africa. Indentured labourers integrated locally available ingredients into their cuisine, creating traditions that reflected both their Indian origins and the new African environment. Dishes featuring ingredients such as maize meal, amadumbe, dried fish, and local herbs became part of the evolving Indo-South African dietary culture. The resulting cuisine tells a story of migration, adaptation, resilience, and cultural exchange.

Solina Naidu believes that preserving this history requires the active participation of modern families. She emphasizes that 'our food tells the story of our origins,' and that South African Indian cuisine carries stories of migration, resilience, adaptation, family, and community. The Food Heritage Festival provides visitors with an opportunity to experience this history through food, and the program also includes tours of the Centre's exhibitions and artifact room.

Tigam Natu advises that perhaps one simple ingredient should never be excluded from any recipe—the chef's state of mind. She warns: 'Do not cook if you are in a bad mood. It definitely affects the food.'