Make food, not war: Israeli Chef Yotam Ottolenghi (right) and his business partner Sami Tamimi. Photo: Foc Kan/Getty Images
“Chakalaka!”
For British-Israeli chef, writer and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi, this is more than a relish or condiment, as he wrote on Saturday in his weekly food column in The Guardian, it “sounds like a word someone who’s about to save the day would cry out: Chakalaka!”
I like that idea a lot, especially bellowed out in a celebratory tone. For me, this past weekend had at least two “Chakalaka!” moments.
The first “Chakalaka!” goes to the Springboks’ monster scrum that got them a penalty try against Ireland on Saturday night at Loftus Versfeld.
The second one is for the progressive French people who saved the day on Sunday and gave the rightwing fascists a big fat, victorious klap at the polls.
I also liked the premise of Ottolenghi’s column, that a braai is better than a barbecue. Alright, that might be my biased Saffer reading, but he wrote: “Some might jump straight to the flames for the answer: a braai always has a proper fire with wood to cook food on, whereas a barbecue can be called a barbecue whether it’s open flame or gas grill.
“The real difference is in the skills of the braai master, who skilfully delivers juicy meat, homemade boerewors (sausages), braaibroodjie (braai bread — think barbecued toasties) and potjie (cast-iron pots buried in embers and cooked for hours).”
His post on Instagram about the column had lots of happy South Africans ululating, because Ottolenghi is quite a big deal.
For the uninitiated some background. In 2002, Ottolenghi with his friend and business partner, the Palestinian Sami Tamimi, founded the eponymous Ottolenghi restaurant in London. They now own seven delis and restaurants.
His cookery books, especially 2012’s Jerusalem which he co-wrote with Tamimi, and which is named after the city of their birth, albeit on different sides of the violent divide, have become staples on many bookshelves around the world.
For politically inclined people, it is worth noting that, while he is not the most political of people, Ottolenghi is not a Zionist. In an interview with The Times he said: “I think the occupation of the West Bank is the mother of all evils.”
That was before the war on Gaza. Tamimi has recently organised a food market fundraiser to help victims of the conflict in Gaza. He sent the proceeds to the Amos Trust emergency Gaza appeal.