Twenty years ago, South Africans didn’t know their crème brule from their profiterole, their crème fraiche from their mascarpone. Today, you’d be hard pressed to find a self respecting urban yuppie without a set of ramekins and a kitchen blow torch.
The world has opened up to South Africa since it opened up to the majority of its people. But there was a time when down at the tip of Africa sanctions excluded us from much of the world’s economic and cultural life in payment for our sins.
The impact on the dessert life of South Africans was telling. Neapolitan ice cream, that tricolor brick of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, reigned supreme and fridge tarts adorned doilied cake plates. Amidst political upheaval and fiery words from “die groot krokodil” we buried our unease in bowls of ice cream and piled high the milktart and cheesecake.
With liberation, the winds of change blew vanilla and lavender scented life into popular desserts. Stracciatella and cappuccino eclipsed Neapolitan and biscotti gave Ouma a run for her money.
Maybe I’m over politicising the dessert profile of the last few decades, but when Cadbury’s recently launched their Local n Lekker range of chocolates, the comforting flavours couldn’t help but remind me of my childhood years when the country was crazy.
Fortunately, my husband Pat’s illustrations on the covers of the slabs look nothing like eighties food photography. Because Pat had hewn the images from naught on his MacBook and they had come to rest on the slabs, we had to try all the flavours as soon as the range was launched. I sublimated my less edifying associations and focused on determining the winning flavour.
After much consumption and debate, we both agree that the Mint Fridge Tart is the winner with the strawberry filled top-deck style of the Neapolitan a close second. Cheesecake and milk tart come in third and fourth.
I wonder if the prisoners on Robben Island ever got milk tart.
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