Mental Meanderings: Capetown, South Africa

Meanderings

Nov 28

MENTAL MEANDERINGS IS OUR ONGOING SERIES FOR ALL OF US WHO PROBABLY CAN’T HOP ON A PROPELLER PLANE TO BORNEO THIS WEEKEND BUT STILL NEEDS TO SATISFY OUR CHRONIC WANDERLUST.

We highlight a city somewhere around the world and give you all of the pieces you need to close your eyes and have a little 10-minute vacation. We hope you’ll be inspired to watch a movie, listen to a new song, pick up a book by a new author, or try cooking a new dish for dinner that brings a far-off corner of the world into your living room for a bit.

Happy daydreams!

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HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GET A TASTE OF THE CITY, AND BRING IT INTO YOUR HOME…

LISTEN

Instantly recognisable by it’s opening chords, Mannenberg is an instrumental classic by the jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim. Driven into exile by the apartheid regime, Ibrahim released this Cape jazz classic in the early 1970s, and named it after the coloured township of the Western Cape, Manenberg, which remains a testament to the insidiousness of apartheid policies. It’s regarded as part of the fabric that is the struggle against apartheid, and a beautiful piece of the cultural history of South Africa.

READ

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WATCH

Over the last several years Cape Town has become an incredible shooting location for a whole host of films, whether they required it for the plot or not. You can catch glimpses of those stunning coastlines in everything from Tomb Raider to Safe House. Obviously, with a history as complex and complicated as South Africa, there are also some truly beautiful and important films which tell textured stories of country’s history which we think are really worth diving into. We love the beautiful telling of Black Butterflies, which tells the true story of Ingrid Jonker, an iconic South African poet who was famous for her outspokenness and disobedience during Apartheid. Like most everyone else, we’re charmed by Invictus, the beautiful story of the 1995 South African rugby team. But for our pick, it has to be Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.

Honorable mention, though, should definitely go to one of our very favorite documentaries; , the Oscar-winning 2013 film Searching For Sugarman. It’s an absolutely incredible story about the strange success of American musician Rodriguez in apartheid South Africa — completely unbeknownst to the singer himself. The film follows the attempts of two Cape Town fans trying to track him down, and if you’re not familiar with it, you’re in for a treat.

EAT
When you’re craving comfort food, why not try the ultimate South African take on cozy dishes - bobotie. It’s the unofficial national dish, simple to put together from a lot of panty items, and absolutely delicious. Give it a try!