Hosted by Taynita Perumal, Bunnies In The Burbs is a web series that has the format of a cooking show.
It's personalised as it is family-orientated and audiences at home (or anywhere really) get front row seats and bear witness to a young and vibrant African millennial sharing home-cooked recipes and insight with her heroes, heroines and peers.
The new season of the show features guests such as the award-winning Afro-jazz guitarist and producer Kunle Ayo, publisher and storyteller Zanele Ndlovu and leading HIV and gender activist Yvette Raphael.
Guests join the host with a delectable mix of recipes from the fast and fantastic, through to ideas for effortless entertaining, big-deal dishes and everything in-between – there’s something for cooks and home-makers of every skill level.
I was joined by Taynita’s mother, Vanessa Perumal who is a force to be reckoned with. She reminds me of my mother in her spirit of togetherness and the need to celebrate the things that make life worth living: family and food, health and hope.
We were hosted by the owners of the Bantu Roving Kitchen, Sifiso Ntuli (the roving Bantu himself), and his wife and artist, Ashley Heron.
Taynita decided on a bunny chow recipe in particular because it is synonymous with South Africa’s rich heritage. And, within the tapestry of our broader national heritage, little pockets of traditions are hemmed into the couture of the country.
Simply put, a bunny chow is a hollowed-out quarter loaf of white bread filled to the brim with Durban-style curry. And it’s the Durban curry, more than the traditional standard-issue white bread into which its ladled, that makes the bunny chow proudly South African.
Many will insist it’s a shame to leave South Africa without having sampled at least one bunny chow.