Our seafood is legendary, and is best sampled at one of the West Coast's open air restaurants - not much more than simple shelters on the beach. As well as mussels, fish stew, grilled fish and lobster, you may be offered pickled fish - a well-loved dish that you'll also find in some traditional Cape Malay restaurants. Other Malay specialities include fruity, spicy but not overpowering curries, smoorsnoek (a fish dish not unlike kedgeree), koeksusters (a sweet, syrupy treat), bobotie (a spicy mince dish) and some Indian specialities, such as rotis and samoosas, with a local twist.

But our cuisine truly is multicultural, and nowhere is this more apparent than at a typical South African braai (barbecue). Now braais are assumed to be the domain of the Afrikaner male but the reality is not nearly so simplistic. Yes, there is an awesome amount of meat, most notably the very Afrikaner boerewors (a spicy, fatty sausage) but there will almost certainly be sosaties too. This is a lightly curried meat kebab, not unlike an Indonesian satay, which was brought to this country by the Malays hundreds of years ago. And, of course, no braai is complete without pap en sous, which is the staple diet of most of Africa. It's a grits-like maize porridge, cooked up stiff, and served with a relish of vegetables, usually tomato and onion at a braai, or wild spinach (merogo or imifino) in a traditional African environment. You'll get the opportunity to try this at most cultural villages, or at one of the many African restaurants, which are scattered all over the country.