Curry & Bread: a taste of South African Indian culture

BLEDNING memoir, humour, and vignette into a richly textured collage, Curry & Bread is Pravasan Pillay’s offbeat and deeply personal exploration of food and foodways among working-class South African Indians - as well as a reflection on his own culinary memories.

Now living in Sweden, Pillay also shares glimpses of how his palate and cooking practices have adjusted in a new land, from experimental dhals to philosophical musings on frozen curry leaves.

“The title references a regular meal - curry and white bread - that I ate growing up in Durban and into adulthood,” Pillay explains.

“It’s a makeshift, working-class meal. I’m interested in the foodways of South African Indians, and I try to capture this in the book through memoir, humour, lists, and vignettes. I’m not attempting anything definitive or academic - it’s meant to be funny, and it’s my highly personal portrait. The title also refers obliquely to the contents of the book - some pieces are light and humorous, while others are more melancholic. The form and structure were very important to me.”

The book’s unique structure invites the reader into an emotional and sensory journey, alternating between playful, reflective, and poignant moments. Among its gems are tongue-in-cheek guides to eating bunny chows and messy crab curries, an affectionate look at Indian aunties and their obsession with reusing ice cream containers, and an ode to the humble baked beans curry. It’s a literary breyani - rich in flavour, layered in meaning.

“Pravasan’s work is often described as humorous - there’s usually a warm, light-heartedness to it,” says Curry & Bread publisher Gary Cummiskey.

“But there’s also a nostalgic aspect. His writing frequently looks back to an earlier time - childhood, adolescence - a period of innocence. Yet beneath this is an undercurrent of sadness, of loss and broken dreams. His work is like life itself: a blend of light and dark. Curry & Bread reveals this mixture through its form and texture.”

Pillay adds: “I don’t usually write with a message in mind. My aim was to create a collage of my personal food experiences and the food culture I grew up with. I hadn’t really thought deeply about these things until I moved to Sweden. Cold Swedish winters can make a person very philosophical about mutton bunny chows.”

Curry & Bread is available from www.madeindurban.co.za and will be launched at the Eduvos Durban International Book Fair, which will take place from August 14 to 18 in Umhlanga.

* Pravasan Pillay is the author of four chapbooks: Glumlazi (2009), 30 Poems (2015), Aiyo! (2023), and Litchis (2025), as well as the co-written comedic short story collection Shaggy (2013). His acclaimed short story collection Chatsworth was published in 2018 and translated into Swedish in 2020.

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