I drove you to my home town of Cradock from Cape Town via three routes last week. Now let’s get there from Durban and even further north.
Our visits to KwaZulu-Natal are all about family and prawns. The Foodie’s Wife, Diane Cassere, hails from these parts — her/our former editor Tony Heard once said to her, “I hear you’re a Banana Girl!” And she is, still.
My brother-in-law Jules Cassere, meanwhile, eats prawns like I eat skaapstertjies — lots of them, and hungrily. All hands, no utensils. It’s the only way to eat a prawn — or a sheep’s tail. When the clan used to visit Cape Town Jules would take us to Quay Four at the V&A Waterfront where he would order himself, and me, a kilo of prawns. Then, after an hour and another beer or two, he’d say, “Tones, let’s have another kilo…” And we would, unapologetically.
Tony Jackman’s queen prawns with pepper-chilli rice. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
My sister-in-law Dawn is even worse (better?). Her idea of eating a juicy, crunchy prawn is to pick them up, open wide, and — yes, Dawn eats the entire thing, crunching right through the shells, head and all. The whole thing goes down, with a big smile and much licking of lips. Then we all laugh and I pick the shells off my prawns.
