Short description
This is not only a book for the cook and the connoisseur, but for everyone able to appreciate exquisite prose, for everyone interested in encountering one of our great poets writing about something that fascinated him throughout his life – the preparation of good food and the enjoyment and value of wine.
Long description
C Louis Leipoldt said the following in the introduction to his book Cape Cookery:
“When I returned from Europe in 1914, it was a labour of love to collect cookery manuscripts, and to compare what they contained with the printed collections of directives that date from the year 1483. I found the task of comparing and collating so entrancing, the search for recipes in manuscript so exciting and the pride of possessing interesting rarities so uplifting, that what had begun as a passing fancy remained as a serious and not altogether unproductive study.”
Probably the finest and without doubt the most entertaining fruit of this highly productive study is the series of 55 articles he published in Afrikaans under the rubric Kelder en Kombuis in Die Huisgenoot between 1942 and 1947. These have been translated into English, to them has been added a translation of Leipoldt’s article on Bredie published in Die Huisgenoot in 1933, and to both have been added over 30 black and white photographs depicting with nostalgia the South Africa of yesteryear. The result is Leipoldt’s Cellar & Kitchen, an affordable and handsome volume, which also contains an introduction by the editor T S Emslie and a memoir entitled My Life with Doc by Dr Peter Shields.
Leipoldt’s Cellar & Kitchen is a delectable, amusing, insightful record of cultural and social history at the Cape, delightfully observed and nostalgically expressed by the pre-eminent connoisseur of Cape cookery. Leipoldt writes about food and wine expressively as a poet, authoritatively as a medical doctor and botanist, and with the humility of the expert enthusiast. The ingredients of this book spring both literally and metaphorically from the soil of South Africa, articulating and preserving wonderful facets of Afrikaans culture and heritage. Yet Leipoldt is a writer who transcends boundaries – an “apostle-true” son of South Africa, he was a citizen of the world.