Of all my cherished possessions, The Cape Malay Cookbook by Faldela Williams ranks high on the list. Inherited from my mother, this book has survived butter stains and dough imprints, tracing my earliest attempts at making rotis and Sunday koe’sisters. Even after all these years, it has somehow managed to preserve its condition. I like to think of it as a testament to Faldela’s enduring legacy.

The Cape Malay Cook

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1949, Faldela Williams grew up in District Six, an area with a rich cultural landscape and history. From an early age, she was introduced to spices, herbs and the distinct flavours that define Cape Malay cuisine – barishap (fennel), karamonk (cardamom), aniseed and jeera, to name but a few.

Like many great cooks, her earliest culinary lessons were taught by her grandmother, who was also an influential member of the Bo-Kaap community.

“As a ten year old, I was allowed to help decorate the biscuits and clean the vegetables. Later on, my Saturdays were spent frying koesisters because my grandmother was also a koesister vendor,” recalls Williams in her cookbook.

Those ordinary tasks, like helping her grandmother prepare bredie, breyani and blatjang, would lay down the blueprint for her career and inspire Faldela to publish her first of three works, The Cape Malay Cookbook, published in 1988.

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A Culinary & Cultural Icon

The Cape Malay Cookbook is not simply a compilation of recipes. For many, it’s considered a cultural artefact – a rich tapestry of recipes passed down from generation to generation; the same recipes that were often only shared by word of mouth and recited by heart.

Whilst gathering recipes, Faldela mentions that she “found great difficulty in obtaining the exact quantities for the ingredients, as most of the older Malay cooks estimate rather than measure the amounts required.” In fact, this is true for many traditional Cape Malay dishes.

Though the term ‘Cape Malay’ implies Malaysian origins, it actually refers to slaves from Java, Indonesia – previously known as the ‘Dutch East Indies’ – who were forcibly removed from their homeland by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Because many of these enslaved peoples (often of Muslim faith) spoke a lingua franca known as ‘Behasa Malayu’ (Malaysian language) and were brought to the Cape of Good Hope, they were referred to as the ‘Cape Malays’. Those with culinary talents became cooks in Dutch households. Recipes like bobotie, melktert, and more, were created during this period, but few were recorded.

Faldela’s works ultimately safeguarded Cape Malay culture, while appealing to a younger generation of home cooks who didn’t have their grandmothers’ recipes archived, nor an introduction to Cape Malay cuisine. Shaykh Yusuf da Costa (1938-2018), a respected lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, said it best:

“The importance of her effort lies not only in her giving recognition to the major contribution made by different peoples of Asian origin to South African cuisine, but also in her interesting pieces of social history that are found with some of the recipes.”

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Faldela Williams’ Enduring Legacy

For the Cape Malay, coloured community and beyond, Faldela’s influence was as prominent then as it is today. Then, it provided insight into religious festivals and ceremonies, such as Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr and Rampisny, allowing a better understanding of the cultural significance of certain recipes, and with it, the Cape Malay community.

Though based on traditional dishes, which were shaped by Indonesian and Indian cuisine and Dutch influence, Faldela adapted them – noting that she tested many of the recipes and consulted culinary doyens and community pillars – as many were not scribed in cookbooks. Furthermore, it wasn’t common for women to buy cookbooks at the time, as they believed it was an indication of one’s cooking skills, or lack thereof.

After the notable success of her first cookbook, Faldela wrote More Cape Malay Cooking (1991), and The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook (2007). Having been a wedding caterer, Faldela and her son, Saadiq, also decided to open a restaurant named after her.

Sadly, Faldela passed away six weeks after having suffered a heart attack in May 2014. She was survived by her husband of 39 years, Ebrahim Williams, and their remaining two children, Riefqah and Aisha, and her grandkids. Although no longer with us, Faldela’s legacy continues to live on in the homes and hearts of many cooks, both young and old.

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