C. Louis Leipoldt and the Role of the "Cape Malay" in South African Cookery

Abstract

The famous Afrikaans poet C. Louis Leipoldt (1880-1947) has long been misread as a nationalist writer. During the first half of the 20th century, Leipoldt's poetry seemed to be in sympathy with Afrikaner nationalism, and since his death he has mostly been remembered for this element of his work. Recent scholarship reveals a different Leipoldt, one fiercely anti-nationalist in his unpublished English fiction and more openly aggressive in his non-fiction prose. Leipoldt regularly wrote about food and culinary traditions in South Africa and used his knowledge of local cuisine to argue against notions of "authentic Afrikaner dishes", instead insisting that the earliest authorities behind original South African dishes came from the "Cape Malay" population of the Western Cape. This article aims to explore Leipoldt's cosmopolitan argument against political, sectional possessiveness in the cultural development of South Africa between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, with a sustained focus on the importance of food as a cultural marker.

Opsomming
Die bekende Afrikaanse skrywer C. Louis Leipoldt (1880-1947) is vir 'n lang tyd verkeerdelik bestempel as 'n nasionalistiese skrywer. Gedurende die eerste helfte van die 20ste eeu is sy poesie beskou as simpatiek teenoor Afrikanernasionalisme, en sedert sy dood word hy grootliks hiervoor onthou. Onlangse studies beweer egter dat Leipoldt inderdaad anti-nasionalisties was in sy ongepubliseerde Engelse fiksie en selfs openlik aggressief in sy niefiksie. Leipoldt het ook heelwat geskryf oor kos en die kookkunstradisie in Suid-Afrika en het sy kennis van die plaaslike kookkuns gebruik om te argumenteer dat daar nie iets soos "outentieke Afrikanerdisse" be­staan nie, maar dat die vroegste bewyse vir Suid-Afrikaanse resepte eerder gevind kan word in die kookkuns van die "Kaaps-Maleise" bevolking in die Wes-Kaap. Hierdie artikel ondersoek Leipoldt se kosmopolitiese argument teen die politieke, seksionele besitname van die kulturele ontwikkeling in Suid-Afrika tussen die mid- 19de en vroeg-20ste eeu, met die fokus op kos as 'n kulturele merker.