I have been wanting to say something about being vegan in South Africa...
Where to start?
When I lived here in 2002, I was vegan then too. I had my own place and cooked for myself and it was no problem. Travelling around I don't remember much hassle, but I don't think I ate out much.
Last December it was fine too, but by the end of the trip I felt my nutrition starting to flag. We ate out a lot and it was hard to get a balanced diet.
I've realized that I must be VERY specific when ordering food or drinks here to make sure they are vegan because the menus don't often say all that is in a dish or drink.
Take for example some chai I had a few weeks ago. The menu had two chais: One with milk and one with "just hot water." Since they didn't carry soy milk (called soya here) I asked for the one with just hot water. I assumed I would get a chai tea bag in a pot of hot water (nearly always in a pot, never just a mug, I love it) but it came in a tall glass mug: a creamy chunky substance!!! Oh no! It was powdered chai! I love chai and have looked at every single powdered chai I have ever come across just hoping that I will find one that is vegan. They all have milk, or milk derivites in them. Every single one. And so did this one.
Later that day we were at a Tibetian Teahouse. They had a "Tibetian salty butter tea." I thought, hey, lets try something new. This place did have soy milk so I got Tibetian salty butter tea made with soy millk. It didn't occur to me that there might be other stuff in there too. Like butter perhaps? Yes, Tibetian salty butter tea has butter in it. And its salty. I drank a bit of it, but it was really buttery. So its not just a name: Tibetian salty butter tea. It has salt and butter in it. Tibet is a high and cold place and these high and cold places often use lots of animal products. The teahouse did have vegan ice cream which I devored with a passion only seen by friends of vegans who haven't had access to vegan ice cream in several months. Jared was lucky he got a few bites. I don't share sweets well.
So it is necessary to ask very specifically what is in the food and drinks and to not order something if in doubt.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Christmas in Cape Town
I'm still not used to a warm Christmas. Even though Portland, Oregon doesn't usually snow on Christmas it's chilly, so its hard to believe it's Christmas when its over 70F outside. Strange that this year Portland was covered in snow. Strange in an ironic sort of way, that one of the years I am gone is a white Christmas, though from what I heard it was more hassle than enjoyment.
The States put Christmas on steroids, so everywhere else Christmas seems much less fanfare. Here, the malls had some decorations, and there were some wreaths and tinsel around. At the airport, the gates had some tinsel. There were a few small desk-sized plastic Christmas trees here and there, but no one does the traditional Western tree thing. If they did, it would have to be a plastic tree. Last year, I saw the flower stalk of the agave plant decorated like a tree. That was the most exciting.
So even though I don't get into the Christmas spirit much normally, I got into it even less this year. But it's a good opportunity to at least have the treat of a nice meal. So that is what we decided to do, to go out to a fancy restaurant and celebrate.
We flew back to Cape Town from Durban on Christmas Day, and spent a long time calling around to see who was still open, what they were doing and how much it was going to cost. Jared was feeling unwell, so I wasn't even sure we were going to be able to go.
In the end, we went to Haiku, an Asian tapas place downtown. Tapas are a good idea in theory: that the portions are smaller, so you order a bunch of different items. Of the handful of tapas places I have been, they are always in the end more expensive than a restaurant with one item. The food was really good, and the waiter really accommodating with our veganism. They even took back the spinach that had cream cheese in it and replaced it with something else. The waiter had checked with the kitchen to see if there was dairy in it, but since the spinach filling was premade, they hadn't realized. Having not eaten dairy in nearly 10 years, I can pick out the taste and I don't like it. Dairy also makes both Jared and I sick. It was wonderful to have a waiter that was accommodating to our veganism. Good Christmas treat.
When I got back to our little room at the backpackers we have been staying at until we find an apartment, I called Oregon to say Merry Christmas to my family. Skype is a great thing. Using my computer, I called my folk's landline and chatted for 30 min for less than $1. No phone card is that cheap overseas! Calling their computer is free, but their internet was down. Since bandwidth is expensive here, I do pay per MB when using the internet. But, its so convient and still cheaper than a payphone and calling card.
Now its time for New Years. What to do? We haven't decided yet, but I'm excited that with the changing of the calendar will come a new year of great things.
The States put Christmas on steroids, so everywhere else Christmas seems much less fanfare. Here, the malls had some decorations, and there were some wreaths and tinsel around. At the airport, the gates had some tinsel. There were a few small desk-sized plastic Christmas trees here and there, but no one does the traditional Western tree thing. If they did, it would have to be a plastic tree. Last year, I saw the flower stalk of the agave plant decorated like a tree. That was the most exciting.
So even though I don't get into the Christmas spirit much normally, I got into it even less this year. But it's a good opportunity to at least have the treat of a nice meal. So that is what we decided to do, to go out to a fancy restaurant and celebrate.
We flew back to Cape Town from Durban on Christmas Day, and spent a long time calling around to see who was still open, what they were doing and how much it was going to cost. Jared was feeling unwell, so I wasn't even sure we were going to be able to go.
In the end, we went to Haiku, an Asian tapas place downtown. Tapas are a good idea in theory: that the portions are smaller, so you order a bunch of different items. Of the handful of tapas places I have been, they are always in the end more expensive than a restaurant with one item. The food was really good, and the waiter really accommodating with our veganism. They even took back the spinach that had cream cheese in it and replaced it with something else. The waiter had checked with the kitchen to see if there was dairy in it, but since the spinach filling was premade, they hadn't realized. Having not eaten dairy in nearly 10 years, I can pick out the taste and I don't like it. Dairy also makes both Jared and I sick. It was wonderful to have a waiter that was accommodating to our veganism. Good Christmas treat.
When I got back to our little room at the backpackers we have been staying at until we find an apartment, I called Oregon to say Merry Christmas to my family. Skype is a great thing. Using my computer, I called my folk's landline and chatted for 30 min for less than $1. No phone card is that cheap overseas! Calling their computer is free, but their internet was down. Since bandwidth is expensive here, I do pay per MB when using the internet. But, its so convient and still cheaper than a payphone and calling card.
Now its time for New Years. What to do? We haven't decided yet, but I'm excited that with the changing of the calendar will come a new year of great things.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Hot and Humid in Durban
We have been in Durban for a few days now after two weeks in Cape Town.
After 5 weeks in South Africa the drama is finally over. I hope so at least. We had major problems with the woman we came to work with, Jared tells people it was personality conflicts, but we tried everything we could to make it work and it just couldn't work. I don't usually say that people should be medicated, but this woman needs to be on meds to make her moods a bit more stable. Such severe mood swings are not normal. They got so bad that some of the episodes could be classified as verbal abuse. So we parted ways.
We had to retrieve the rest of our luggage from her house, so we rented a car. I haven't really driven in South Africa before or anywhere where its left-side driving so I was very nervous. Since we've been here, I've been concentrating on things being on the left, so it would be easier once I drove. It went really well! It started off with some problems getting the car into reverse. It was a manual, and although I have a manual transmission in the States I couldn't figure out how to get the bloody thing into reverse. Someone else at the backpackers was helping us, but he couldn't figure it out either, and so asked a maintenance man on the side of the road how to do it. Turns out since its a chevy, there is this ring to life up on the gear shift and that allows the car to go into reverse!
It felt great to drive, I've been so worried about it. We had the car for the entire day so drove up north into the Valley of 1000 Hills which is very pretty and then to the big Hare Krishna temple in Durban. I spent some time with the Krishnas when I was here before, so it was nice to see their temple here. The Durban temple is the largest Hare Krishna temple in the Southern Hemisphere, there was also a restaurant in the basement. I love Hare Krishna food. It is so good. I think that is one of the main reasons I hung out with them before--because their food was so damn good. It has this particular taste to it, they put a lot of love into their food, and also offer it to Krishna before anyone eats any of it. We spoke to a monk who does a lot of community work with their Food for Life program. They take food to impoverished areas, and also to distribute their message. He said everything has been stolen from him several times doing this work, but that he loves it and is committed to doing it.
I am starting to feel more at home in South Africa. The first part of our time here was so hectic that we didn't enjoy ourselves so much. We feel much freer now, and are having a good time. Today we visited the Durban Botanic Garden which is absolutely gorgeous. I finally saw a baobab tree. I have been wanting to see one of those for a long time but haven't made it far enough north into Africa to see them. They also have a great orchid garden. It was beautiful. So cool to see tropical plants I grew at The Oregon Garden growing so big and tall. We had struggled for the lotus' to survive in Silverton, and here they were 4' tall! Both water lettuce and water hyacinth are considered major invasive here, and I've been the water hyacinth clogging some rivers. Both these are used ornamentally in Oregon still, but they die off every winter so haven't become a problem there.
We also went to the movie theatre and saw the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. I saw the last Bond movie, Casino Royal and loved it. Jared got to hear me talk about Daniel Craig a lot but he didn't see it. He knows what I was talking about now! Yum! Good movie.
Tomorrow we are going to try for the Indian Market I think. Jared's spent some time in India so we'll see how it compares.
After 5 weeks in South Africa the drama is finally over. I hope so at least. We had major problems with the woman we came to work with, Jared tells people it was personality conflicts, but we tried everything we could to make it work and it just couldn't work. I don't usually say that people should be medicated, but this woman needs to be on meds to make her moods a bit more stable. Such severe mood swings are not normal. They got so bad that some of the episodes could be classified as verbal abuse. So we parted ways.
We had to retrieve the rest of our luggage from her house, so we rented a car. I haven't really driven in South Africa before or anywhere where its left-side driving so I was very nervous. Since we've been here, I've been concentrating on things being on the left, so it would be easier once I drove. It went really well! It started off with some problems getting the car into reverse. It was a manual, and although I have a manual transmission in the States I couldn't figure out how to get the bloody thing into reverse. Someone else at the backpackers was helping us, but he couldn't figure it out either, and so asked a maintenance man on the side of the road how to do it. Turns out since its a chevy, there is this ring to life up on the gear shift and that allows the car to go into reverse!
It felt great to drive, I've been so worried about it. We had the car for the entire day so drove up north into the Valley of 1000 Hills which is very pretty and then to the big Hare Krishna temple in Durban. I spent some time with the Krishnas when I was here before, so it was nice to see their temple here. The Durban temple is the largest Hare Krishna temple in the Southern Hemisphere, there was also a restaurant in the basement. I love Hare Krishna food. It is so good. I think that is one of the main reasons I hung out with them before--because their food was so damn good. It has this particular taste to it, they put a lot of love into their food, and also offer it to Krishna before anyone eats any of it. We spoke to a monk who does a lot of community work with their Food for Life program. They take food to impoverished areas, and also to distribute their message. He said everything has been stolen from him several times doing this work, but that he loves it and is committed to doing it.
I am starting to feel more at home in South Africa. The first part of our time here was so hectic that we didn't enjoy ourselves so much. We feel much freer now, and are having a good time. Today we visited the Durban Botanic Garden which is absolutely gorgeous. I finally saw a baobab tree. I have been wanting to see one of those for a long time but haven't made it far enough north into Africa to see them. They also have a great orchid garden. It was beautiful. So cool to see tropical plants I grew at The Oregon Garden growing so big and tall. We had struggled for the lotus' to survive in Silverton, and here they were 4' tall! Both water lettuce and water hyacinth are considered major invasive here, and I've been the water hyacinth clogging some rivers. Both these are used ornamentally in Oregon still, but they die off every winter so haven't become a problem there.
We also went to the movie theatre and saw the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. I saw the last Bond movie, Casino Royal and loved it. Jared got to hear me talk about Daniel Craig a lot but he didn't see it. He knows what I was talking about now! Yum! Good movie.
Tomorrow we are going to try for the Indian Market I think. Jared's spent some time in India so we'll see how it compares.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Pennington
Pennington is a small town, mostly (but not all) retired or wealthy white people live here but there are also Africans around. It is south of Durban along the coast.
We found a bar/restaurant yesterday and had some "chips" ie frenchfries. An old Indian guy came up to me while Jared was in the loo and asked me where I was from, how long I am here for, etc. Then repeated these questions until Jared came back and then wished me a good time. Most South Africans (white and black) are so friendly, though some are quite shy when approached.
I've found asking some people for directions can be...well...not so helpful. Yeah, go straight and then around and the shop is just right there. Then we end up wandering around wondering which straight they meant. Fortunately, we can't get too lost since the ocean is on one side, and highway on the other. When I told Jared this (when we didn't know where we were) he said, "yeah and the sky is up there, and the...."
The roads. There is lots of road construction for the World Cup in 2010. Some of the roads have gone a bit, as the money doesn't seem to get to the road construction. Corruption is a problem here. But the country got lots of money for infrastructure for the games so the roads are getting a needed make-over. This makes travel take a lot longer, but at least they are getting improved. Unlike the bridge on the road to the next town that was washed out last year and hasn't been fixed yet, making everyone take a longer route around. Politics.
We found a bar/restaurant yesterday and had some "chips" ie frenchfries. An old Indian guy came up to me while Jared was in the loo and asked me where I was from, how long I am here for, etc. Then repeated these questions until Jared came back and then wished me a good time. Most South Africans (white and black) are so friendly, though some are quite shy when approached.
I've found asking some people for directions can be...well...not so helpful. Yeah, go straight and then around and the shop is just right there. Then we end up wandering around wondering which straight they meant. Fortunately, we can't get too lost since the ocean is on one side, and highway on the other. When I told Jared this (when we didn't know where we were) he said, "yeah and the sky is up there, and the...."
The roads. There is lots of road construction for the World Cup in 2010. Some of the roads have gone a bit, as the money doesn't seem to get to the road construction. Corruption is a problem here. But the country got lots of money for infrastructure for the games so the roads are getting a needed make-over. This makes travel take a lot longer, but at least they are getting improved. Unlike the bridge on the road to the next town that was washed out last year and hasn't been fixed yet, making everyone take a longer route around. Politics.
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