The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate continues its series ‘MATRIARCHS – Preserving the Flavours of our Heritage’, on Sunday, 23 August, with an edition celebrating Zulu culinary heritage through the recipes, traditions and food memories of Thandi Mchunu.
The 64-year-old Mchunu, grandmother of Summerhill Guest Estate manager Uluthando Mandlana, was raised by her grandparents in Hillcrest and now lives in Molweni with her family. It was in her grandmother’s kitchen that she learnt to cook, acquiring the recipes, techniques and culinary knowledge that have remained part of her own cooking and been passed through generations of her family.
This edition of MATRIARCHS will see Mchunu join chef Johannes Richter and The LivingRoom team in the kitchen, sharing the dishes, ingredients and techniques that have shaped her experience of Zulu cooking. The team will translate this knowledge into a special Sunday lunch celebrating the dynamic Zulu culinary and cultural heritage of KwaZulu-Natal, with Mchunu and her family as guests of honour.
The lunch will be accompanied by a curated beverage pairing from The LivingRoom front of house manager and sommelier Johanna Richter, bringing together South African wines, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks selected to complement the flavours and traditions explored through the menu.
This edition follows the inaugural MATRIARCHS lunch held in March, which celebrated Durban Indian culinary heritage with 94-year-old Dolly Govender, great-grandmother of The LivingRoom chef saucier Antonio Porras. Govender spent time in the kitchen with Richter and his team, sharing generations of knowledge around traditional spice preparation, Durban-style curries and heritage desserts, which were then reinterpreted as a special Sunday lunch menu.
MATRIARCHS was created as a living archive of South African food knowledge, bringing mothers, grandmothers, gogos and aunties into The LivingRoom kitchen to share knowledge traditionally passed from one generation to the next. Each collaboration is documented through film and photography, while giving The LivingRoom’s young chefs the opportunity to learn directly from the women who have carried these traditions throughout their lives.
The series reflects Richter’s broader approach at The LivingRoom, where the culinary and cultural diversity of KwaZulu-Natal sits at the heart of the restaurant’s cuisine.
The Matriarch Series menu is a five-course experience priced at R650 per person, with an optional wine pairing bringing the experience to R1,050 per person.
For reservations, visit summerhillkzn.com or book on Dineplan.
