The pounding of wooden pestles in time-worn mortars; the grinding of aged stone against stone; the sizzle of meat over the coals; the bubbling of a potjie (iron pot) - these were and still are the sounds of South African cooking. Much has changed, but much remains.

[IMAGE1] South Africa represents unusual combinations of ethnic cuisines: African (Venda, Xhosa, San, Sotho, Ndebele, Zulu and Shangaan), Portuguese, French, English, Dutch, German, Greek, Afrikaner, Indian, Malay, Italian, Jewish and Chinese. Some of the most complex and exciting contributions to cooking in Africa evolved here. The food-loving Dutch founded the colony to act as a "pantry" for ships on the long route from Europe to the East. They also introduced slaves from Java, Sumatra, India, Indonesia and Madagascar - each bringing traditional ways of preparing food. The fare that best typifies South African cooking is Cape-Dutch Malay (Cape Cuisine), whose foundations nod to ancient Greek and Roman civilisations, altered, elaborated and improved through the centuries by innovative European cooks.

The Malays introduced the art of pickling and preserving, and so originated the wonderful boboties (minced beef baked in a rich custard of eggs, lemon and curry), bredies (beef or lamb cooked slowly until the meat falls off the bone, with onions, garlic, green ginger, cardamom, coriander, fennel seeds, tomatoes and a touch of sugar), and sosaties (kebabs of marinated meat cooked on a skewer over the open fire). Smoorvis are made from fish, lobster, crab, mussels or even hard-boiled penguin eggs, salted and air-dried for preserving, then flaked into rice spiced with ginger, chillies, tomatoes, sultanas, potatoes and onions - delicious with atjar (a hot pickle) and wholewheat bread.

Necessity guided early cooks and shaped their culinary skills. Forever on the move, they bagged food from the veld or fished it from sea and river, cooking by the wayside over the coals. The art of potjie-kos, the ultimate one-pot fare, developed in tandem with the open-grid braai (barbecue) - which now forms the basis of many sunny Sunday afternoons, with ice-cold beer and plenty of wine. The ultimate braai involves boerewors (home-made sausage), venison potjie-kos (ostrich, warthog or springbok), curried chicken sosaties and lamb chops or beef steaks, served with a pot of pap (maize-meal porridge), tomato and onion relish and fire-baked butternut. A delicious addition would be muise - lamb's liver wrapped in caulfat (the membrane surrounding the liver).

At the seaside, braaiing over the embers of a driftwood fire is the time-honoured way of preparing lobster between layers of freshly gathered seaweed. Eaten with butter and grated nutmeg, a true delicacy is perlemoen (a large shellfish) placed in a freshly cut piece of sea bamboo and cooked over the fire. Baking pot-brood (pot bread) at a braai is a major test of the cook's skill. The dough is cooked in a cast-iron pot over the coals; the skill lies in judging the heat to avoid burning the bread. A loaf should be crusty on the outside and light inside, with the taste of wood fire.

Vetkoek (fat cakes) are an all-time winner - small bits of bread-type dough deep-fried in dripping until light and crisp. They can be enjoyed with cinnamon, sugar, butter and honey or (the great breakfast favourite) filled with butter, apricot jam, cheese and bacon. A calorie catastrophe. The worth of many an 18th-century wife was measured by the quality of her koeksisters and melktert, South Africa's most famous sweet treats. Koeksisters are made from pastry dough, plaited, deep-fried and dipped in cold syrup. East meets west in the Dutch melktert, usually baked in a deep enamel dish. In summer, pastry dough was made late at night, wrapped in a damp muslin cloth and hung in a draught to keep cool. For the lightest crust, the tart was baked before sunrise. The custard filling was flavoured with dried naartjie (tangerine) peel. Blanched almonds and peach kernels, and coconut milk or sweet wine, were sometimes added. Dusted with cinnamon, it is truly awesome.

Lamb with wild lavender is a recipe derived after British settlers of 1820 introduced hardy herds of merino sheep to the Karoo, which fed on aromatic wild bushes. A leg of lamb is cooked in buttermilk, lemon, garlic, cream, sherry and lavender. Unusual, delicious and another dieter's nightmare. Indigenous African food legends also live on. Wild figs are eaten fresh or made into jam; Cape sorrel is simmered into soup and added to stews; pelargonium petals are used as a herb; various spinach-type plants make pastes and pestos; kinkelbossie (twisted bush) is added to bredies; pumpkin leaves are cooked to a pulp and eaten with pap; raw meat is salted, spiced and dried and eaten on bread, or added to vegetable stews. What with this wealth of culinary heritage, new South African dishes are being discovered or reinvented every day. Accompanied by fabulous local wines, they're well worth a try.