Durban, South Africa — At The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate, some of the most important culinary knowledge in South Africa is being brought back into the kitchen — not through cookbooks or archives, but through the hands of the women who have carried it for generations.
MATRIARCHS – Preserving the Flavours of our Heritage is a new Sunday lunch series at The LivingRoom that invites the women who have sustained South Africa’s food traditions for decades into the kitchen to share the recipes, techniques and food memories that have shaped the country’s diverse culinary identity.
Each gathering explores a different cultural heritage and culinary tradition, creating a living archive of South African food knowledge — documented through film and photography and passed directly to the young chefs in The LivingRoom kitchen.
The inaugural MATRIARCHS event took place on 8 March, featuring Dolly Govender, a 94- year-old Durban Indian matriarch (and great grandmother of The LivingRoom’s chef saucier, Antonio Porras), who spent a day cooking alongside Chef Johannes Richter and The LivingRoom team ahead of the event. During this time, she guided the kitchen through traditional spice preparation, the foundations of Durban-style curries and heritage desserts rooted in the city’s Indian culinary culture.
The knowledge shared during these sessions was then translated into a special Sunday lunch menu inspired by Dolly’s cooking. Dishes included sugar beans with dhania and puri, fish curry with pickled brinjal and dahl, and chicken curry served family-style, alongside desserts such as sojee with black elachie and macadamia, and gulgula with semiya payasam.
For Richter and his team, the experience proved both technically enriching and deeply personal.
“It was incredibly inspiring for the entire team,” says Richter. “We gained real insight into things like mixing masalas, roasting spices and understanding the nuances between different curries.”
Beyond savoury cooking, Dolly also shared inspiration from the pastry side of her kitchen, where spices such as cardamom and cinnamon play a central role in traditional desserts. These lessons were then interpreted through The LivingRoom’s culinary perspective, blending heritage flavours with the restaurant’s refined technique.
“The creative process of taking that knowledge and translating it into a menu was amazing,” Richter explains. “We’re able to honour those flavours and that heritage while framing them in a way that feels contemporary.”
The Sunday lunches are accompanied by a curated beverage programme led by Johanna Richter, who pairs each meal with a selection of South African wines, cocktails and thoughtful non-alcoholic drinks, designed to complement the flavours of the dishes and the cultural traditions behind them.
For The LivingRoom team, MATRIARCHS represents an opportunity not only to celebrate heritage, but to learn directly from the women who carry these traditions forward. Each MATRIARCHS gathering sees these shared recipes and techniques reinterpreted into a special Sunday lunch experience for guests, creating a bridge between generations of South African cooking.
Dolly and her family attended the lunch as guests of honour. Participating matriarchs in the series are hosted by the restaurant and remunerated in recognition of the time, knowledge and culinary heritage they share.
Future MATRIARCHS events will continue to highlight different culinary traditions from across South Africa’s diverse cultural landscape.
