Bunny chow capital of the world — Indian Ocean surfs, Zulu spice markets, and the most unique street food in Africa
Durban is South Africa's third-largest city and the busiest port on the continent — a subtropical coastal city on the Indian Ocean that generated one of the most original food cultures in the world through the collision of Zulu, Indian, and British colonial histories. The defining dish is bunny chow: a quarter, half, or whole loaf of white bread hollowed out and filled with curry (lamb, bean, or chicken) — invented by the Indian-South African community in the 1940s when apartheid laws prevented Indian restaurants from seating Black customers who then had to collect take-away food in bread 'bu…
Durban was established as Port Natal by British traders in 1824 and grew as the main port servicing the Natal Colony. The city's Indian population arrived as indentured labourers on sugar cane plantations from 1860 onward — over 150,000 Indians arrived under indenture contracts over the following decades, forming the foundation of the largest Indian diaspora community outside India. Mahatma Gandhi lived in Durban from 1893 to 1914, where he developed his philosophy of non-violent resistance (satyagraha) in response to racial discrimination on Natal's railways. The apartheid system (1948–1994)…