#JiveTogetherTour: Cape Town food-pairing with a difference

You just can't escape the traffic in Cape Town, right? Sometimes you need to embrace it. That's just what the local media and influencer set did. In fact, we made a meal of it by waiting in the parkade of 44 Strand Street on Wednesday, 28 November for authentic Jive-branded minibus taxis to take us on a delicious tour of the city, with a difference.

After all, Cape Town is a true culinary capital as we have some of the best food and wine on offer, but what about the other 99% of 'non-fancy' food and drink that we consume on a daily basis? This was set to be a celebration of the other side of that cuisine, of Cape Town’s other flavours.

Hosted by comedian Yaaseen Barnes and Jive brand manager, Sashley Bartlett, it was a ‘duide-lekka experience’ indeed – a food-and-drink pairing based on Cape cuisine paired with variants of Jive cool drink. After all, as one of the attendees pointed out, Jive is the ‘milk of Cape Town’, and no informal meal here is complete without it.

To make sure our palates tasted food as authentic as the drink, the day saw us in Langa, Athlone, Observatory and back in the CBD for such Cape culinary classics as vetkoek, gatsbys, burger pies and pap en wors, respectively…

Stop your hunger in Langa

First stop? For soft, fresh vetkoek filled with mince, we headed to the New Hope Spaza in Langa.

The corner was already buzzing when we got there, complete with Jive branding and regulars waiting in line for their lunchtime order. At just R2.50 for a plain Vetkoek, R10 for the mince curry-filled version and R18 if you include a 500ml Jive cool drink, this is a clear lunch-time winner.
Our conclusion? “The colour of the spicy vetkoek curry and the Orange Krush Jive go so well together, on the table and in your tummy.”
As Capetonian as a gatsby

Next up was Super Fisheries at 63 Old Klipfontein Road, Athlone – home of the original gatsby.

We had the ‘middle-of-the-month’ classic Vienna-polony gatsby the traditional way, cut in quarters and eaten messily with the hands, because when owner Rashaad Pandy was asked “For all those who don’t know, how does one eat a Gatsby?” He responded, “Met jou hande.”

With atchar paste-soaked chips dripping to the floor amidst the mid-week midday hustle and bustle of Athlone, sweet Mango Tango Jive proved just the thing to wash it down.

Pie-ping hot pies

Our third stop of the day was Pie Creations in Obs for burger pies with Jive Cream Soda.

These pies are made on the premises, ‘hot and fresh’ in the kitchen – everything from the patties to the pastry, filled with sweet sauce and browned onions, with a slice of cheese rounding out the pastry round of goodness.

The quintessential clubber’s favourite, these pies can be enjoyed any time of day and pair especially well with Jive Cream Soda, which has a more-ish vanilla vibe that took many an influencer back to their early kiddies’ party days.
Everybody Instagramming the experience.
Everybody Instagramming the experience.

Pap en wors is never 'n gemors

The nostalgia didn’t end there, as the last stop of the day was a Cape classic – a plate of pap, sous and wors from Café Delicious on Barack Street, as frequented by those who work in and around Parliament.

By now we were full to bursting but the funnies kept coming, and Jive Iron Brew felt like a fitting final flavour for the day.

What better way to enjoy the culture and cuisine in our own kasi? To everyone who doesn’t understand the slang – sorry, maybe this one is best for the locals.

Not convinced? See the video below for how and why the pairings work, with young opinions from renowned Cape Malay chef, Cass Abrahams, and sommelier Luvo Ntezo, who you can sommer leer from:

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About Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
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