Chef uses food to combat xenophobia in South Africa

Sanza Sandile believes food from across the continent can inspire integration. Swazi chef Sanza Sandile is using food to combat anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa. His Yeoville Dinner Club, found on the main street of the immigrant-rich inner Johannesburg neighborhood, is now in its 10th year. The menus for the family-style meals unapologetically embrace the cultures and cuisines from across the continent and beyond, challenging the xenophobia stoked by some politicians, which has resulted in many migrant-owned restaurants seeing trade plummet. Sandile, whose mother fled the apartheid regime, and who was raised partly by an uncle who took part in the armed struggle against the white-minority government, has spent years gathering recipes from around the world, believing food can invoke memory and inspire integration.