SA foodie reveals there’s no place like home, sweet yummy home

South African foodie Rany Jo recently returned from a fabulous food-discovery trip to Spain with a major realisation: South Africa’s local food, including its Asian offering, is far better than we realise!

As she embarked on her return flight from Barcelona International Airport to Johannesburg, Gauteng, Rany wrote on social media:

”Heading home sweet home. My big learnings:
1. SA is not as bad as we complain as “home”. So let’s do our part to make it more beautiful and lovable.
2. Our food is better than what we think. I can confirm after visiting 38 restaurants (all with min 4.5 google rating) in 7 cities.
3. Our Asian supermarkets (at least Market Kokoro) are better than those in Barcelona and south Spain…”

Some pointed out it’s not fair to compare the Asian culture and supermarkets in Spain (where it’s almost non-existent, unlike in Belgium where it’s magnificent) to those in SA, but Rany says her point really is that “what we have in SA from Asian cooking perspective and (our) own food is not as bad as we think objectively”.

Rany, a Food Educator who owns Umami Food Studio, visited seven cities in Spain and, although she clearly loves SA food, she did rave about the local Spanish food.

She said: “Barcelona didn’t disappoint us… Imagine you have a Spanish grandma who just wants to feed you good food with zero decor… that’s how it is here.”

Rany describes herself as a ”Korean living Asian way in Joburg. Read, study, make, teach food 24/7… and this is my dream job.”

Rany offers cooking classes at Umami Food Studio – find out more here.