Chefs across South Africa are reworking heritage food into contemporary menus this Heritage Month. Unilever Food Solutions’ Future Menus 2026 / Culinary Roots report documents the shift, tracking ingredients such as sorghum, rooibos, buchu and umfino appearing alongside classic dishes including kota, pap and bobotie on new menus.
South Africa marks Heritage Day on 24 September each year, and the surrounding month has long been used to spotlight cultural food traditions. The report frames this year’s version of that observance differently. Rather than treating heritage dishes as fixed archives, chefs are using them as starting points for new flavour combinations and techniques.
Yonela Motloung of Unilever Food Solutions described the approach directly. Heritage food, she said, offers “a foundation for fresh creativity, not just nostalgia”. That framing recurs across the report’s interviews with working chefs, several of whom describe indigenous ingredients as a starting point rather than a fixed reference. The Future Menus 2026 series tracks broader industry trends across several markets, with its Culinary Roots section focused specifically on heritage-driven menu development.
Old ingredients, new techniques
Sorghum, once associated mainly with traditional porridge, is being milled into flours for bread and pasta. Rooibos, long brewed as tea, now flavours glazes, brines and even ice cream. Buchu, an indigenous herb used in folk remedies, is finding its way into cocktails and garnishes. Umfino, a maize-and-greens dish from Nguni cooking traditions, is being reinterpreted with modern plating and seasonal vegetables. Each ingredient carries a distinct culinary history, and chefs are pairing that history with contemporary technique rather than replacing it.
Dishes with strong regional identity are shifting too. Kota, the township sandwich built on a hollowed loaf, is appearing in chef-driven versions with slow-cooked fillings and house-made sauces. Pap, the maize staple served across the country, is being paired with unexpected proteins and sauces. Bobotie, the spiced minced-meat bake, is turning up in smaller, plated formats aimed at fine-dining menus rather than family tables. Each dish carries strong association for South African diners, which chefs treat as an advantage rather than a limitation when adapting it.
Chefs driving the shift
Chefs Latoya Marivate and Kimrishka Govender are cited in the report making a similar point. Both frame heritage cooking as raw material for invention rather than a fixed tradition to preserve unchanged. Their comments echo Motloung’s framing of heritage food as a foundation for fresh creativity, not just nostalgia, applied this time to plates built for younger, urban diners exploring their own food history through restaurant menus rather than home kitchens.
Heritage Month has traditionally centred on preserving cultural practice. The report suggests kitchens are treating that preservation as a starting point rather than an endpoint. Technique is updating even as ingredients stay recognisable. Similar heritage-food moments are unfolding elsewhere in the Global South this year, as festivals and chefs recast indigenous cooking as a living, evolving practice rather than a museum piece.
For South African kitchens, reworking heritage food is now visible on menus rather than confined to conversation. Ingredients once tied to home cooking or rural tradition are moving into professional kitchens, adjusted but still recognisable. The report frames this as evidence that heritage and innovation are increasingly treated as compatible, with sorghum, rooibos, buchu and umfino sitting comfortably beside pap, bobotie and kota on menus built for 2026.
