Sometimes I buy spices, thinking the fragrant, colorful little packets might motivate me to cook something. Unfortunately that rarely happens and the spices get old and sticky and I wind up throwing them away unused. For this reason I rarely shop for spices anymore, even though South Africa – with its cacophonous mix of eastern and western cultures and cuisines – is a great place to do so.
But if I did shop for spices, I would do so at Mallies Spice Works.
I went to Mallies with Marie-Lais to take photos for a column in the Citizen newspaper. I’d heard there was a famous spice factory in Newtown but I never would have found it without Google Maps; Mallies is in an unassuming location, close to the highway and a notorious squatter camp. As we parked outside, I felt suspicious that we were in the right place. But as often happens in Joburg, we walked inside and discovered an alternate universe.
We went to Mallies in the middle of the day on a Tuesday and it was packed with both customers and employees. Everyone shops here: restauranteurs, street vendors, home cooks…anyone who uses spices. Every spice and seasoning imaginable is on offer, along with flours, beans, hair products, textile dyes, herbal remedies, and love potions. Most of the spices sold at Mallies are organically cultivated.
Premul reluctantly allowed us to walk around the huge factory behind the shop, where workers were loading boxes and milling flour and packing mountains of bright red atchar spice into plastic packets. It smelled delicious.
On the way out I spoke to a guy named Shalav, who was sitting on a chair in the retail area surrounded by bags of spices on the floor. Shalav lives in Bela-Bela, a couple of hours from Joburg, but treks into town regularly to buy his spices from Mallies. Shalav is a vegan and quite particular about what he eats.
I’m sure I’ll go back to Mallies sometime, if only to buy pretty spices that I’ll probably never cook.
Mallies Spice Works is at 111 Carr Street, Newtown. Call +27-11-836-9517.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
Given this week’s political nuclear bomb blast, it feels like a weird time to publish a light-hearted post about my recent (pre-election) jaunt through the United States. But I’m hoping you’ve have had enough of the U.S. election horror show – I know I have – and are ready (at least temporarily) for some wholesome American travel adventures. If so, please read on about my four-day visit to Maine, the northeastern-most state in the lower 48, with my sister, Susanna.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.