Memory Serves

Taiwanese fried chicken, fresh alikreukel on the braai, falooda ice lollies … Six food nerds recall the dishes that defined their childhood holidays and weekends with family

- Annette Klinger

FREDDIE DIAS

Head chef at Basalt at The Peech Hotel in Johannesburg

The food memory: Bacalhau

Being from a Portuguese Catholic background, religious holidays like Easter and Christmas were of particular significance for Freddie growing up in Johannesburg. “Both my parents – my dad Tony and my late mother Elena – were born in Mozambique,” says Freddie. “My mother’s father had a bakery there and over Easter he’d bake lots of special pastries and sell painted, hard-boiled eggs to his customers.” While Easter egg hunts weren’t really a big thing for Freddie and his brothers Hugo and Nuno, sitdown meals with extended family were a great tradition.

“On Good Friday, we would always have bacalhau, or salted cod, which is very traditional in Portugal,” says Freddie. “My mother would often make bacalhau com natas – a bake with onion, cream and potatoes. On Easter Sundays, we’d usually braai or have a roast with salads. And dessert would be pudim flan, kind of like a Portuguese crème caramel.”