Durban Bunny Chow (Mutton Curry Bread Bowl), plated

Southern Africa · Street food

Durban Bunny Chow (Mutton Curry Bread Bowl)

A hollowed loaf of white bread filled to the brim with fiery, slow-simmered Durban mutton curry.

street-foodspicycurrydurban

The story

Created in the 1940s by Durban's Indian restaurant owners (often referred to as Bania), the bunny chow served as a clever, portable lunch container for indentured laborers barred from dining inside establishments during apartheid. Eaten entirely by hand, the dish uses bread as bowl, starch, and utensil, crowned with the hollowed bread core known as the 'virgin'.

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