Melvin David scoops lamb curry into a hollowed out bread to make bunny chow. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Melvin David scoops lamb curry into a hollowed out bread to make bunny chow. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
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"Bunny man" Melvin David, 59, is the go-to guy when South Africans in New Zealandcrave curry and samosas.
For more than a decade, David has been serving up a South African street favourite called bunny chow.
It's nothing to do with rabbits, but a dish that originated among Indian South Africans in Durban, the country's third-largest city. It's a hollowed-out half loaf of bread filled with curry.
"It was very popular when we were students. We ate it as a shared meal and bunny is also considered one of the cheaper street meals that almost everyone can afford," he said.
Every September, cooks in Durban compete for the title of top bunny chow maker at the Bunny Chow Barometer.
Bunny chow originated among Indian South Africans in Durban. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Married with two adult sons, David learned to cook it when he left his family home and moved to Johannesburg for work.
"I was living with a group of bachelors who couldn't put a decent meal together, so I rung my mum and said, 'Please teach me how to cook'.
"She knows curries are my favourite, and I listened attentively on the phone as she gave me a step-by-step instruction on how to cook them."
David's mum died recently. He was not able to travel home because of Covid-19 border restrictions.
But he sees his bunny chow and samosas as his way of continuing his mother's legacy. Some weeks, he gets up to 50 bunny orders, as well as selling almost 1000 samosas.
He used to have a takeaway business, but now cooks at a commercial kitchen for delivery or collection from his east Auckland home.
"I never expected it to be so popular here, but I'm happy with how it's selling," David said.