Food & Wine Festival 2010 Cuisine, Part 20: South Africa

Welcome to Part 20 in a series examining each of the national cuisines on display at the 2010 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Today's port of culinary call: South Africa.

South Africa made its debut at the Food & Wine Festival in 1997, the year after the Festival itself began. This year, the South African booth is near the Outpost between the Germany and China Pavilions.

Let's look at our menu:

Flavor of Africa

It's strange, maybe arrogant, for a single African country to advertise one of its feature dishes as Flavor of Africa. Even if the chef were able to pull off such a feat, the result wouldn't be South African cuisine but rather dribs and drabs of dishes served in other countries as well as at home. Imagine how many booths you'd need for all that food!

The "flavor of Africa" available at the South African booth is limited to salad, bread, and spreads. It's hard to judge what, exactly, you'll get on your plate, but it likely won't differ much from what you could snag out of the prelim bins at Boma or Tusker House, and those who enjoyed the Mealie Soup served here last year will surely miss it.

Still, I'm cautiously optimistic: an authentic African 'spread' should be spicy and rich with exotic flavor, and I'd hope for the same from whatever dressing they apply to my salad. Couple it with a glass of white wine and you have the perfect excuse to linger and revive from the heavier dishes you've likely sampled at other booths.

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree and Mango Barbecue Sauce

Only a few Festival dishes rise to the level of 'must-taste': food for which you'd fight your way through a bus-load of hungry tourists from the heartland.

The Seared Beef Tenderloin is such a dish. When you think beef, you might think Texas or Argentina or even Japan for its Kobe beef, but not often South Africa. Beef, especially barbecued beef, has long been a staple of the South African diet, though only the wealthiest can afford tenderloin, the tenderest cut, and the source of filet mignon (otherwise known as a tenderloin steak). Searing beef tenderloin is the best way to prepare it: you want the juices sealed and the flesh still red. Asking for 'well-done' is a felony in some states.

The accompaniments, Sweet Potato Puree and Mango Barbecue Sauce, are a double-bill of sweetness that, in tandem, risk oversweetening the dish, but given the small portions I doubt it.

If you've come to this booth with beer in hand from another booth, put down (or chug) the beer and order wine with your tenderloin. Pairing anything but wine with this dish is like watching two cousins at a slow dance.

Beverages

I'm delighted that the South Africans have four different wines on their beverage menu but disappointed that they're all from the same producer, La Capra. South African wine is varied and generally wonderful. Other than La Capra bankrolling the booth in exchange for exclusivity, I can't think of any good reason why other local wineries were shut out.

The two whites (Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc) and two reds (Pinotage and Shiraz) available at the South African booth are representative of La Capra wine: inexpensive, readily available, pleasant but not exhilarating. Of the bunch, make sure to sample the Pinotage, South Africa's signature wine, and see whether you're enticed by its unique hints of blackberries, pepper, and subtle note of cedar.

Taste It or Waste It

Despite a rather limp menu, the South African booth offers one irresistible combination: beef tenderloin and Pinotage. A sample of the one, a sip of the other: balanced perfection, especially when the sweet potato puree and mango barbecue sauce ask the wine to dance.

Any of the other wines (or even the Pinotage itself) would work well with the Flavor of Africa, a small spread best enjoyed while stationary not strolling. For dessert, you'll have to stroll, but just a short way: the apple strudel at the German booth or the caramel ginger ice cream at the Chinese booth would each tie the knot.