The story
Bunny chow grew up among the Indian community of Durban, many of them descended from indentured workers brought from India from 1860 onward. In the 1940s, eateries around Grey Street began scooping curry into a hollowed-out quarter, half or whole loaf of white bread, so it could be carried away without plates or cutlery. Accounts often credit Kapitan's, a long-running vegetarian restaurant, with an early bean version. Under segregation, the take-away format also let cooks serve customers who were not allowed to eat inside. The name is usually traced to bania, a term for Indian merchants, though nobody knows for sure.
Also known as bunny, kota, Durban curry bunny.
On the Meridish menu
Bunny chow was the street food course on menu No. 7 on October 7, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
A hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with curry, created by this port city's Indian community.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
- afar.com/magazine/how-bunny-chow-became-south-africas-national-street-food
- csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2019/0618/Bunny-chow-South-African-history-in-a-loaf-of-bread
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_chow
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
