It’s easy to see and taste the many reasons why people fall in love with the West Coast

Georgia East lives in Blouberg, overlooking the long golden strand and the picture-postcard vista of the mountain, laid out like a table across the bay.

But even those who live in Cape Town need to escape town every now and again, and Georgia’s heart draws her up the West Coast to the little village of Darling, which is famous for its wildflowers, its wind farm, and Tannie Evita, who doubles-up as Pieter-Dirk Uys at the railway-siding cabaret venue, Evita se Perron.

For Georgia, though, Darling is a home from home, because this is where she comes to share her passion for fine food and cooking – simmered and served with love, across the generations.

Georgia’s mother, Andrea, and grandmother, Daphne, stay in a big old house that was once the local bakery, and the sunlight streaming through the windows evokes the warmth of bread rising in the hearth.

“Food,” says Georgia, “is edible nostalgia.” Today, as a food-stylist, photographer, and author of a cookbook called West Coast Wander, she remembers the simple dishes that stirred her senses and nurtured her love of the culinary arts.

The black mussels plucked from the rocks, the silky chicken liver pâté, the crayfish piled on the newspaper-covered dining room table, accompanied by pots of garlic butter and drizzles of lemon juice.

Her memories of the tastes, smells, and textures is interwoven with her memories of family holidays in Velddrif, the fishing town on the estuary of the Berg River, where the “pink, pink sunsets” cast the flocks of flamingoes in silhouette, and the odour of rich, dark mud rises from the reeds.

The West Coast weaves its spell on everyone who wanders, but for Georgia, the raw and understated beauty of the region resonates on a deeply personal level.

It was on a boat ride up the Berg River, to scatter the ashes of her late dad, David, that she began to see the landscape in a whole new light.

In the emotional intensity of the moment, she saw epiphanies in the smallest of details: the ripples of the river, the shape of the trees, the flight of the birds, the desaturated colour of the sky.

“The West Coast,” says Georgia, “is where my soul goes to escape. Going there is like closing a door on the sensory overload of the city, and finding yourself in a place that gives you all the space you need to just breathe and think.”

Inspired by introspection, she finds her creative outlet in the conviviality of good company, and good company calls for the pleasures of good, hearty food.

Her unique interpretation of the West Coast style, based largely on the bounty of the sea, is seasoned with Mediterranean influences, complementing the local tradition in such flavoursome dishes as herbed hake polpettes with dill yoghurt and homemade pickles; snoek with paprika and garlic butter; and souskluitjies with guava compote.

But the primary ingredient, always, whether Georgia is cooking for family and friends, or sharing her recipes with the world, is the binding agent of love.

For the landscape, for the people, for the food of the heart-and-soul-land where she most feels at home.

“There are so many different ways of showing love,” says Georgia, “but I think food is the most evocative.”

Come, she says. Come and see, feel, taste for yourself. So what should you do, if you’ve never been here before, and you want to understand just why so many people are drawn to this part of the world? Well, for one thing, you should eat.

The West Coast is famous for its bistros, its restaurants, its must-eat-at-places, like Wolfgat in Paternoster, named the Best Restaurant in the World at The World Restaurant Awards in Paris in 2019.

Then again, you can follow Georgia’s advice, and simply do it yourself.

“There’s absolutely no reason,” she says, “why you can’t buy a beautiful piece of angelfish or bream that has been caught that morning, and then braai it on the beach with a bit of garlic butter, a little bit of lemon, and a glass of crispy West Coast Sauvignon Blanc, as you watch the sun go down.”

In that moment, you will feel the sense of connection and belonging that brings people here and keeps them coming back, and you will be able to say that you, too, know what it means to be a Weskusbewoner.

This is the final story in our series on the remarkable people and places of the West Coast, inspired by Weskubewoners, brought to you by BrightRock and kykNET. Thank you for watching and reading!