Bunny Chow: Durban's Curry in a Loaf (and No Rabbits Involved)

It arrives looking like a loaf of bread. Then you notice the top has been sliced off, the inside scooped out, and the hollow filled to the brim with a deep red curry — mutton, chicken, beans or vegetables — glistening with oil and spice. The scooped-out piece of bread sits on top like a lid. There is no knife and fork. You tear off a piece of the loaf, dip it, and eat your way inward. This is bunny chow, the most famous dish of Durban, South Africa.

Not a rabbit in sight

First, the name. Bunny chow has nothing to do with rabbits. The most common explanation links "bunny" to bania, a term for Indian merchant castes. Many early Indian shopkeepers and lunch-counter owners in Durban were referred to this way, and the dish they sold became "bania chow" — later "bunny chow." "Chow" is South African slang for food. Other stories exist, but this is the explanation most often given by historians and Durbanites.

Durban's Indian heritage

Bunny chow comes from Durban's large Indian community, one of the biggest outside India. From 1860, the British colonial government of Natal brought tens of thousands of indentured labourers from India to work on sugar-cane plantations, railways and farms. They were followed by "passenger" Indians — traders and merchants who paid their own way. Over generations, they built a vibrant community, and their food — especially curry — became part of South African cooking.

Durban curries developed their own character: often fiery, deep red from chilli powder and spice blends, and less creamy than many Indian curries.

How it began

There are several origin stories. One popular version tells of a merchant who hollowed out a loaf and filled it with bean curry to make a cheap, portable lunch for workers who could not easily carry plates and pots. Another links the dish to the era of segregation and apartheid, when Black South Africans were barred from many restaurants. A curry served in a loaf could be passed through a back door or window and eaten anywhere, with no plates to return. Whatever its exact beginnings, by the mid-20th century bunny chow was firmly established in Durban.

Its spiritual home is the old Grey Street area of central Durban (now renamed Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street), long a multiracial heart of the city, where small family-run restaurants served bunnies to workers of every background. Some of those restaurants, now run by the third generation, are still serving them.

How to order — and eat — a bunny

• Size matters. Bunnies are ordered by the portion of the loaf: a quarter, a half or a full loaf. A "quarter mutton" is a classic order.
• Choose your filling. Mutton, lamb, chicken, beef, beans (sugar beans) or vegetables. Bean curry is the original and still much loved.
• The bread. It must be soft, white, unsliced bread, strong enough to hold the curry.
• The lid. The piece of bread scooped out from the middle, sometimes called the "virgin," is placed on top. You use it to start dipping.
• Eat with your hands. Tear the bread from the top down, scooping curry as you go. Locals will tell you that using cutlery misses the point.
• Side dish. It often comes with a simple grated carrot and chilli salad (sambals).

Cousins across South Africa

Bunny chow has relatives in other South African cities: the kota ("quarter") of Johannesburg's townships — a quarter loaf stuffed with chips, polony, cheese and egg — and the Gatsby of Cape Town, a giant filled sandwich. All share the same idea: cheap, filling food for working people, built inside bread.

Like the braai, bunny chow has become a South African food that crosses community lines. It is eaten by everyone, celebrated at festivals and championships, and claimed with pride as a symbol of Durban.

Why it matters

Bunny chow tells a story in a loaf of bread: of Indian labourers brought across the ocean, of shopkeepers feeding workers, of a divided country where food sometimes had to be passed through a back window — and of a dish that outlived all of that to become a national favourite. Next time you are in Durban, order a quarter mutton, roll up your sleeves, and eat it the proper way.

Further reading

• Christian Science Monitor — South Africa in a loaf of bread: the history of its beloved bunny chow (2019)
• AFAR — How bunny chow became South Africa's national street food
• Goolam Vahed and Ashwin Desai, Inside Indian Indenture: A South African Story, 1860–1914 (HSRC Press, 2010)