ZIMBABWE-BORN Tapiwa Guzha has used his PhD in Molecular Biology to make more than 600 inventive ice cream flavours, ranging from baobab to edible clay and bitter leaf.
According to a recent BBC News report, Guzha who has an ice-cream restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa, said that he wants Africans to be proud of their heritage, hence the creation of these various ice-cream flavours.
Guzha says growing up he ate the fruit and vegetables from his grandmother’s abundant garden. He was surrounded by indigenous produce such as baobab, fennel, monkey orange, and masawu fruit. But at school, other kids mocked his food, he told the website Beautiful News.com.
According to reports, Guzha was inspired to experiment with dry ice to create the frozen treat, while using indigenous African flavours such as edible clay and tamarind. Through TAPI TAPI Desserts, his ice cream bistro in Cape Town, Tapiwa wants Africans to celebrate their heritage.
In a recent interview with Beautiful News.com he said: ‘It is my hope that by normalising cultural dishes, I can inspire more positive attitudes and esteem in the African people,’ Guzha says.
He said that he has always enjoyed creating beauty with my hands. Whether making food, creating physical objects, body art or handwriting I have always appreciated the visual world and what I can contribute to it.
His unique ice-cream treats are also available on food ordering and delivery platform, Uber Eats.
Speaking to BBC News Focus on Africa, Guzha said that ‘there’s an opportunity to decolonise the foodscape in the city, in the country and indeed on the continent.’