CIRCUIT: Food & Spice in Fordsburg

Why We're Walking Through Fordsburg Together

When House of Shem started developing Shem Circuits, the question we kept coming back to was: who in Johannesburg is already doing this properly?

We found African Secrets Cultural Walks.

What struck us immediately wasn't the routes or the stops — it was the approach. Ish doesn't position himself as the authority in the room. He asks questions. He creates the conditions for a group of people to discover something together, where everyone's curiosity and experience shapes what the tour becomes. Each walk is different because the people on it are different.

That's exactly how House of Shem thinks about cultural programming. Start with WHY. Don't assume the format. Make space for genuine exchange rather than passive consumption.

So when we sat down together, the collaboration was obvious. Not because we do the same thing — but because we ask the same first question.

The Food & Spice Tour through Fordsburg on 30 May is the first circuit we're producing together. Ish will guide a small group through the neighbourhood's immigrant communities from the Middle East and South Asia — Pakistani sweet shops, Syrian baklava, Gujarati spices, Palestinian shwarma, Arabic juice bars and more — with tastings along the way and real conversations about food, migration, and what it means to build a home in this city.

This is what cultural tourism looks like when you start with curiosity instead of a script.

Join us. R370 per person | R185 for Junior Explorers (under 12).

https://www.quicket.com/events/373860-shem-circuits-food-spice-tour/