Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Laurice Taitz-Buntman

Joburg has never been short of “unofficial mayors”, but Laurice Taitz-Buntman actually does the work and thus really deserves the title.

The journalist and urbanist behind Johannesburg in Your Pocket has spent decades documenting, defending and delighting in the city – through boom years, busts and potholes in between. She sees Joburg clearly, loves it anyway, and knows more about it than most. If you spot her at an event, sidle up. She’s very good company.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy. I devoured it. I interviewed Roy in Durban many years ago when she visited South Africa for a literary festival, and was taken by her fierce intelligence and rebellious spirit. They pulse through this book. It’s a bare-all, as much about her complicated relationship with her mother as it is about national identity and her bond with India – a tender and deeply personal read.

How do you keep fit?

I run, walk, play padel, lift weights. My head needs me to move as much as my body.

Week night, low-key restaurant go-to?

Bottega in Parkhurst. It’s always jam-packed, the conversation is lively, you’re surrounded by the world’s best whiskeys, service is higher grade and everything you taste on the menu they do well. My love of the porcini fillet here … explains why I need to keep fit.

What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why?

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. It always reminds me of my late brother, who introduced me to Hopper’s work. The setting is a late-night diner on a street corner, brightly lit, glass-enclosed and floating in an otherwise empty city. Inside sit customers and a counterman, close together yet emotionally distant. No-one meets another’s gaze; each figure seems locked in their own private silence. The city feels paused, and it evokes the strange intimacy of being awake when the rest of the world sleeps.

Do you have a hobby?

Buying cookbooks. It’s more like an addiction. I have this constant nagging feeling that one can never have too many. The latest additions to my collection are Damn Good Food by Fehmz (the fish tikka recipe is off the charts) and Jan Voyage – Apricale & Nice by Jan van der Westhuizen. I tried the zucchini carpaccio. It took hours to make. Well worth it. Artwork on a plate. It lasted seconds.

The one unusual item you can’t live without?

A top-of-the-range electric toothbrush. I love brushing my teeth.

Who was your high school celeb crush?

George Michael. Growing up in Benoni gave me a profound yearning for “Club Tropicana” – sunshine, peak escapism and the promise that life could be a lot more glamorous than where you happened to be.

Three songs that you’d take to a desert island?

Ain’t Got No, I Got Life by Nina Simone, Have You Ever Had it Blue by The Style Council, and Los Cuatro del Ritmo by DJ Kenzhero & Tha_Muzik, John Lunden and Mo-T.

Each one of them reminds me of a specific time in my life. No island would feel lonely if I could feast on the memories each evokes.

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_{Top image: supplied.}