OBITUARY: Cass Abrahams, pioneering voice of Cape Malay cuisine, dies at 82
Cass Abrahams spent four decades bringing Cape Malay cuisine into the spotlight, challenging the people and institutions that dismissed or erased it. Her legacy lives on in the recipes, books and generations of cooks she inspired.
Cass Abrahams, a pioneering voice of Cape Malay cuisine, passed away at the age of 82 in Cape Town on August 8, 2026. For four decades, she championed Cape Malay cuisine, challenging those who dismissed or erased it from history. Born Cassandra Magnolia Dorothea Weimers in Gauteng on April 3, 1944, her ancestry included German, Khoi, African, and French heritage.
Her father, an Afrikaans teacher, and her mother, who brewed and sold illegal alcohol, faced hardship when her father lost his job and the family moved to a mud hut outside Soweto.
Cass' passion for cooking led her to St Vincent, a Catholic boarding school, and later to Sacred Heart High School in Cradock. She later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of the Western Cape and trained as a teacher. It was there she met Yusuf Abrahams, a fellow student and later her husband. After his death, Cass continued her work in the culinary world, becoming a respected figure who ensured the written history and named authorship of Cape Malay food.
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