When Mel met Rusk (this is not a love story).

Let me set the scene.

A high-on-life twenty something is totally smitten with a hot professional bloke who surfed, had an accent (omg sexy) AND lived right on the beach. She waits for breakfast. It’s a gorgeous Gold Coast morning, a gentle 2 ft wave rolls over the sand; her new beau walks toward her. He’s got coffee, and under one chiselled arm, a cream coloured box with “Ouma Karringmelk Beskuit” written across the front.

He pulls out a large hunk of dried, white dough. It looks like a bread roll you dropped in your car and then found in a thorough bi-annual clean out.

“This is a rusk. You dip it in coffee and then eat it. I was brought up on these: they’re lekker!”

His eyes dazzled with the shine of a thousand suns, proud to introduce this little piece of home to her. And of course, who was she to say no? She took the offering, dipped it into the milky Moccona (it’s the early 2000s you guys, real coffee is still making its way to the Gold Coast), and delicately nibblesd at the now soft edges of the rusk.

The texture hit her first: wet white bread. The gag reflex came second. As for flavour, maybe some vanilla but the overwhelming taste was of non-descript sweet.

She looked up. He’d already finished his.

“It’s the best way to start the day,” he enthused.

“Mmm hmm…” She fought the urge to throw the rusk at a passing ibis.

It was the first chink she’d found in his gleaming armour, and the thought swirled loud and clear: This guy is nuts.

Fast forward a few decades, and that dude is now more silver fox than hot surfer, and the girl married him despite that first introduction to those weird breakfast biscuits.

Yes, it was us.

I know now that Ouma Rusks are to South Africans what Vegemite is to Aussies. When you’re far from your homeland, you’ll eat just about anything that reminds you of your childhood. So there is definitely a place in this world for those dried out sweet bread rolls. The good news for the rest of the world is that Ouma’s are the tip of what is a delicious, wonderfully crunchy and wholesome iceberg.

O.G. Sunshine Rusks.

I came across the O.G. recipe for Sunshine Rusks in Canada of all places. Full of pepitas and sunflower seeds, not too sweet and with an amazing crunch even when dunked, this is the kind of rusk you look forward to every morning, afternoon or whenever the mood strikes. The ritual of sitting with your favourite beverage, letting the world quiet around you and focussing on this small, delicious bit of nourishment is what my silver fox was trying to demonstrate all those years ago.

I’m so glad he persisted!