Spotlight on ... mini Mozambique

Size: Tiny — the Mozambique High Commission in London estimates that there are only 500 to 800 of its countrymen living in the whole of the UK.

Wow, that makes even London’s Maori community look vast.
I know. It’s probably something to do with the fact that Mozambique was never part of the British Empire. Portugal gets the post-colonial guilt for that one.

But that doesn’t make any sense — Mozambique is a member of the British Commonwealth.
It chose to join in 1995 — Mozambique and Rwanda are the only two of the 54 Commonwealth countries who aren’t former colonies.

Why did they want to join our gang? Did they have a secret crush on our ceremonial leader of state?
Who doesn’t? But no, there was a serious reason. The Commonwealth was able to help fund the frontline struggle the country was fighting against apartheid. The then Commonwealth Secretariat in London said it was a “moral obligation”.

Well, obviously — we’re talking about apartheid.
Yes but there was more to it than that. He also claimed that “a strong case can be drawn from the fact that Mozambique’s suffering and destruction have come about largely as a result of support for democracy and human dignity in neighbouring Commonwealth states”.

How’s our relationship now?
It’s very convivial. The Mozambican president, Armando Guebuza, came on his second visit to the UK earlier this year and Chatham House holds an annual Angola and Mozambique meeting every May.

Laying aside the politics for a moment, where can I track down some Mozambique culture in this city?
Virgin Margarida, a bracing drama from Mozambican director Licínio Azevedo, was declared one of the gems at the recent BFI London Film Festival, while in Peckham’s South London Gallery the award-winning director Karen Boswall held an African film-making masterclass this month.

What about the food? What’s Mozambican cuisine like?
Well, the Portuguese were running the country for almost 500 years, so the food ended up being pretty … Portuguese. Steak rolls, battered shrimp and whole chicken in piri-piri sauce are all popular dishes that you find in both cultures.

Sounds delicious. Where can I dine on such delicacies?
Eyre Brothers has been serving devastatingly good Portuguese food to Shoreditch’s hipsters for over a decade. The brothers, David and Robert, grew up in Mozambique so there’s an African East Coast edge to the dishes.