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By admin, September 10, 2009 1:04 pm

Lebanese evening
On February 28 Jack and Themis Lourandos threw open their beautiful Fresnaye home to Slow Food members. It proved to be a stunning setting for the occasion, on a perfect, still summer’s evening. Diners sat at tables in the garden overlooking Table Bay, and were served a superb Lebanese feast prepared by Suhela Caralis.

Inyathi Ridge
Last year’s visit to the farm proved so successful that a second visit was arranged on Saturday 11 April for those members who had missed the first event. They were accompanied by several CSA members, who continued on to Eric’s farm. Wayne took us through the process of making bufala mozzarella, and there was an opportunity to buy the cheese, as well as his superb buffalo milk yoghurt.

Grape harvest
Ntida Estate in Durbanville was the venue for our annual grape harvest on Saturday March 21. After a morning of picking and stomping grapes, members repaired to the Cassia Restaurant on the estate for an excellent brunch. Members were offered a choice of salmon rillettes with fennel and preserved lemon and harvest bread, or pork and prune terrine with pickles and toasted brioche as a starter. This was followed by a main course of Provencal fish stew with rouille, or warm duck salad of confit, smoked breast and liver parfait. The meal concluded with a plate of local cheeses, or a pinotage jelly with shortbread and custard.

Pizza evening
Conviviality was in evidence at Massimo’s Pizza Club in Hout Bay on Friday 22 May. Massimo and Tracy Orione were hosts for a communal pizza experience. Members were treated to a three-course meal, beginning with Bagna Cauda, a warm anchovy dip served with roast vegetables. This was followed by a succession of superb, thin-based pizzas with a variety of toppings, each one more delicious than the last. The feast concluded with Bunet, a traditional Piedmontese pudding, served with home-made ice cream, and limoncello.

Slow members enjoying the warmth and conviviality of Massimo’s.

Venison Feast
On Friday July 24 members were treated to a superb venison dinner prepared by Sally Dalgleish, assisted by Slow members. The meal consisted of Waterblommetjie soup, prepared by Sharon Ball, followed by Sally’s beautifully rare and tender roast saddle of venison, and Magdalen Venison, as casserole prepared by Pat Rademayer and Cecily van Gend, and accompanied by roast sweet potatoes and green beans, cooked by Lorna van Besouw. The meal concluded with malva pudding made by Kate Schrire and Ruth Suter. This took at the Zeekoevlei Yacht Club, which proved to be a warm and cosy venue

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By admin, July 11, 2009 12:23 pm

PRESERVING OUR EDIBLE HERITAGE

STRUGGLE VELD FOOD: KANNIKA – FROM GORINGHAIQUAS TO BETSIE’S PUDDING
By Melvyn Minnaar

It is obvious from Jan van Riebeeck’s meticulous journals that life was no walk in the park from the moment he, his wife, three ships and not so merry men arrived in Table Bay. Food, both in sufficient amounts and of proper nutrition, would be an enduring five-year struggle for the young Dutch officer, as HW Claassens wrote in a splendid thesis published by the University of Pretoria in 2003.

According to Claassens, Van Riebeeck quickly turned to the locals, the Cape’s Koikoin tribes – such as the Goringhaiquas and the Cochoquas – to identify edible indigenous plants. One such became known in the vernacular as ‘kannika’ or ‘jakkalskos’; a most curious plant that, mostly because of its rarity, is shrouded in folkloric mystery and survival romance.

The Hydnora africana (so unusual that it has a unique family species, hydnoraceae) was found near Calvinia and classified by the famous Swedish botanist Carl Thunberg in 1774 . A root parasite which produces a single underground fruit, it is sought after by humans and animals alike (hence the name ‘jackal food’). Because it was slow to ripen (two years, according to botanists) and not found everywhere up the barren west coast, it was always a delicacy: true struggle veldkos.

In the past century, kannika had virtually disappeared from anthropological and other cultural radar screens. Old timers, who remembered such things, told the stories and walked the veld.

In February last year, Paul Buckle from Velddrif wrote to Die Burger’s botany columnist Ernst van Jaarsveld, explaining how he found a plant after 45 years of vigilance. He recalled how he and childhood friends used to break open the cricket-ball-shaped ripe fruit and enjoy the coconut-like flesh. He also relates how the fishermen of Velddrif used to tan their nets by soaking them in a solution of kannika.

In her magnificent compendium of such foodstuffs, Kos uit die Veldkombuis (1994), Betsie Rood gives a recipe for kannika.

While it could be eaten raw – tasting, she says, like a sweetish, floury potato – she advocates baking it under glowing coals and then scraping out the flesh. After draining the tiny seeds, she suggests it be combined with whipped cream, some sugar, cinnamon, a dash of sherry and served like runny ice cream.

One can only wonder whether Commander and Mrs Van Riebeeck dished up something similar when they had Oedasoa, captain of the Cochoquas, for dinner…

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By admin, February 12, 2009 12:25 pm

Two members of the Cape Town convivium, Kate Schrire and Donald Paul, attended the Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy, last October.

THOUGHTS FROM TERRA MADRE – Report by Kate Schrire

In October, I attended Slow Food’s Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy. As a representative of Slow Food Cape Town, I was given access to all the workshops and seminars, which are closed to members of the public.

Terra Madre, translated from the Italian as ‘Mother Earth’, brings together all the members of Slow Food’s international food communities. Although the focus is on food producers (think: Kenyan Masai herdsmen meet Tibetan Yak farmers meet Irish honey producers!), chefs, educators and activists are also present. Over the course of a long weekend, all these diverse groups and individuals network, discuss common issues in forums and workshops, and attend lectures on Slow Food themes, which this year included topical issues such as GM crops, the energy and food crises and food biodiversity.

It is difficult to do justice to a meeting of this scale in a written report, so far removed from the excitement and sense of purpose of the actual event. However, small interactions stick with me, and while microcosms in a larger system, they make it easier to appreciate the forces at work behind the scenes of the much larger event.

Entering the Africa Workshop, and trying to find a seat. Shyly approaching a woman in full Kenyan national dress, to ask if the seat next to her is taken; she responds instantly, “Yes, I’ve been saving it for my new friend – you.” While waiting for the workshop to start, chatting about our respective countries, her work as a veterinarian in Nairobi, exchanging business cards, admiring a worn wallet photo of her daughter.

Taking photos of a workshop, only to discover that the photographer next to me, replete in short shorts (in a chilly Italian autumn!) and long socks, is an Afrikaner honey farmer from George. I was very proud of all the South Africans I met over the weekend. So many amazing projects I’d never heard of! Hearing a young farmer from YARD, based in Jo’burg, talk about his work and his commitment to Slow Food, in front of a crowd of three hundred other African delegates.

Waiting for a bus to take Terra Madre delegates to the opening ceremony, at another venue (in true Italian style, the bus never arrives). Sitting on the pavement and striking up conversation with three British sustainable fishing delegates. One, a chef, pulls a small cooler bag out of his backpack, complete with knife and chopping board, and proceeds to make us sushi with red mullet (the Lady Hamilton boat, off the coast of Cornwall, yesterday, he tells me gravely when I ask where it’s from). He carefully wraps squares in nori seaweed, tucking in a sliver of fennel and home-pickled damsons before presenting a piece with due ceremony on the blade of his knife. “What, no oysters?” I joked. “We ate them all on the train from London,” they told me glumly.

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By admin, February 12, 2009 12:19 pm

LUNCH AT SOUTH HILLS

In October, members enjoyed an extremely good lunch at The Venue on the South Hills wine estate, near Elgin. Set in a beautifully laid-out garden filled with imaginative indigenous plantings, the restaurant is situated in a converted barn, with massive doors opening onto lawns with views of the vineyards and mountains in the distance. Chef Gordon Manuel prepared his signature dish of twice-braised oxtail in prosciutto, served with a wild mushroom risotto and oregano zucchini ribbons. Gordon’s philosophy fits in well with Slow Food principles:

‘For the restaurant all we wanted to do was to create great food using local produce and wines. We want people to start enjoying good food again: food that has flavour and texture, is made with much love and does its job of filling you up! It is also our aim not only to use as much as we can of the excellent local produce the area has to offer, but also to employ as many staff as possible from the local community. We want to provide a different career option for those who have grown up in the valley. At the end of the day we have embarked on the mission to put Elgin on the Gourmet food map where the wines already are – and we are sure we can do it! Why Elgin? Why not! It is a beautiful part of the Cape and has so much to offer in the form of great produce and fine wine and it is still so untouched and natural.’

The lunch was preceded by a visit to the newly established Elgin Farmers’ Market.

VISIT TO INYATHI RIDGE FARM - Report by Jeremy Hele

Wayne Rademeyer has a passion: mozzarella cheese – that white, soft, slightly rubbery cheese that is one of Italy’s great delicacies. He deserted his law practice in Johannesburg, travelled to Italy with his wife Michelle to learn the secrets of mozzarella making and went through endless hassles to import 24 buffaloes to his farm at Inyathi Ridge.

The water buffaloes came from Australia, a country whose veterinary standards compare with our own. They are gentle and intelligent, a far cry from their distant and dangerous cousins the African Buffalo, who would be highly unlikely to allow anyone to milk them. And they are thriving in the Cape – most of the heifers are pregnant and lactating well.

A group from the Cape Slow Food Convivium visited the farm last November, and were introduced by Wayne to the delights of both the Mozzarella di Bufala and the Buffalo Milk Yoghurt, both of which have a taste all their own. They are far superior to the imported varieties, which need preservatives to cope with their transit and often other additives as well. Though higher in fat and protein than normal cheese, the mozzarella has a low cholesterol count and is suitable for people who are lactose intolerant.

Producing the milk is only part of the problem. “The difficulty with mozzarella is getting the nuances right,” says Wayne. “It is one of the stretched curd cheeses known as pasta filata, it is handmade in the traditional way and needs strong arms, serious physical effort and hands that can handle intense heat.”
He curdles the milk, with a coagulating agent, drains off the whey, puts it in hot water and keeps stretching it until it is pliable. Finally it is moulded into balls and dropped into cold water, which forms a skin that keeps in the moisture. Not an easy process, but well worth the effort.

The Inyathi Ridge mozzarella is one of only three worldwide made outside Italy, and judging by the reaction of the Slow Food group, we are privileged to have it available at selected delis.

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By admin, February 11, 2009 12:40 pm

Kate Schrire recently visited Eric on his farm, and chatted to him about his outlook.

Eric Swarts has been a farmer all his life. “I love being outside. I’d rather be out in the heat and the rain than in an office,” he says with a grin.

Born on a farm, and with many years’ experience in conventional citrus, berry and apple farming, he now has his own farm, on the Spier Estate, outside Stellenbosch. As part of their commitment to emerging farmers, Spier leases the land from the municipality, which Eric has since turned into fertile, organic farmland. His produce is certified organic by Afrisco, and he farms using permaculture principles. He farms a range of vegetables, which he sells at the Natural and Organic Farmers’ Market, directly to locals-in-the-know, and to commercial packing houses. He also provides practical training to post-graduate students in sustainable agriculture at the neighbouring Sustainability Institute.

Although his earlier agricultural training was all on conventional farms, “I got fed up with using chemicals,” he said. “We’d spray, and the next day harvest fruit. I felt it was dangerous (for consumers)”. At the time, he was using homeopathic medicines, which led him to consider traditional methods. “How did our forefathers farm for thousands of years without chemicals?” he asks rhetorically. “Very successfully. But after the Green Revolution, suddenly we can’t do it without chemicals? I wanted… to go back”. When he first started farming at Spier in 1999, organic agriculture was only just emerging locally, and Eric felt it offered an opportunity to specialise in a new type of produce, rather than competing with established, commercial farmers.

Eric has ten hectares of land, but through crop rotation, has only 5 ½ to 7 hectares under cultivation at one time. He hires three local workers – all women – year-round, and more hands during the harvest, when he can afford it. Ideally, he’d like to employ ten workers, but this is not economically viable. When asked why he has an all-woman workforce, he burst into laughter and said, “Women work harder”. His family – three daughters and a wife – might have something to do with that, too!

Eric follows permaculture principles wherever possible, and defines it as a system where “everything must have more than one purpose”. As an example, he cites his windbreak hedge of indigenous shrubs, which not only shelters crops from the area’s strong winds, but also encourages the presence of indigenous birds, insects and other animals, important players in a permaculture ecosystem. He buys only open-pollinated seeds, in the hope that he will with time be able to save all his own seed, and be more self-sufficient. He also practices companion planting, and his fields of hubbard squash currently sway with sunflowers, a beautiful example of this policy.

Eric recently went on a trip to India, sponsored by the Sustainability Institute, to visit small scale farmers. He was very impressed by their small, productive polyculture farms, and has put into practice at his own farm several of the things he learnt on his trip. “In situ compost is one thing I learnt in India,” he says, explaining that weeds that are pulled out of the fields shouldn’t be moved to distant compost heaps, but are best left lying where they were pulled in the field, where their green matter will break down more quickly into the soil, nourishing the crops and saving unnecessary labour.

Something else he brought back from India – an understanding of the importance of domestic animals in the lifecycle of the farm. He applied to a program at the University of the Eastern Cape, and they have since provided him with trained oxen to plough his fields and help with the weeding. “And the oxen also provide kraal manure onsite. I can start closing the circle, and get everything I need from the farm,” Eric says with satisfaction.

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By admin, February 11, 2009 12:37 pm

CSA BOX SCHEME

Slow Food Cape Town, in conjunction with the Ethical Co-Op and the Sustainability Institute, has inaugurated a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) Box Scheme from February to the end of April.

A CSA is a partnership between an agricultural or artisan producer and a group of consumers. The consumers sponsor the production of a specific crop or product at the beginning of the CSA, and during the season, the producer responds with frequent reports on that crop’s development and growth, and the consumers can visit the producer to learn more about how crop is grown, and even help with the harvest.

The harvest is divided between all the members during the course of the season. We have established a mixed organic vegetable CSA, grown by farmer Eric Swarts, which will be divided among all participants in box scheme format (i.e. every week during the season you receive a box of mixed vegetables).

The response has been extremely enthusiastic, with the scheme being fully subscribed within days of the notice going out to members.

The point of running a CSA (and a cornerstone of the Slow Food ethos) is to reconnect consumers with agricultural producers, and make urban dwellers aware of the lifecycles implicit in growing and producing the food we eat.

The Ethical Co-Op is an online cooperative which sells ethically produced food and household products. www.ethical.org.za.

The Sustainability Institute is a non-profit trust and living and learning centre, focusing on studies and experience in ecology, community and spirit. www.sustainabilityinstitute.net.

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By admin, February 10, 2009 12:31 pm

Stephen Flesch was recently invited to address the Institute for Mindfulness, South Africa at a lunch held at 96 Winery Road restaurant. They wanted to know what Slow Food was about. It proved an interesting experience, as he describes below:

Their definition: “Mindfulness is paying attention from moment to moment with an attitude of non-judgement, curiosity and openness.” This was the first time that they had gathered for a meal, since most of their meetings involve discussions or meditation, or both. There is a distinct Buddhist flavour to their philosophy.

We started with a light amuse bouche of home-made hummus and pepperdew dips with organic fresh vegetables and home-baked bread. Then Julie Mackintosh, a therapeutic dietician, led us through a meditation on the first course. This was warm Haloumi with sweet chili and caramelised nuts and a garnish of rocket. Silently we looked at it, then smelled it, listened to it, felt its texture and finally put it onto our tongues and let our tongues feel it before tasting and swallowing it.

During the pause before the main course (a choice between mushroom Tart Tatin and roasted Elgin free range chicken) I told them about Slow Food and its core manifesto of Good, Clean and Fair. It was apparent that there is a lot of synchronicity between the attitudes of the two bodies.

After the main course we all silently trooped outside for a slow mindful walk in the garden and vineyards before the dessert of strawberry pancakes with a white chocolate parfait.

The Slow message was well received and at 17h00 we left what had been a most enjoyable and interesting lunch.

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By admin, February 9, 2009 12:32 pm

In 2008, past Head Snail Jos Baker paid a visit to Slovenia. She recounts some of her experiences:

The snail plays a large part in Slovenian cuisine. Not on plates – I wasn’t offered snails on my gourmand tour of that delightful country, though frogs’ legs are a delicacy – but still-life snails carved on restaurant doors and lintels, or proudly displayed on menus. For Slow Food is alive and well in Slovenia, where its symbol is synonymous with a return to culinary roots in an invitingly updated form.

When I was invited on a seven-day food and wine tour of Slovenia, I confess I needed an atlas to locate it. I found the chicken-shaped country (all of 20.273 km2 in extent), tucked between Austria, Italy and Croatia. You can drive from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea in 45 minutes.

This small area offers a “boutique” culinary experience: a little of everything to please the palate, while making the most of fresh ingredients – from forest berries (mouth-tingling in sorbets with lemon balm) to figs (irresistible in a chocolate coating).

Slovenia gained independence only in 1991 and had already assimilated diverse culinary influences from across its newly defined borders. In many instances the border is simply a road or river; and in the case of winemaking, vineyards can be officially in Italy, but if the winery is in Slovenia, the wine is classified as Slovenian.

Each region boasts its own traditional recipes, retaining the past while absorbing new trends. There’s an enviable plethora of prsut (Prosciutto) perfectly cured and sliver-thin, which came to the Karst region centuries ago from neighbouring Friuli and Venice.

Dumplings are widespread, but as deliciously different struklji: a hundred varieties with fillings that vary from tarragon, cheese or mint, to olives, walnuts, apples and cinnamon, depending on region. References to struklji concerning types of dough, stuffing and ways of preparation date back to the 16th century.

Kranjska pork sausages are so fine that they pleased the palate of Emperor Franz Josef, who, on his way from Vienna to Trieste, stopped at an inn in the region for refreshment. Told that there was nothing on the menu but “regular sausages”, the emperor tasted the offering and exclaimed: “This is no regular sausage. This is kransky sausage!”

Over the centuries this prime product was adulterated, but since 2004, when a group of concerned Slovenians met in the House of Culinary Art Jezersek in Sora, standards have been protected by annual evaluations of kranjska klobasa. The title “best kranjska of the current year” is very much in keeping with Slow Food tradition.

Delectable pastries set culinary standards: traditional Prekmurska gibanica (layer cake from the Prekmurian region) has been the most popular Slovenian pastry for centuries. Served at Christmas or other festive occasions, it’s utterly indulgent, layering phyllo pastry with fillings of apple, walnut, cottage cheese (raisins are a recent addition) and poppy seed on a shortbread base.

The pastry is unique, protected by letters patent to ensure the recipe is not changed in any way. Producers must apply for a certificate entitling them to use the brand name. (Home baking is not restricted: if you want to try your hand, I have the recipe!)

Vanilla cream slices are one of the main tourist attractions of idyllic Bled, vying in appeal with an Alpine lake sheltered by mountains. Here gondola- like boats (pletna) take visitors to a fairy-tale island complete with church and a wishing bell said to grant the wish of anyone who can make it peal three times. The feather-light pastry dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when a local baker’s son brought back a notebook filled with recipes he’d learned as an apprentice in Austria and Germany. His success lay in lightening the original version, which he considered over-sweet and too heavy. Not only did I try a slice (and bring back the recipe), but my hotel was on the shores of the lake, overlooking the island.

Restaurants vary from sophisticated five-star hotel venues to small eateries whose unpretentious exteriors give no hint of the slow riches within. But to English-speaking visitors, menus are a minefield.

What Sirova zafrk(n)jaca means – let alone how to pronounce it, boggles the mind and tongue, and as for Zabeljeni hmeljevi vrsicki… best not attempted. Fortunately most waiters speak English (a second language and taught in schools) and travelling with a guide is the stress-free, sit-back-and-relax option. Especially if he’s on the cover of the Slovenian FHM that month, as mine was!

It’s not only the cuisine that appeals. There are three distinct wine-growing regions, differing in microclimate, soil and viticultural tradition. Wine-tasting is a journey of discovery. Though you’ll find classics like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, many of the grape varieties – Rebula and Teran being about the only ones I dared pronounce – are unfamiliar to South African palates.

Highlights? Difficult to pinpoint as the country offers such variety. My mental flashbacks extend from the fresh market in the fascinating old town of capital city Ljubljana to the brooding Alps; quaint villages on hills, clustered round a church; watching harvesting in the northernmost saltpans in the Med using methods dating back to the fourteenth century; the mediaeval town of Piran reminiscent of Venice (you can see the Italian coastline from the seafront); breathtaking gold and copper autumn leaves in virgin forest and limpid turquoise rivers so unlike our brown mountain streams.

This as a background to a Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner in an inn up a winding mountain road cloaked in mist (memorable goose pate with fig topping); my first meal in Slovenia, infused with love and warmth by a chef who epitomised Slow Food (black truffles a perfect combo with polenta and potatoes) and lunch in a restaurant in a converted castle guarding an island in a lake, where a creamy soup of beech leaves and cottage cheese made music and lunch lasted well into the afternoon…

My tour was arranged by Insider’s Slovenia, a tour company specialising in upmarket tours in Slovenia, tailored to individual needs. For more information, see www.insiders-slovenia.com

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By admin, February 8, 2009 12:45 pm

The Whole Food Almanac – A shopping guide to healthy eating in the Cape
Michelle Matthews – Sunbird Publishers

This comprehensive and well-researched guide focuses on foods that are produced within a two-hour drive of Cape Town.

More than just a list of local shops and suppliers, it also introduces some of the farmers and producers, talking about how they grow and raise the food they sell.

The chapters cover fruit and veg, meat and poultry, fish, breads, grains and pulses, and wine and other beverages.

There is also information on markets and farm stalls, as well as shops and delis, and restaurants and cafes. A useful source book and shopping companion.