During the second half of 2017, Slow Food conducted a number of
informative and thoroughly enjoyable outings.
On Saturday, 29 July, we visited the District Six Museum, where we met former District Six
residents who were part of the District Six Huis Kombuis: Food
& Memory Cookbook project. This project took the form of
weekly workshops where participants could share stories, memories
and recipes, resulting in the publication of a magnificent book.
There was a demonstration of the making of the traditional
koesisters, followed by a lunch featuring dishes from the book.
This took place at a long table in the museum, where Slow members
were entertained by the former residents with stories and songs.
The Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) has been
much in the news over the last couple of years, with the sale to
developers of prime agricultural land, and a proposed Consol Glass
silica mining project. A large proportion of Cape Town’s
vegetables are grown here. On Saturday 2 September Slow Food
arranged a visit to the area to see for ourselves the extent of
the proposed development. The issues are complicated. Would the
mining and development erode the historical vegetable basket Cape
Town has on its doorstep? Is the wetland important and will it too
be lost in the process with repercussions to the aquifer? Should
what the Cape Town City Council claim is the ‘More economic use of
the property’ be the way to go?
Farming in the PHA has always been a battle against wind and sand.
It also faces an added struggle with tools and equipment that
steal away in the night, crippling production in the same way
theft of infrastructure cripples our local train service.
The visit began with a vivid illustration of the difficulties: a
power failure, apparently not unusual in the area. This was
followed by a brief talk by Nazeer Sonday of the Food and Farming
Campaign. Members were then taken on a tour through the farmlands
to see the mining site and the proposed development sites. Back at
the Campaign Centre, we were treated to a vegetarian lunch, a stir
fry sourced from the farm produce. This proved to be a triumph
over the regularly experienced difficulties: since the electricity
was still off, the lunch was cooked over a gas braai.
On 7 October Slow Food visited fellow-member Gerald Tanesse, known
as Pépé Charlot at his fromagerie at Imhoff Farm,
to see the milking of the goat herd This was followed by a
demonstration of the cheese making process, showing the draining
of the curd, the rolling of the buches, and moulding of the
cheeses.
Pépé has been making cheese at Imhoff Farm for just over a year,
and his produce has been widely praised and enjoyed. He was a
recipient of one of our
Slow Food cheese
awards this year.
He explained that it’s a very careful maturation process that
gives rise to the variety of cheeses he produces, including Chevre
Frais, crotin and his signature cheese, the 'Pepe'. After the
demonstration, members were able to taste and buy the cheeses.
The Slow activities culminated on 26 November in the end
of year fundraising lunch in aid of the Peninsula
School Feeding Scheme.
This was held at the award-winning Table at De Meye, owned and run
by chef Jessica Shepherd and her husband, Luke Grant. Seated at a
long table under the trees, members were treated to a delicious
lunch of locally-sourced ingredients, much of which came from
Luke’s kitchen garden. The menu is worth recording:
The starter
was an organic beetroot tarte tatin with Imhoff goats chevre
frais, baby leaf salad, accompanied by woodfired bread and natural
farm butter and chrisnas marinated olives.
This was
followed by slow cooked shoulder of karoo lamb, with baby leeks
gratin, roasted cauliflower and chickpea salad with harissa, and
zucchini with lemon and mint. There was a vegetarian option of
mushroom ragout on ‘Lowerland’ mielie meal.
For dessert there
was elderflower jelly, with strawberry sorbet.
Thanks to the
generosity of our members we were able to donate R9,000.00 to the
PSFA. Below is the letter of thanks we received from the scheme’s
administrator, Tarsia Fortune:
Dear Stephen
Thank you for
your donation
On behalf of the school children we serve and
the board, management and staff at the Peninsula School Feeding
Association (PSFA), I hereby wish to take this opportunity to
thank Slow Food Cape Town for your generous donation of R9,000.00.
This amount will enable PSFA to provide 20 underprivileged
children, on our feeding programme, with a nutritious breakfast
and lunch while at school, for an entire year.
Your company’s
financial support will positively affect these children in the
following important ways:
• Reduce their short term hunger
• Increase their attendance and performance at school
•
Enhance their ability to learn
• Build their immune systems
and
• Increase their energy resulting in improved
concentration in the classroom
Please note the following:
1. Over 75% of all the beneficiaries on the PSFA feeding programme
are classified as ‘black’ in line with the BBBEE Code of Good
Practice
2. 100% of your donation will go towards feeding
these hungry school children
3. Your tax certificate will be
issued at the end of the financial year
Once again a big
thank you for supporting our feeding programme.
Kind regards
TARSIA FORTUNE
Donor administrator
