Saturday 11 September, 2010

On Saturday 11th September our sister convivium, Slow Food Cape Town, will be visiting Solms Delta wine estate outside Franschhoek to tour their culinary veldkos (indigenous food) garden project. They have kindly invited us to come along. You can view their invitation here.

Now, here’s the complicated part.

They have also arranged a delicious two-course lunch at Fyndraai, the Solms Delta restaurant, as part of the outing. However, as we try to offer affordable events, we have arranged with them so that members can choose to either attend both the veldkos garden tour and the restaurant meal for R230 for members and R250 for guests, OR they can attend only the vegetable garden tour for R40.

If you wish to attend both the vegetable garden tour AND the restaurant meal, please book through Slow Food Cape Town, by emailing Adrian at: adrad@mweb.co.za. Please note booking closes on Monday 6 September.

If you wish only to attend the vegetable garden tour and then make your own plans for lunch, please book through Slow Food Mother City, by filling in our online booking form.

Members who choose not to attend the lunch at Fyndraai restaurant are welcome to make their own plans for lunch in the area. The Slow Food Mother City committee will be picnicking and viewing the plum blossoms at a neighbouring private farm, and you are also welcome to join us on our picnic for no extra cost (aside from your own food and drink!).

If you are confused or just wish to ask a question, please contact Kate at kate@slowfoodmothercity.co.za.

Slow Food Mother City will be hosting an introduction to the pleasures of preserving with Oded Schwartz on 10 April.

Oded is South Africa’s leading expert on preserving (seriously, he wrote the book: Preserving, published by Dorling Kindersley in 1996, and translated into thirteen languages). He’s friendly and knowledgeable, and he’ll give you enough confidence to finally attempt a jam, or at least a chutney!

Join us for two hours of preserving history, theory, skills and tips, shared in a convivial atmosphere in Oded’s own kitchen. We’ll be tasting Oded’s preserves and pickles, and washing them down with Jack Black beer.

At this event, Oded will explain pickling techniques and science, give some history of pickling, offer samples for tasting, and answer your questions. No pickling will be DEMONSTRATED; we hope to offer a hands-on course with Oded in the near future, guided by participant feedback from this workshop.

EVENT DETAILS:

Date and time:
Saturday 10 April 2010. 3pm-5pm

Venue:
Oded’s Kitchen, The Old Biscuit Mill, 375 Albert Road, Salt River (why not stop by the Neighbourgoods Market beforehand?)

Cost:
R70 for members, R90 for guests

Bookings:
Space is limited (20pax), so if you would like to come, please email us at: events@slowfoodmothercity.co.za and let us know how many people you are bringing (and whether you are members or guests). We will then send you banking information to make your deposit and confirm your place/s.

First come, first served. If you have not made the deposit within 2 days of booking, we will make your space/s available to the next person in line. Please book before Thursday 7 March 2010.

On 6 March 2010 a group of Slow Fooders visited Spier to learn more about their biodynamic farming methods. In particular, we wanted to know about their egg-laying and broiler chickens – we’d heard they lead happy lives, by chicken standards.

Spier farm manager, Christo, led us out into the pastures to meet the chickens and cows, who live in a fascinating symbiosis on the pastures.

Into the yonder... to the chicken coop! - Pia Taylor

This piece of land was almost destroyed by conventional farming methods, but is now being rehabilitated using biodynamic principles: the cows graze the grass, trampling some of it flat and churning the earth. They leave behind pats, where larvae grow. A few days’ later the chickens are moved onto the same piece of land, where they disperse the pats by scratching for grubs and further fertilise the soil with their own droppings. After a few rounds of this, the srubby pasture starts to look green and lush – it’s revitalised.

Cows doing their good work on the Spier pastures - Liz Metcalfe

Spier’s egg-laying chickens are completely free to run around at will (though Christo has specifically chosen ones that don’t like to range TOO far) and spend their evenings roosting a large coop (decorated by local kids), where they’re free to lay their eggs as and when they feel like it.

Egg-layers' mobile coop painted by local children - Liz Metcalfe

They’re also free to indulge in all sorts of poultry peccadillos, including chickens’ absolute favourite past-time: a feather-fluffing dust bath. These chickens will be good layers for up to five years (compared to less than two years for exhausted commercial hens).

Spier chickens taking a very enjoyable dust bath - Liz Metcalfe

The broiler chickens – the one omnivorous humans eat – are moved through the pastures in large cages, partly covered in shade-cloth. While they don’t run free – predators are too much of a danger – they’re still chirpy, as The Littlest Slow Fooder found out when she was introduced.

Toddler meeting her first real-life happy chicken - Pia Taylor

These broiler chicks come from the same place that commercial chickens are bred, and are ‘saved’ at one day old. “I see the crates of chicks being loaded onto the big trucks, and look at our couple of hundred chicks, and I think ‘this is your lucky day, guys’,” says Christo.

The chicks spend their first three weeks in this roomy shed, before going ‘out to pasture’ for another three weeks. During this time, they grow up to twice as big as conventional chickens – as much as 2.6kgs – eating bugs, seeds, some special feed, and getting strong scratching around in the dirt. Right now, the chickens are slaughtered at a site about 90 minutes away that has the requisite humane approach, but Spier has nearly finished their own slaughterhouse on the farm, which will mean chickens will be far less stressed at the end.

Reverent poem on the wall of the in-progress slaughter house - Liz Metcalfe

The poem on the wall, by Kahlil Gibran, reads in part:
By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven.

In the biodynamic tradition of ‘closing the circle’ on a farm, all inedible by-products of the slaughter will go into the Spier organic veggie garden compost heap. It will feed the soil that fed the chickens that fed us.

Strains of Mozart waft out over Spier's organic veggie garden... - Pia Taylor

Slow Food Mother City has organised a picnic lunch at Backsberg Estate on Saturday 27 March 2010, with a presentation on their environmental initiatives and some wine tasting (of course!).

Backsberg has been concerned with its environmental impact for a long time already, way before it became trendy.

Backsberg invested heavily in a carbon audit so that they could reach their goal of becoming carbon neutral. This goal was soon achieved, making them the first carbon neutral wine estate in South Africa and one of only three in the world.

Most of us enjoy a glass of wine on occasion (or often!), but most people don’t realise the impact of wine farming on the environment. The removal of fynbos to plant vineyards is one aspect of that. Backsberg is a member of the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative, setting aside part of the estate for conservation of fynbos.

Backsberg has also built an Earth Centre on the estate which serves as an education centre as well as offices for Food and Trees for Africa, who assist Backsberg with offsetting projects.

These are some of the initiatives that Backsberg has undertaken, but there are many more. For this reason Backsberg has won, and continues to win, many environmental awards both locally and abroad.

EVENT DETAILS

Date and time:
Saturday 27 March 2010. 11.00am

The schedule for our visit looks like this:

• 11h00: Arrival (refreshments served outside the Earth Centre)
• 11h00-12h00: Environmental Tour of the Estate with Simon Back
• 12h00-13h00: Wine Tasting in Historical Vat Cellar hosted by Cellar Door Manager, Danwin James
• 13h00: Finger Lunch outside the Earth Centre

The event is child friendly.

Cost:
The cost will be R80 for members, R85 for guests and R35 for children aged 3-12. Wine will be available for purchase to take home or enjoy with your picnic. Cool drinks will also be available for purchase.

Location:
Backsberg Wine Estate – www.backsberg.com

Bookings:
If you would like to come, please email us at: events@slowfoodmothercity.co.za and let us know how many people you are bringing (and whether you are members or guests). We will then send you banking information to make your deposit and confirm your place/s.

Directions:
From Cape Town: Take the N1 towards Paarl. Take Exit 47 – Klapmuts, Stellenbosch R44 offramp. At the Stop street turn right (underneath the N1 towards Stellenbosch). Go over the next 4-way stop and over the bridge. Take the next left on Franschhoek (R45). About 5km down that road on your right you’ll see Backsberg.

Event feedback

We’d love your feedback on our events! If you’ve attended a Slow Food Mother City event, please let us know what you thought by emailing events@slowfoodmothercity.co.za. All comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Food & Wine Pairing at the Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market

Dear friends, Heleen and Carla will present their first Saltare Food & Wine Pairing of 2010 on Saturday March the 6th at the Oude Libertas Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market. The pairing will start at 10:30.

Heleen has put together five seasonal dishes to go with each of the five wines that will be presented. Both Heleen and Carla are fascinated by how certain tastes and textures in the food are enhanced by wine and vice versa.

The five wines that will be tasted are:
Saltare MCC Crémant 2007
Saltare MCC Brut 2007
Saltare Chenin blanc 2008
Saltare Syrah 2006
Saltare Specialis 2006 (red blend)

Please join us by sending an email to info@saltarewines.co.za or call 021 883 9568. Tickets cost R80 per person; we can accommodate twenty people. Heleen’s beautiful cookbooks will also be available for sale.

We look forward to sharing our wines and Heleen’s wonderful dishes with you. You’re also welcome to visit our stand at the SFGM on Saturdays.

Carla & Christoff
Saltare Wines
www.saltarewines.co.za

On the evenings of 23 and 25 February 2010, we will be introduced to the world of unfiltered, lovingly crafted artisan beer. &Union’s beers are imported, but are made from top quality ingredients and, because they are brewed for up to 6 to 8 weeks instead of being rushed through the process in days, have distinctive flavours unlike anything mass-produced.

Which makes them perfect for food-pairing! In line with &Union’s philosophy of keeping their food offerings local, seasonal and organic wherever possible, we’ll be sampling locally raised and cured meats, organic olives, and some of the best of our local cheeses (made with unpasteurised milk).

The beer experts will be on hand to explain how each beer is made, and what makes them different from your average brew. And, helped along by carefully selected food matches, we’ll learn what flavours and characteristics we should be picking up and why.

&Union has a lovely selection of locally produced meats, cheeses and sausages, as well their famous beers and wines. For those who are keen to socialise, there is the option of staying on to have some dinner at &Union after the presentation.

If you would like to come to this event, please RSVP to events@slowfoodmothercity.co.za as soon as possible, indicating on which date you would like to attend. Numbers are limited by the size of the venue, so we will be offering this event twice, with a maximum of 15 guests on each date.

Date/s:

Tuesday 23 and Thursday 25 February 2010.  ** UPDATE:  this event is now fully booked, but if you’re keen to go onto a waiting list, mail us anyway, and if there are any cancellations, you’ll be first in line! **

Time:

6.30pm

Cost:

R20 for Slow Food Mother City members, R30 for guests, payable at the event.

Venue:

&Union is located at 110 Bree Street, Cape Town. www.andunion.com

Upcoming events:

If you can’t make it, or beer isn’t your thing, here’s a taster of the events and projects we’re organising for the months to come.

• Indigenous lamb tasting and CSA
• Food Film Festival
• Fruit & vegetable preserving workshops
• Fruit Community Supported Agriculture projects
• Wine and biodiversity outings (includes picnic – children welcome)
• Producer showcases
• Wild mushroom forest walk (children welcome)
• Chocolate tasting and demonstration

If you would like to become a member of Slow Food Mother City (R70 per annum), please visit this page and sign up!

Green Drinks, for those who haven’t encountered it yet, is an open, informal for discussion on ‘green’ topics.  It’s happening all over the world, and this particular version takes place every third Monday at Josephine Mill in Newlands.

Here’s the full programme:

Dear Friends

Here we go again with the first of ten gatherings this year…This one celebrates and questions our connection with nature through food – where and what is the progeny and purpose of our nourishment. An awareness of food from its biological to political… we are back on the PechaKucha format – short presentations from some interesting do-ers, be-ers and activists

Slow Food Mother City
Slow Food Mother City is a local convivium (chapter) of the international Slow Food movement.
Celebrating good food in Cape Town is what SFMC is all about. Sharing their passion for local produce, food artisans and seasonal eating, the new convivium is organising a series of relaxed foodie events throughout 2010. Hear about what’s planned, and find out more about projects supported by SFMC, such as the Cape Town CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and a soon-to-be-launched open seed network.
www.slowfoodmothercity.co.za

Wild Organics
In addition to operating a city-wide organic box scheme, Wild Organics also offers foodies an old style organic shopping experience in the heart of Woodstock’s heritage area. In addition to fresh organic fruit and vegetables, Wild sells free range meat, cheeses and pickles, and serves meals on selected days of the week.
www.wildorganics.co.za

Heart Global – Food Tents
Millions of South African children go hungry everyday. In response to this ever increasing crisis, Foodtents offer a sustainable, cost-effective, low maintenance solution to provide those most in need with fresh vegetables on an ongoing basis.  Find out how Heart Global’s revolutionary, make-shift greenhouses are helping communities source and secure supplies of nutritious food
www.heartglobal.org

KwaLapa
Kwalapa is an organic wholefoods store in Newlands, sheltered under a very large tree. It’s a place for people to meet, share ideas, experience delicious organic foods and dip in / become part of a fantastic way of life. Kwalapa is telling the story of food, from farm to table, reconnecting conscious eaters with where, when and how their food was created.
www.kwalapa.com

If you too would like to share your dreams or what you do, please let us know (greendrinks@josephinemill.co.za). Make a presentation in the future…. and become a part of a growing, conscious–living community. Share knowledge, wisdom, skills, hope, and enthusiasm.

Map and further details: http://www.josephinemill.co.za/greendrinks.html

CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, 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. Possible CSA products could include vegetables, fruit trees or grassfed beef from an entire steer.

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.

Slow Food Cape Town CSA will be running a ten-week vegetable CSA with farmer Erick Zenzele.  Starting Tuesday 26 January (through Tuesday 30 March), CSA supporters will receive a new bag of freshly plucked organically grown vegetables each week.  And, new in this round, every second week’s bag will also include either exotic mushrooms or preserves from other sustainable food producers and projects.

VEGGIE CSA SUMMER 2010:

• a weekly bag of six naturally grown vegetables over ten weeks
• Crops including: herbs, mixed lettuce, boerpampoen, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, green beans, white and yellow mielies, celery root, beetroot, carrots, spring onions, butternut and baby marrows.
• Compostable plastic and recycled paper packaging
• Collection points at Jaqui Daya Food Store in Newlands, Joostenberg Deli off the N1, Deer Park Café in Vredehoek, and Millstone Farm Stall in Pinelands
• An additional item every other week (five weeks over the course of the CSA), including two bottles of preserves from a community project, and three bags of organic exotic mushrooms from mushroom grower Theo Oldjohn
• Two outings to Erick’s farm in Kraaifontein
• R559.00 in total, averaging to R55.90 per weekly bag

To reserve your place, email kate@slowfoodcsa.co.za
More information can be found on our blog, www.slowfoodcsa.co.za