Cele’s chilli is a real Phiri-peri
BITE HERE: A selfie of Soweto farmer Phila Cele and his piquant product FORGET about the rose — meet the chilli of Soweto.
It is sizzling hot and gained international recognition this week when it became the latest product added to the Ark of Taste register.
The red-hot chilli plants that grow to more than 1.8m are produced by Soweto farmer Phila Cele on a plot in Phiri no bigger than a football field.
Cele, who has an honours degree in microbiology, produces nearly 200kg of chillies a week in season as well as other vegetables.
The globally recognised Ark of Taste, established by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity in Florence, Italy, is a worldwide catalogue of plants or products at risk of extinction.
The list includes 44 South African items, such as Afrikaner cattle, Pedi sheep, wood sorrel and wild rooibos.
Cele’s Soweto chilli became the 45th South African item after the farmer met Carlo Petrini, founder of the slow food movement and a UN special ambassador, last week.
Petrini was in South Africa as a guest of Slow Food Johannesburg and Cape Town. He was on a tour through Soweto when he met Cele, and after hearing his story immediately declared the chilli an Ark of Taste product.
The process of admission to the ark usually involves a submission to a panel of experts in Italy.
“It takes at least a month,” said the chairman of the South TOWNSHIP TASTE: Food fundi Carlo Petrini, left, gives Phila Cele the thumbs-up for his chilli sauce African Slow Food Forum, Brian Dick.
“The panel does their own research on the product, talks to their agronomists and often others within the University of Gastronomic Sciences near Bra, in Italy. The product is then accepted or rejected. We have had a number that have been rejected.”
So why is this highly qualified microbiologist not in a laboratory?
“I’ve always loved farming,” said Cele. “I was part way through my master’s when I told my family that I was going farming. My mother was against it. For a long time she told me to get a job. ‘This is my job,’ I kept telling her.”
It was Cele’s mother, who lives in Estcourt in KwaZuluNatal, who supplied him with his first seedlings four years ago. His 8 000m² plot borders neighbouring Lenasia, Johannesburg, which meant, he said, there was potentially a huge market for chillies and spring onions.
Although the seedlings initially came from KwaZuluNatal, the chilli was declared an Ark of Taste product because it has adapted to Soweto’s soil and has taken on the character of the region.
“This chilli is indigenised to Soweto because it has been continuously grown in that environment, in that soil, with that water,” said Dick.
Cele said he paid great attention to the soil. “We compost, mulch and then compost again. I have also created my own seed banks. I can’t keep up with demand.”
He said he “went crazy” when Petrini made his announcement. “My customers say these are the best chillies they have ever had but I have not even had provincial recognition. To jump directly onto the world stage is a dream come true. I’m hoping the city
I have also created my own seed banks. I can’t keep up with demand
of Johannesburg will get on board. We need to sustain this initiative and build the brand.”
Petrini believes there is no gastronomy without biodiversity.
Dick said the recognition of the chilli was an important step in giving a voice to small landowners. “Soweto has not been given significance as far as agriculture is concerned but there are thousands of small producers here. This is one way to recognise them.
“If we can find another product in Orange Farm or in Dududu we can give it the same dignity the chilli of Soweto has received.”