HOME-GROWN PLANT SPECIES TAKE ROOT South Africa is diverse enough in food production to feed itself, according to the global Slow Food movement
SOUTH Africa boasts an enviable range of plant species that are unique to us – from fynbos in the Cape, the tiniest floral kingdom in the world, to our very own rooibos tea. But did you know we have dozens of other plant and animal species, used in food, that you can find nowhere else in the world?
South Africa is making strong inroads into what is known as the Ark of Taste, an international tool created for farmers, breeders, chefs, educators and consumers to point out the existence of small-scale food products unique to the culture and place they come from.
The Ark of Taste began in 1996, and since then more than 3 000 products from over 50 countries have been added to it. South Africa has registered 45 products in the Ark of Taste.
The latest one is the Chilli of Soweto, a tasty, organically grown chilli variety, developed by Siyanzenzela Plant Biotech and Agricultural Consultants after one of its team members, Nkosinaye Radebe, realised the demand for dried chilli “by the guys who sell cooked ox head meat”.
Flicking through South Africa’s Ark of Taste, you might be surprised by what you find. There’s the better known fruits and vegetables, like the African Horned cucumber, a Kalahari fruit traditionally roasted by the Khoisan people, and Amadumbe, a potatolike tuber familiar to Zulu culinary tradition, but then there’s entries like Amakhowe mushroom, a large, finely fleshed beefsteak mushroom growing wild in KwaZulu-Natal, and Bellini Salt, also known as Sautini, from a mineral hot spring in the Lowveld where non-mechanised salt production still takes place.
Then there’s Bietou, also known as bush-tick berry, in the Western Cape; Boer Goat, a goat breed developed in the early 1900s; and Buffalo Thorn Raw Honey, derived from the pollination of the indigenous buffalo thorn tree.
There’s Cape Pond Weed and the Cape Rock Wild Oyster, and what’s called Flat White Boer Pumpkin, developed by the ancestors of the Dutch settlers.
South Africa is aiming for 75 products in the Ark of Taste by midSeptember, in time for the Terra Madre Slow Food Conference in Turin, Italy, and 100 by the end of this year.
Most of these products have been identified and researched by members of the Slow Food Movement, a global grassroots organisation founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions. However, anyone can nominate a product without being an expert.
Melissa de Billot, architectural technologist and committee member of Slow Food in Joburg, says all those who researched the products in South Africa’s Ark of Taste did the research voluntarily, in their spare time for no financial gain, purely because they are passionate about protecting our biodiversity.
“Our ultimate goal is to reach 1 000 products. At the moment there are 10 products being assessed,” says De Billot. These include Umqombothi (traditional Xhosa beer), Mosbolletjies (bread and baked goods), Boekenhout Raw Honey, Ghoenavy (otherwise known as Hottentot’s Fig) and regular Boerewors.
Earlier this month, the founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, was in South Africa, and said he was highly impressed by the food gardens in Soweto, which are contributing to Slow Food’s goal to see 10 000 gardens created in African schools and villages, the aim being to guarantee good, clean and fair food for communities.
“We believe the slow-food trend could feed the South African population as it encourages local production of food, particularly in ways that also protect local heritages, including knowledge and artisanal skills passed down through generations,” he said.
Petrini also visited various artisanal and organic producers, including the South African Raw Milk Cheeses Presidium, established to protect and promote the few raw-milk cheeses that exist in South Africa, including Karoo Crumble, Ganzvlei Vastrap, Ficksburger and Huguenot.
Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a movement involving millions of people in more than 160 countries. Members believe that food is tied to many other aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture and the environment.
“Through our food choices we can collectively influence how food is cultivated, produced and distributed, and as a result bring about change. Slow Food envisions a world in which all people can access and en joy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet,” said Petrini.
By good, clean and fair, the organisation says the food is healthy and flavoursome, that its production does not harm the environment, and prices are accessible to consumers and fair for the producers.
De Billot says more South Africans are increasingly practising this philosophy, but not necessarily under the Slow Food banner. “The more networking Slow Food is doing, the more we are finding other people who are practising the Slow Food philosophy without knowing about the organisation.
“I think there is a growing dissatisfaction across all societies in South Africa about the quality of food available in the mainstream supermarkets and the growth of fast food franchises. There is an increasing demand for healthier food and more ethical farming practices,” she says.
In the Western Cape, Slow Food is working on a pioneering vegetable garden known as the Cape Wild Food Garden at Moya we Khaya in Khayelitsha.
“They are not only growing conventional vegetables like chard, cabbage, beetroot and carrots that have commercial value, but experimenting with indigenous vegetable crops endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom region. Some of these plants have already made it onto the Ark of Taste,” says De Billot.
Much of the biodiversity in South Africa is thanks to the many migratory people who make up the country’s patchwork of cultures, who brought with them domestic animals and plants. These animals became integrated into the biodiversity of the region.
An example is the Nguni people who travelled from northern Africa to southern Africa, bringing with them their domestic cattle, goats and sheep. Another example is the Portuguese traders, who brought maize and chillies to Africa from the Americas. “There are many more examples, which we are beginning to capture onto the Ark of Taste catalogue,” says De Billot.