MTN Bushfire’s tasty food & art stalls
MALKERNS- The food stalls at the MTN Bushfire Festival came out guns blazing this year with a variety of stalls, from the best African cuisines, international meals, to the best cocktails.
The Food Village was packed from the first day of opening, which was Friday evening at 4pm, as the chefs whipped up the best meals to attract the crowds. One was taken on a world culinary journey with a variety of meals to choose from, such as meals from Brazil, China, Mozambique and locally made dishes. Yesterday, the cold weather saw the coffee stands with longer queues, as everyone wanted to keep warm. The diversity of the stalls also saw some great art stalls by The Barn from locally made jewellery, to locally made ceramics.
STALLS
The lunch hour saw the Food Village pack up to its brim with people lining up from stall to stall, with stalls like the Wing republic, Caipira Brasil (Braziliaan Cocktails), Luxy Garden and Baker’s corner to name a few drawing the larger crowd. Wing republic seemed to be a favourite, as they served the juicy wings with a touch of chilli flavour.
A group of festival goers from Kwa=ulu-Natal , said it was the best meal they had on the day.
Mzito’s kitchen went all traditional with their menu, from makhaya chicken, oxhead and tripe to name a few. The tripe was actually their best seller on the day. This was the food stall’s first appearance at the MTN Bushfire Festival food market. On the Pastel Brasileiro (Brazil Pastry) stall, we caught up with the most vibrant chef on the day, Luciana Lauriano from Brazil, who is currently living in Mozambique. He welcomed us with a song and their best seller on the day which was the meat and cheese wrap. Chinese food was also on sale yesterday and Luxy Garden made sure the crowd had a feel of their Chinese menu. Their best seller was the kongpow chicken.
The Smokey Joe’s Gatsby was the favourite among the crowd, with Baker’s corner selling out on their nachos as people came back wanting more. There was also a stall by Middle East Shwarma , where they were making lebanese shwarma, they said they were already sold out by 8pm on Friday, Sindiswa Dlamini, the chef, said she was not expecting this as it was their first time here but next year they are definitely coming back with more stock.
Caipara Brasil brought out their finest cocktails. They served cocktail cachaca with lime one of the best Brazilian drinks. This turned out to be the hit and everyone kept ordering it and they sold about 300 on Friday. This is the sixth Bushfire for the team.
The Barn hosted the art stalls, where most of the products are locally made from Yebo Art Gallery, Tintsaba Craft Centre and Dla Spaces, to name a few. We caught up with Aleta Armstrong from Yebo Art Gallery, who said: “The support has been amazing and its great to see Bushfire back as well. We have launched new products which are 100 per cent made from Eswatini.” They came with trainees who also displayed their art.