FARMERS AND CHEFS COOK UP A WILD INDIGENOUS STORM

Author: Abalimi Bezekhaya

Abalimi Bezekhaya has been supporting micro-farmers in the townships for 40 years. As part of their anniversary celebration they are hosting this event to connect the farmers and the chefs around the kitchen table.

The concept: Eight chefs team up with eight farmers from various community food gardens to cook up a plant based and wild food meal that caters for a total of 32 seated for a long harvest table meal.  The invited guests can either cook along, capture the activities or simply sit down to enjoy the meal.  

Immediate purpose: Link chefs with farmers for a cook-up to draw attention among chefs to township based micro-farmers cultivating organically produced conventional & local indigenous crops and wild edible weeds around Cape Town. To showcase to growers the creative ideas that chefs come up with using lesser known produce or “weeds” and the value these have.

 
Longer term goal: To promote better links between customers and Abalimi farmers via the Philippi Agrihub to regain pre-COVID levels of production and sales.  Opportunity to connect with key stakeholders who can support Abalimi and partner with PEDI.

 
The Background Story: During its years as the distribution arm of Abalimi, Harvest of Hope managed to buy freshly grown and organically harvested produce from township farmers and sell this to upmarket families and restaurants in town.  Between 2008 and 2019 they sold over R16 million worth of veggies, and over R10 million was paid directly to the farmers for the produce.

 
We all know what happened in 2020, but now with tourists arriving and business back on track, we need to ensure that the links to the community farmers are re-established. To this end, a closer link with the Philippi Agrihub has been evolving.  There is a strong focus around the world on vegetarian and organic foods, while wild and indigenous plants are getting more attention.  Now is the time to collaborate across the cultural and economic divide to ensure a stronger local food system, which is healthy, nutritional and does not cost the earth (literally).

 
The chefs who are joining us are from across town and Mokgadi Itsweng is coming from Johannesburg to join. Wesli Jacobs and Brinelle Chunningham will be representing Table Bay and Mount Nelson Belmond Hotels, while Nabo and Lipato are from Ukutya at Makers Landing.  We are also very pleased to have Zuko Mdatyulwa, Palesa Klaasen, Theba Shumba and Bhuti Luyanda representing the communities of Khayelitsha, Delft, Gugulethu and Nyanga. 

 
The farmers are from community gardens in Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Gugulethu and surrounds.  Siyazama Community Allotment Garden Association (SCAGA or also known as the powerline project) was established by Abalimi in 1996 as the first large urban micro-farm in the country, while Moya weKhaya (meaning “spirit of home”) was established in 2014.  Feed the Khaltsha was started during COVID by a group of young men, while Masiphile is a group of different farmers working together. Asande and Manelisi are in Gugulethu, while Zingisa is a community garden in Nyanga and Sunshine Organic Farm is in Driftsands.

 
The indigenous ingredients being made available to the cooking teams have been grown by the farmers. Along with Pedi Farm and the Sustainability Institute, they have been the early adopters who are innovating cultivation of Western Cape winter rainfall wild plant foods that were traditionally only ever wild harvested. 

The conventional ingredients were all sourced from community food gardens in the townships. These vegetables are all grown without any poisons or chemical fertilizers, as Abalimi only supports organic farming principles.  Moya weKhaya and Feed the Khaltsha have also been PGS* Certified, as naturally grown.

We are pleased that three of our farming pioneers can also join us on Monday.  Ma Kaba is the legendary leader of the Movement in Cape Town.  She trained and supported thousands of farmers across the Cape Flats during her time in Abalimi NGO.  She has retired to Moya weKhaya and attends to her garden every day.  Ma Nancy is a retired school principal and Chairperson of Abalimi for many years and also now retired.  Ma Pat is a leading community farmer and Voice in the Movement.  She used to work at the Vineyard Hotel and now she grows vegetables for the guests at the Vineyard.

 
The partners who have helped this happen include Loubie Rusch from Making KOS who brings the indigenous foods to the table.  She co-curated the event and will put the challenge to the chefs to cook up an amazing plant based meal. Philippi Agrihub is taking care of the logistics and sourcing of the ingredients from the community based farmers and will be able to provide future clients with produce from the community farmers.  Ladles of Love kindly sponsored the flight for Mokgadi to join the event while Food Jams provided the venue and support during the event.