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Interesting, Ethical & Artisan Food
View the featured food stories below or find more food products and services
Mkholo Olive Farm
Situated 65 kilometres from Johannesburg, near Hartbeespoort Dam, Mkholo Olive Farm is the first commercial olive farm on the Highveld. They're striving to go organic and keeping it as natural as possible.
Mzansi Organic Teas & Les Jardins de Gaia
Mzansi Organic Teas operates in Johannesburg and distributes the high quality fairtrade and organic teas of French organisation Les Jardins de Gaia.
Swissland Goat's Cheese Farm
Now an institution in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Swissland Farm was established in 1992 by farmer Fran Isaac. Now with a herd of 70 goats the farm provides a goat and cheese experience that people flock to.
Gourmet Gurus & The Farm Stall
Gourmet Gurus restaurant and The Farm Stall are a very eco-conscious set up that focuses on local, organic, free range goods. They make and grow most of their products and ingredients on site, and use eco-building concepts too!
Braeside Meat Market
Caroline McCann started as a lawyer but has become a passionate promoter of ethically raised meat, through her butchery, Braeside Meat Market in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.
Wensleydale Organics
Wensleydale is more than a certified organic farm. It was started by one of the pioneers of organic food in South Africa, and now acts as a distribution centre for fresh and dry goods across SA.
Market on Main
Market On Main is "made for the people of Joburg by the people of Joburg". Stallholders are Gauteng based food producers and designers. Located at Arts On Main.
Calorie Conscious
Calorie Conscious is a business that has tasked itself with the doing the hard work for busy people who don’t want to spend the time required to ensure they are eating a balanced, healthy low-fat diet.
Mrs Bread Care - gluten-free breads
It's not easy to find high quality breads that are allergy-free. Or so we thought. Mrs Bread Care (Dalia) has made it her life mission to provide this for people. And she is succeeding.
The Calabash Trust - school food gardens
The Calabash Trust is a community development organisation in Port Elizabeth. Focusing on building schools as the centre of the community, they have a strong focus on food gardens.
Aquav - Spring water in returnable glass bottles
Aquav is the first company in South Africa to provide mineral water in returnable glass bottles. The eco-chic bottles are beautifully designed and durable enough to be returned, sterilised and then re-filled.
Speckled Hen Free Range Eggs: Highveld farm
Highveld free range egg farm is located in the beautiful Dargle region of the Midlands. They're sold under the brand of Speckled Hen Free Range Eggs.
Dargle Ducks
Dargle Ducks is a very young and brave venture from the Midlands, KZN. Dean and Serene have created a duck heaven for their open range ducks, which won the Best Small Producer: Paddock award in the Eat In DSTV awards this year.
Addo's White House and goat farm
Businessman Roger Beadon woke up one day and decided to move to the country. He now runs Addo's White House, a guest lodge and goat farm, and produces goats' cheese, soap, and chilli sauce, amongst other things.
Hope Meat Supplies
Hope Meats are a husband and wife team passionate about supplying top quality meat to individuals who care about the humane treatment of animals and traceability of their food. The meat products are "as close to organic as possible".
Broadleaze Organic Farm
Nora Choveaux and Rob Symons are two passionate environmentalists whose love for nature and food have converged in the form of an organic farm in Pietermaritzburg. They sell organic herbs and organic salads at no extra cost in retail stores.
Wayfarer Trout
Wayfarer Trout Farm is a stunning spot in Dargle, Midlands of KZN. They raise trout and cold smoke them on the farm. Andre and Sue are the ex-Joburger farmers who have "down-sized" to the country.
Urban Harvest - Port Elizabeth
Jakkie and Susan Botha run the Port Elizabeth arm of Cape Town based Urban Harvest - a business offering a vegetable gardening / design service for your home.
The Mushroom Factory
Carla and Quentin are making mushroom growing fun with The Mushroom Factory growing kits. They've developed kits for oyster, shiitake, portabella and button mushrooms.
The Passionate Pomegranate Co
The Passionate Pomegranate Co are trying to do for the humble pomegranate what others have done for cheese and wine in South Africa
Weltevrede Farm - Fig heaven in the Karoo
A farm in the Karoo grows figs for the fresh fig market, as well as dried fig products and fig jams. No sprays are used on the figs on this farm.
ILanga Fire pancake restaurant
ILanga Fire pancake restaurant can be found in a beautiful mud brick hut in coastal Transkei in the Eastern Cape. It caters to comfort seeking travellers doing the Wild Walk and staying at the Bulungula Eco-lodge.
La Petite France - handmade camembert & brie
La Petite France is an artisan cheese company based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN. Their camembert and brie cheeses are handmade from jersey milk and free of chemicals and additives. Their story describes the cheese making process and includes a video.
Pepe Charlot French goats' cheese
Pepe Charlot is an authentic artisanal French goats' milk cheese range. Based in Johannesburg, cheesemaker Gerald Tanesse named it after his grandfather, who instilled the love of goats cheese in him as a child.
SOGA - Sundays Organic Growers Association
SOGA is a team of citrus farmers in the Eastern Cape committed to organic growing. Their holistic philosophies run through all areas of their business, which is a now a thriving export company. They also produce organic citrus juice, sold locally. Certified organic by Ecocert.
Rosedale Organic Citrus Farm (and B&B)
Rosedale Farm started out as a conventional citrus farm, but after a chemical mishap, farmer Keith Finnemore converted to organic. Over 12 years later it's a thriving business, and beautiful B&B spot in the Sundays River Valley, Eastern Cape.
Guys of Design - working deli and shop
Wherever Chris and Brad go they seem to leave a wake of some thriving initiative or another... Think Cape Town’s Karoo Moon, Neighbourgoods Market, Bead Boys... Now they’re back in their home territory, the Eastern Cape, and their focus has moved from their farm on the Kei River to a working shop/deli selling organic and local produce in Port Elizabeth.
Dovehouse Organics - Permaculture Farm & Health Shop
Paul and Shereen Duncan started out with a dream. They wanted live off the land, raise a healthy family and live a more relaxed life in tune with nature. In following this path, they’ve also managed to share their vision with their local community, and to supply organic food to Midlands residents local to the Karkloof area through Dovehouse Organic Farm.
Gardener's Glory - apiary and honey
It’s somewhat ironic that a man with a fear of bees would end up as a beekeeper. But Richard's story is exactly that. He describes his awakening to the world of beekeeping while watching the opening scene in a 1980s film adaptation of Robin Hood - Maid Marion tending to her hives. “It’s difficult to explain. But there’s something about it. Bees just represent something peaceful - living with nature.”
Kleinjongenskraal Farm
A rustically beautiful farm in Citrusdal growing citrus fruits, deciduous fruits, rooibos bushes for rooibos tea, buchu, proteas, free range chickens, pot-bellied pigs and some vegetables.
Tierhoek Sustainable Wine Farm
While the Tierhoek wine farm isn’t certified as organic it is managed in an organic way with (at present for the last 6 years at least) zero use of non-organic pest control. The remote site, situated 760m up in the mountains, is influenced by cool Atlantic sea air from the west coast along with dry heat from the mountains. Because the farm is so remote and quite high up in the Cederberg it is less vulnerable to migrating pests from neighbouring farms.
Carmién Organic Rooibos Tea
If you’re from South Africa, chances are you’re had many a cup of delicious and nutritious rooibos tea. But have you ever wondered about the process of getting the tea from bush to cup? In fact, have you any idea what a rooibos bush even looks like?
African Relish recreational cooking school
If you have a desire to escape to the countryside, a passion for cooking, and a love of learning then consider visiting the African Relish cooking school in Prince Albert. Jeremy, the head chef and co-owner, invited us to join them for one of their weekend courses when we passed through the remote Karoo town as part of our Real Food Trip across South Africa.
Piket-Bo-Berg Farmers Market
This quaint little farmers' market at the top of the magnificent Versfeld mountain pass is a community building initiative. Good food and music awaits.
Oep ve Koep (at Die Winkel op Paternoster)
Kobus is a young, environmentally conscious chef who is creating a name for himself as a purveyor of west coast flavours. He includes local veldkos (wild food) in his menu.
Abalone Farm - Jacobsbaai Sea Products
You hear a lot about farmed mussels, oysters and other sea foods, but as abalone farms are something of a rarity it was a great opportunity for the team at Food With A Story to cover something a bit different.
Spier Biodynamic Farm
This is a farm in Stellenbosch that raises chickens, cattle and vegetables in a way that is healthy for the environment. Carbon-negative beef!
Bloublommetjieskloof Biodynamic Farm
More than 35 years ago, Jean Malherbe, a single woman farmer in a male dominated conservative Afrikaans environment, started Bloublommetjieskloof Biodynamic Farm. This was the first biodynamic farm in the South Africa.
Afrikara Co-operative
Hoekiesdam Farm near Wolseley was once a small-scale commercial dairy farm. Now it's a mixed-produce biodynamic farm, and co-operative.
Soaring Free Superfoods
Peter and Beryn Daniel, known for their Rawlicious cook book, also own and run the Soaring Free Superfoods business, importing high quality superfoods from around the world. In this interview, the second of a two-part series, they talk about growing a small business.
Rawlicious
Peter and Beryn Daniel are South Africa's leading raw foodists. Inspired by the growing number of people embracing the amazing transformative and healing potential of raw and living foods they wrote and created Rawlicious, recipes for radiant health in 2009 – South Africa’s first gourmet raw food recipe book. The recipe book has now been published internationally.
Charcuterie by Neil Jewell
Neil Jewell (of Bread and Wine restaurant) has a passion for knowing what is in the food he and his family eat. The same goes for his charcuterie which is authentically artisanal and chemical free.
The Real Food Trip Across South Africa
As part of our mission to tell the food stories of South Africa we left Cape Town to travel across the country from February until May 2012. Along the way we photographed and filmed all the places we visited and the people we met. Over the next few months we'll be writing up theses stories and posting them on our web site, so stay tuned!
More about our real food trip across South Africa
Artisan Food Blog
Latest entries in our artisan food blog covering South African food topics.
Declaration of the Khayelitsha Food Security Summit
Posted on 27 May 2013
This weekend a summit of food security was held at the Khayelitsha Campus of the False Bay College. Delegates engaged on the challenge of food security facing our communities. This is their declaration.
For the coffee lovers - 3 creative ways to keep coffee hot on the go
Posted on 22 May 2013
Keeping your coffee hot enough to drink can be a difficult thing to do when you’re constantly on the run. Here are some tricks to help you...
Insects for dinner tonight, dear?
Posted on 22 May 2013
The United Nations says it's time to get over ourselves and start looking at insects as an important, and ethical, source of protein. A chef in Sydney says Yes!
Vegan for a month! Part two
Posted on 23 April 2013
I’m almost 20 days into my vegan challenge and it’s going better than expected! By now, I’d have thought I would be craving the sweet, sweet taste of Karoo lamb, or all the sushi in the world, but I’ve been surprisingly gastronomically satisfied by this new diet.
Vegan for a month! Part one
Posted on 15 April 2013
Hello, my name is Neil, and I am a vegan. Yes, vegan – a word that strikes fear into the heart of many an omnivore. Telling your friends this before going to a restaurant may feel like admitting you’re an alcoholic, and is often met by similar responses (“you need help”, etc. etc.). And yet, here I am, having accepted a challenge to go a full 30 days without any animal products in my diet at all.
If you can't stand the heat - climate change with Professor Fung
Posted on 30 March 2013
On Tuesday last week we had the opportunity to attend a lecture on climate models by a prominent international climate scientist Professor Inez Fung. The models are showing some interesting things, none of which are hopeful.
Coffee on me! for the next person who can't afford one
Posted on 28 March 2013
The concept of 'pending' or 'suspended' coffee apparently originated in Naples, known there as "caffe suspeso". The idea is simple but sweet - day to day charity from human to human.
News roundup - from sustainable seafood to saving the farmlands and more
Posted on 19 March 2013
It's been a pretty busy week around Cape Town. Here's a quick summary to keep you up to date. Sustainable seafood, save the farmlands, wine and food awards...
Announcing the SASSI Seafood Circle "Trailblazer chefs"
Posted on 19 March 2013
Last week WWF-SASSI announced its new initiative, the SASSI Seafood Circle. This initiative, which is sponsored by Pick n Pay, celebrated chefs that are taking responsibility for seafood choices in their kitchens.
The Taj Wine Classic Award winners
Posted on 19 March 2013
The annual Taj Classic Wine Trophy awards ceremony was held on the 8th of March 2013 at the Taj Hotel. The awards celebrate the top SA wineries as adjudicated by a panel of respected French judges.
Featured Story
Dario's Cafe
For some stalwart coffee-drinkers and pseudo-philosophers, a day without caffeine is a day wasted. Ordinarily, a regular cappuccino may be found without the need to boycott all other establishments under the same postal code. But for many loyal aficionados, it’s Dario’s Café or nothing at all.
Read the story...Food Events
Following are upcoming food events in South Africa.
National Soup Day FoodBank SA promotion
31 May 2013 - 30 June 2013
South Africa
To celebrate World Soup Day on 31 May 2013, Denny launch it's month of donating 40c worth of soup for each Denny Soup sold during the month of June 2013 to FoodBank SA.
See more upcoming events
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Following are the latest posts on the Food With A Story forums.
Preservative free, natural sausages and bacon
30 May 2013 02:04 PM
From making a "few good pork sausages for myself" to an nicely e... more...
Rocca Mediterranean
19 May 2013 09:26 AM
Rocca is Ideally situated in the New Cape Quarter,Green Point .This eatery ... more...
Introduction to The Flying Pan & Delicious Home Cooked Meals
14 May 2013 06:09 PM
Let us introduce you to The Flying Pan - a delicious food start-up based in... more...
re: Pizza Thyme Stellenbosch Opening
10 May 2013 07:12 PM
Terrible burger which I was over charged for and brown BAKED avo on my pizza! So off putting I did not even take a bite! Disappointed!
re: Keeping chickens in Cape Town
23 January 2013 04:54 AM
Yes, no problem at all.