Study Trip #3: South Africa

I have to say I was a bit nervous about this trip. Though I had heard many positive things about the country, I also knew that some places were quite dangerous and that meat consumption was high. So, headed there on a food-based study trip as a vegetarian, this wasn’t too appealing to me. But, spending 8 days in the country ended up quashing all of my preconceptions. 

While we couldn’t explore in the same carefree manner as in European cities, the people of South Africa were some of the nicest and most genuine that I have ever met. Everyone was so warm, welcoming and humble. The food was also amazing – unlike in Italy, there was an abundance of avocado, salads and diverse restaurants. 

There were two main things brought up again and again by the people that we visited: the drought and apartheid. It was especially interesting to learn about these prevalent issues through the lens of food; how they impact food access, farming and location. One of the best visits we had was to “Spinach King”. It’s a restaurant but also a person – Lufefe – who wanted to bring healthy, affordable food to his township. He opened a shipping-container restaurant which has been hugely successful in selling nutritious food – a lot of it enriched with spinach. He makes spinach bread (which was delicious), healthy smoothies, muffins and sandwiches. It all sells for about $3 each – making it easy for residents of the township to switch over from the processed, cheap food they usually eat.

Unsurprisingly, we also had amazing wine. As this industry has been seriously impacted by the drought, the producers use various irrigation techniques, as well as collecting the run-off from Table Mountain. On Canada Day we had an appropriately patriotic tasting selection…

Other highlights include visiting farms in the countryside of Johannesburg, where we learned about sustainable and cruelty-free farming methods…

Attending a typical South African cooking class…

Visiting farmer’s markets, exploring the city and then recovering from it all…

It was a great trip. We had truly amazing meals and great hosts to show us around. Our group – having spent the last 6 months together – is now extremely close and these experiences only bonded us further.  I never thought South Africa would be a place I want to go back to – but I definitely do.