They have kindly agreed to open their doors to Slow Food for a tour of the facility, followed by a tasting of various indigenous vegetables.

Afterwards, we’ll have a picnic where attendees will be asked to bring a dish to share with other members. Once we know who will be attending, we’ll divide the group of into three categories of Meat, Veg and Dessert and ask each person to bring something in their category.

Mike’s organisation, Wickedfood Earth, is busy working on a food garden feeding scheme for a local primary school in the Hekpoort area and the school in desperate need of funds. They desperately need gas installation for the kitchen where they prepare food for the kids as well as irrigation and some tools. We will ask the ARC to contribute seed and plant material, and Wickedfood Earth will also contribute seeds and seedlings. Mike is asking for a donation from Slow Food attendees – he suggests R100 pp, but the amount will be up to your conscience).

• Date: Sunday 5 February 2012.
• Time: 10:30am – the tour of the facility to start at 11am sharp.
• Number of people: 30 Slow Food members only (paid up members of any convivium), regret no children.
• What to bring: All drinks, crockery, cutlery and food contribution to a picnic.Each participant will be asked to make something that represents the Slow Food ethos, to contribute towards the picnic for a communal food table. It may also be a good idea to bring sensible shoes (perhaps wellie boots if raining), hat, sunscreen, rainwear and a camera/video.
• Cost: Suggest R100 pp, but the amount will be up to your conscience.
• Bookings: As places are limited, please contact Nanette first to confirm your place:  nan-nel@vodamail.co.za / 082-745-8483.
• Payments: Once your place has been confirmed, please make your donation to Money to be deposited into Slow Food Johannesburg, A/C# 224199358, Standard Bank, Sandton Branch (code: 01-92-05).
• Directions: will be communicated to the participants.

Our Slow Food member-hunter, and our sponsor butcher, Braeside Meat Market, have generously agreed to supply venison from 3 different antelope for the evening, and we’ll do our utmost to repeat the fun of the first event.

As before, the evening will consist of a presentation on ethical hunting; and on butchering and preparing the venison. Thereafter, we’ll present the meats, cooked, and you’ll be asked to judge the meat on taste and texture, identify the animal, and vote for your favorite dish. For the adventurous among you, raw venison will be available for tasting.

Venison packs of steak and mince will be available for you to buy, so bring along a cooler box.

Date: Wednesday 20 July

Time: 7pm (please be prompt as we will start on time)

Venue: Miele Kitchens, Peter Place East cnr Arklow Rd (east off William Nocol Drive).

Cost: R120pp (members); R140pp (non-member spouses/partners).

Food: Starter: spiced vegetable soup; 3 portions of three different same-age venison served with seasonal vegetables, seasonal fruit salad for dessert.

Drinks: BYO (no corkage).

Attendance: 32 people, guests and non-members are welcome.

Booking: Dennis Conway – dennisconway100@gmail.com

Please note that preference will be given to those on the existing waiting list.

Payments: ONLY PAY ONCE YOUR PLACE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.
Money to be deposited into
Slow Food Johannesburg,
A/C# 224199358,
Standard Bank,
Branch code: 01 92 05

To ensure your booking, please pay by no later than midday Monday July 18th, and email proof of payment to the event organiser, Dennis Conway: dennisconway100@gmail.com

Directions: 26° 4’52.85″S / 28° 1’36.69″E.
From William Nicol Drive, turn east (do not go towards the Sandton Clinic or Bryanston Dr) into the short cul-de-sac. Turn left into Arklow Rd at the 1st traffic circle, and then right into the Miele premises and park behind the main building.

The local winter venison hunting season is open, and a hunter who is also a member of Slow Food Johannesburg has generously donated 3 different types of game meat for the evening.

The meal will be conducted partially as a blind tasting.Guests will have the opportunity to taste the meats, raw and cooked, and to try and identify the source animal. We’ll also discuss how to prepare game meats and we’ll vote to see which venison people prefer best.

Event coordinators: Dennis Conway and and Lekha Ahmod from Slow Food Johannesburg will be running the event.  We will send more information about the event shortly.
Venue: Miele Kitchen, 63 Peter Place, Bryanston (off William Nicol as you head towards Sandton)
Cost: is R120 for members and R140 for guests. Paid-up members of Slow Food Johannesburgcan pre-book with Dennis now. Non-members and guests can join at the same time as paying.
Bookings: Contact Dennis Conway on dennis@solute.co.za / 083-391-7530.
Please note you need to contact Dennis first to confirm your place.

Payments: ONLY PAY ONCE YOUR PLACE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. Money to be deposited into Slow Food Johannesburg, A/C# 224199358, Standard Bank, Sandton Branch (code: 01 92 05). Please let Dennis know when you have made the deposit.

Apart from Robyn who has moved to Australia, the same committee have agreed to stay on:
Tim Truluck (Leader), Lekha Amod (Treasurer), Liz Pringle (Secretary), Caroline Whitehead (Membership), Howard Shenker (Local Foods), Andrew Adrian, Dennis Conway, Nanette Nel, Mike Crewe-Brown. Our thanks to Dennis who has been performing the task of Secretary and consulting Treasurer for some years now.

We’re especially pleased to welcome 3 new members: Clair Webber, Stuart Wilson and Jona Tatalias. Welcome aboard and we hope that you will find it exciting and informative.

Over the past year we have had several workshops on the direction we want to take with Slow Food Jo’burg. One major outcome was to concentrate on developing the local and seasonal knowledge of our members and other Jo’burg residents. The composition of our committee is starting to reflect this.

 
• We now have 3 committee members (Caroline, Stuart and Claire) who are stall-holders at the Jozi Market held at Pirates Sports Club every Saturday from 9am-2pm.
• We also have Mike who lives on a farm at Skeerpoort (near Hartbeespoort) and who is experimenting with growing and raising different types of fruit trees, crops and livestock.
• Howard will soon be launching the Slow Food Joburg Local Food Group and is working with the Bamboo Market in Melville (held every Saturday morning) to start registering Slow Food accredited stalls that align with  the Slow Food Earth Market concept.
• Our Slow Food Johannesburg website will soon be up and running, and will have a strong local/seasonal/small producer theme and producer/product/market listings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our thanks to all the members who attended the meeting; and to Sing Fei for a memorable meal.

The first time I attended one of his wine evenings at the AECI Wine Club, Andrew spoke about this topic and what I learned has remained with me over the past 7 years. I can highly recommend it.

Andrew playfully calls his wine tasting: “What would have happened to our wine if England and France had not been fighting wars?” The French had arrived to bolster the Dutch defences as they entered into a treaty with the Dutch against England. This threatened the British trade routes and in 1795 with the battle of Muizenburg the British took control of the Cape, but with the peace agreement between England and France, the Cape was returned to the Dutch in 1802. However the war resumed after three years and the British returned their garrison to the Cape.

This started a period of prosperity for the Cape. The British decision to reduce customs duties on Cape wines by 66% compared to other wine producers in Europe meant that by far the majority of the income from the Cape was due to its wine exports. At the peak of the boom in1922, more than 10% of the wine consumed in Britain was exported from Cape Town. Of course, what this meant is that the vineyards and styles of wines started reflecting British tastes and not French.

It also meant that the grape species that would have been more suited to the hotter Mediterranean climate were not cultivated until fairly recently. Andrew will explore the types of wines that the French would have made had they not been driven out of the Cape, and why we are seeing the recent explosion of the cultivars that come from the warmer southern areas of France. Wines tasted will be local and French.

Date: Tuesday 21 June 2011
Venue: Sunnyside Park Hotel, Prince of Wales Terrace, Parktown.
Time: 7pm (please be prompt as we will start on time)
Food: We will have a plated starter served to us at the table and then you will eat from the main hotel buffet.
Cost: R200pp (members); R220pp (non-member spouses/partners).
Attendance: 16-32 people, guests and non-members are welcome.
Drinks: Wines and water is included. All other beverages are for your own account.

Booking: Tim Truluck on ttruluck@gmail.com /083-619-2419.
Please note you need to contact Tim to confirm your place. He will then instruct you what and when to pay by. Anybody who doesn’t pay by the cut off date will lose their place to the next person on the waiting list.
PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE BY 6PM ON 16 JUNE.

Payments: ONLY PAY ONCE YOUR PLACE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.

Money to be deposited into Slow Food Johannesburg, A/C# 224199358, Standard Bank, Sandton Branch (code: 01 92 05). Please let Tim know when you have made the deposit.

Directions from the M1 South freeway:
Take the Houghton Drive/Joe Slovo Drive off ramp
Cross the first traffic light (Houghton Drive)
After 2nd traffic light, keep to the right-hand lane, and take the slip-lane to the right
Turn right into Carse O’Gowrie
At the first traffic light, turn left into Princess of Wales Terrace
The Hotel’s entrance is on your right-hand side.

Directions from the M1 North freeway:
Take the Jan Smuts Avenue off ramp
At the first traffic light carry on straight into St. Andrew’s Road
At the fifth traffic light turn right into Princess of Wales Terrace
The Hotel’s entrance is on your right-hand side.

Don’t feel pressured to make drastic changes to your lifestyle, or your eating and  purchasing habits right away – you risk frustration and may be tempted to give up.

Rather, choose a few activities that suit your lifestyle and are easy to implement. Slow Food isn’t a destination. Take time to enjoy the journey.

Grow vegetables in a window box and keep pots of herbs
on your kitchen window still

Dry your own herbs

Make your own infused oils and vinegars

Squeeze your own fruit and vegetable juice

Can, freeze, preserve, pickle, air- or sun-dry ingredients in
season so you can enjoy them all year round

Bake your own bread

Make your own pasta

Make herb pestos and freeze them

Forage for wild edibles

Buy, or barter for fresh fruit or vegetables, from neighbours with fruit trees or a vegetable patch.

Start a compost pile in your garden, or grow a worm farm.

Make your own beer, wine and spirits (legally!)

Keep chickens

Keep an urban bee hive

If you hunt, eat or preserve what you shoot

Turn seasonal fruit into jams and chutneys

Make your own sausages

Be a seed saver

Share…
Email us at slowfoodjoburg@gmail.com and tell us about
what you do in your home to eat locally and sustainably.

We shared a picnic communal picnic lunch, and everyone received a bottle of olive oil. We also purchased some fresh olives that we are brining ourselves. Mkholo’s olive oil is available at R85 per bottle ex-estate only, and you can also buy olive trees and tapenade.
Contact: Patrick +27 (0)83-275-4919 or Veronica +27 (0)83-275-1387.

[Show as slideshow]

In 1972, the Johannesburg City Council elected to relocate the Market to it’s present site in City Deep, south of Johannesburg. The Joburg Market is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and if you haven’t been to the market before it’s size is mind blowing. Slow Food Johannesburg makes trips to the market throughout the year, where we chat to the wholesalers, and take advantage of the seasonal bounty, and the exceptional value for money the market offers, by buying in bulk and then sharing the fruit and vegetables we’ve purchased among the group.

Tucked into the back of the veggie hall, is a tiny cafe, crowded with grocers and wholesalers from the market, where you can enjoy traditional Portuguese dishes, and a good coffee, in an authentic atmosphere.

A Taste of Slow Food is an experiment in developing a regular Slow Food educational programme for new and recent members to learn about Slow Food. We will show a short video on Slow Food, discuss how to live a Slow Food lifestyle, have a couple of taste tests, and enjoy a convivial evening where new members can meet some of the old hands over a shared meal.

The cost is a plate of food (per person) for 10 people. You must be prepared to say why you made/bought it and what is special about it. It could be a favourite childhood food, a dish relevant to your origins or culture, or something new and exciting you have discovered. You also need to bring what you want to drink.

The evening should last about 2-3 hours depending on how much discussion takes place. All members are invited, but we will give preference to those who have joined Slow Food in the past 3 years.

Location: 18-16th St, Parkhurst
Contact: Tim 083-619-2419 or email: slowfoodjoburg@gmail.com

The first is a cheese education with Kobus Mulder. He is up here in Joburg running an educational programme for the Checkers cheese vendors and we have snagged him for one night only. Kobus is the dairy manager at Agri-Expo and is South Africa’s only international cheese judge. He has previously adjudicated at various world cheese competitions in France, the UK, and America.

Kobus will guide us through an exploration of the different cheese types using only South African cheese. There are  hundreds and thousands of cheese names, but only eight cheese categories. The cheeses in each category have similar attributes such as taste, texture and shelf life.

• Fresh e.g. cottage cheese
• Soft e.g. brie
• Semi-hard e.g. Gouda
• Hard e.g. cheddar
• Blue e.g. Stilton
• Pasta filata e.g. mozzarella
• Processed
• Whey cheeses e.g. ricotta

When: Thursday, 27th January 2011

Where: Cheese Gourmet, cnr 3rd Ave/7th St, Linden

Time: 6.30pm

Food: Lasagne and salad (please let us know if you are a vegetarian)

Bring: A notebook, pen and wine

Cost: R200 for members and R220 for non-members, which includes cheese, food, and tip. Coffee and soft drinks are for your own account.