We have some very exciting news to share with you. We’re launching FOOD XX WEEK – a four-day programme in Cape Town and Johannesburg featuring women-led food businesses. The programme includes the launch of our City Guides (a directory of women entrepreneurs in food), as well as the annual FOOD XX Festival, showcasing the best products and produce by women entrepreneurs in the food and drinks industries, hosted at on 29 and 30 July.
We invite all female founders who want to offer special menu items, cookbook signings, wine tastings, cooking classes and more to join the FOOD XX programme.
Apply at the link in bio to add your (or a friend’s) business to our directory or to be part of our FOOD XX programme.
06/06/2023
We have some very exciting news to share with you. We’re launching FOOD XX WEEK – a four-day programme in Cape Town and Johannesburg featuring women-led food businesses. The programme includes the launch of our City Guides (a directory of women entrepreneurs in food), as well as the annual FOOD XX Festival, showcasing the best products and produce by women entrepreneurs in the food and drinks industries, hosted at on 29 and 30 July.
We invite all female founders who want to offer special menu items, cookbook signings, wine tastings, cooking classes and more to join the FOOD XX programme.
Apply at the link in bio to add your (or a friend’s) business to our directory or to be part of our FOOD XX programme.
02/06/2023
Thoughts from Errieda’s kitchen:
Food is mostly associated with happy times - the celebratory meal, the feasts, the gatherings. Today I am starting to plan a meal that will be about the celebratory, but also loss, sadness and mourning.
My brother-in-food Chef Francois Ferreira passed away this week, a true South African food evangelist. I did my first of 10 cookbooks with him and we hosted a radio programme together for 15 years.
The memories meal I’m planning will be from that first book Huiskok Glanskok (Home cook, Glamour cook), for a close circle of friends who can’t make it to S.A. in time for the Celebration Service tomorrow.
Frannie and I spoke about food and the culture of the table all the time, but never about bereavement food. I will have to find my own path through this.
30/05/2023
Thoughts from Errieda’s Kitchen: I’m intrigued by the backstory of our food, finding family traits of much loved local dishes in unexpected places. Like the braaibroodjie.
I am quite the cheerleader for this fire-toasted heritage-delicacy, having declared it the best grilled cheese in the world. I would be forced to eat my patriotic words when The Mumbai Toasted Sarmie - also known as the Bombay Sandwich - crossed my path when I was reading up on the global obsession with grilled cheese toasties. This particular street food has its origins in 1960s Bombay, a cheap, tasty and filling meal for factory workers who migrated to the city during a boom period in the city’s history. As with our braaibroodjie thick slices of white government loaf form the non-negotiable foundation (no fancy artisanal sourdough!).
It’s labour intensive though, as building the sandwiches demands quite the assembly line. You really have to have your mise en place in place.
The process involves making fresh green chutney (close to coriander pesto) to slather the bread with; caramelised onion spiced with nigella seed and turmeric; sliced boiled potato, your own masala blend for sprinkling over the potato, grated cheese, tomato, and beetroot slices (if you wish). The slices are buttered on the outside and ‘chutneyed’ on the inside.
This mile high sandwich is then braaied till the cheese starts bubbling out and the crust is a pleasing mahogany. In Mumbai they use a long handled gadget similar to a jaffle iron. As my jaffle pan cannot accommodate the thickly layered filling, I opt for a traditional ‘toeklaprooster’ we use at the braai. It will start bulging through the grid as it braais but that is part of the appeal. Just oil your grid beforehand so it doesn’t stick.
This extraordinary cousin of our braaibroodjie gets served with a blob of green chutney and a generous sprinkling of masala.
A warning: it can turn soggy quickly with all the chutney and tomato, reminding me of the sandwiches my mom used to pack for ‘padkos’. This is my excuse for tucking in immediately, and leaving no leftovers.
Instead of moping about load shedding why not light a fire and get to work… this braaibroodjie from Mumbai will take your mind places. It needs nothing else and is a deliciously pleasing meal all on its own. Pics by husband Ian Du Toit.
21/05/2023
ZANDILE FINXA
We’re introducing instalment nr 14 of FOOD XX ALUMNI TAKEOVERS where previous winners, mentors and friends give us a week-long BTS look into their world. This week we’re following 2022 FOOD XX winner Zandi Finxa, food scientist and recipe developer with a special interest in African ancient grains. They started The Sorghum Agenda in 2019 as a digital series and product innovation space because “I wanted to encourage more people to move beyond the mentality that sorghum is poverty food to be abandoned with urban living and increasing affluence.” They point out that “There are so many reasons why sorghum matters. It is about recognising its sustainability and about being kind to the gut and it is about recording and elevating the voices of Black women as the custodians of indigenous knowledge farming and food preparation systems. It all matters.” Just how much it matters is deliciously apparent on their Instagram account where classic and contemporary recipes harmonise into fabulous flavour. Whether you want modern malted sorghum brownies or a traditional fermented ting porridge topped with a swirl of xigugu peanut paste, Zandi Finxa has a recipe to suit every palate and persuasion.
10/05/2023
RECIPE
Diced mopani in puff and salad 🐛 🥗
Treat yourself to an easy to prepare recipe of mopani natural protein. Preparation time is 5 min.
Dice onion and tomato and cook into a sauce. Dice and rinse dry mopani in hot water. Add the rinsed mopani to the onion and tomato sauce and simmer for 3 minutes. Once ready, gently place on a piece of puff pastry, roll, brush with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy with a fresh salad or as is. Bon appetite!
09/05/2023
I was honoured to be awarded the FOOD XX Award in 2022. My responsibility is to educate consumers about the greatest alternative protein that exist in this world - insect protein - and change the lives of rural communities where this superfood grows. Mopane worms has natural and organic 60% protein. It’s rich in natural essential minerals such Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and many more. This is best type of wholesome food that is needed for optimum body regeneration and natural supplements.
07/05/2023
WENDY VESELA-NTIMBANI
02/05/2023
We’re introducing instalment nr 11 of FOOD XX ALUMNI TAKEOVERS. This week we’re following FOOD XX and Studio H founder, Hannerie Visser. Studio H is a culinary-minded design studio that work with brands in the food and drinks space, designing creative strategies through trend forecasting, new product development and sensory design. In 2019 Studio H founded FOOD XX, a support network and annual Awards for women in food in South Africa and Africa. Hannerie is also the Lead Curator for Makers Landing, the V&A Waterfront’s Food Incubator.
21/04/2023
3 Ways Matawi Contributes to a sustainable environment.
Matawi, which means branches in Swahili, is a for-profit venture with a clear environmental and social ethos. The production of this gin has a significant impact on sustainability in the region.
1. Water conservation!
Matawi seeks foremost to contribute to water conservation. The Matawi mead range uses water exclusively for production, which translates to less than 10% of the water required to produce alcohol made from base ingredients that must be irrigated for months.
2. Sustainable production practices!
Matawi’s environmental commitment runs throughout the company’s DNA, extending to the exclusive use of recycled or recyclable materials; the establishment of a sustainable operation and supply chain; and the intentional adoption of a triple bottom line approach, placing the planet and people on par with profits.
3. Creating employment opportunities!
All ingredients used during the production process is locally sourced, distilled and bottled.
Matawi is committed to creating employment and income-generating opportunities to help alleviate entrenched poverty and inequality.
Ultimately, Matawi Gin has a positive impact on sustainability in South Africa. By encouraging water conservation, sustainable production processes, and locally sourced ingredients, Matawi is helping to ensure a sustainable future for South Africans.
18/04/2023
Matawi which means 'branches’ in Swahili is an alcoholic beverage company that was incorporated in 2018, following the worst
drought the Western Cape had experienced in over a century, which saw the Province’s taps
come perilously close to running dry.
Matawi is thus a for-profit venture with a clear environmental ethos: our mead range seeks,
foremost, to contribute to water conservation.
The Matawi range, which is all-natural, relying solely on honey, fruits, teas, and botanicals for flavourants, comprises a distilled mead honey gin mead liqueur and soon-to-be-launched mead mixer "a fruit-infused, ready-to-drink mead".
Our mead range seeks, foremost, to contribute to water conservation.
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What is FOOD XX? (pronounced: /fu?d eks eks/)
#FOODXX the network and platform dedicated to womxn in the food and drinks industry in South Africa.
As an all-womxn team who work in the food industry, we identified the need for a safe space where womxn could build a network, share, support and celebrate one another, have much-needed conversations and also find solutions together. So we created FOOD XX – a platform and movement dedicated to empowering and celebrating womxnin the food and drinks industry.
Following a wildly successful first year, in which we saw womxn in the industry band together like never before, the FOOD XX awards will return to continue to pass the baton between local, female food and drink entrepreneurs. This year, our core focus remains the same, to create a safe space where womxn can help other womxn to achieve their dreams, provide support and have much-needed conversations.
Our judges for this year’s Awards are the winners of the inaugural Awards last year and include industry powerhouses such as Dorah Sithole, Karen Dudley, Mokgadi Mabela, Lucy Beard and Caro de Waal.
The FOOD XX Awards 2020
Nominations for the 2020 Womxn in Food Awards are now open. You can nominate anyone you think is deserving of the award (you can also nominate yourself) by heading to http://bit.ly/FOODxx2020. Deadline for submissions is 31st of January 2020.
The categories are as follows:
Food Educator (For the teachers and mentors dedicated to sharing knowledge and encouraging future innovators)
Front of House (Sommeliers, managers, waiters, maitre d’s and everything in between)
In the Kitchen (Celebrating all womxn working in kitchens around the country)
Fresh Voices (Celebrating the bloggers, Instagrammers and journalists we turn to when we’re hungry for food stories)
Farming (From food growing to urban gardening)
Entrepreneurs (From agri-preneurs to restaurateurs, this award pays tribute to the passionate and innovative pioneers who are redefining food in the way we grow it, make it, sell it and eat it)
Food Styling (This is for the visionaries shaping how we look at food)
Heritage (For the guardians of our rich food culture)
Bakers (For all real bread bakers and pioneering cake-makers)
Secret Ingredient (To the unsung pioneers and formidable forces/talents behind some of South Africa’s much-loved food and drink brands)
Giving Back (Change-makers who are enriching the community through food and drink)
Sustainability (Celebrating the modern-day Demeter committed to helping us rethink and protect every part of the food chain)
Future Food (For the solution-driven visionaries)
Alcohol (All the shakers and stirrers, winemakers, brewers and spirit creators raising our glasses.)
Food Icon (Food is sustenance, food is health, food is culture. This award honours the custodians of all that is food)
Grass Roots (From chefs to farmers, bee-keepers to food technologists in training – this award is for the up-and-coming 'young-guns')
