Tag Archives: Cheese

Food News: It’s ‘OK’ to eat meat, says ecologist!

A new book, called “Meat: A Benign Extravagance”, by ecologist Simon Fairlie, has turned around current thinking about the effect of meat production on the carbon footprint, and argues for the benefits of meat production, reports the Cape Argus.

Fairlie says that farming with and eating meat “is OK”, and in fact benefits the planet.  He explains that for 30 years the generally accepted view has been that meat-eating is bad for the planet in terms of climate change, and bad for the human race, having led key climate change authorities to propose vegetarianism as a means of solving the planet’s climate problems.

If one follows a vegetarian lifestyle, one has to obtain proteins and fats, in the form of soya, peanut butter, nuts and pulses, impacting on the carbon footprint, whilst fats and proteins could come from farms closer by, with a lesser impact on the environment, he says.   He further argues that the original 1:10 conversion ratio of 10 kg of grain is required to produce 1 kg of beef is an outdated statistic from more than 200 years ago, being closer to 1:7.   For every 1,4 kg of vegetables that one could eat, 1 kg of beef can be produced on a small farm.  Fairlie also argues that humans cannot eat grass, and that cows are an efficient means of ‘transforming’ grass into products that they can eat: milk, butter and cheese.   In addition, they produce natural nutrients in the form of manure, which goes back into nature.

Fairlie is critical of  battery chicken farming and of large-scale cattle production, calling it a “moral and environmental disaster”.   He says that we eat too much meat, because it is so cheap.   He calls for all farming to be organic, and for the government to prevent supermarkets from taking an ever greater cut of the food production cost.

His personal lifestyle includes eating meat twice a week only.  He advocates eating offal, and eating smaller portions of meat.  “Eat local, eat less, is my recipe” he says.  “Support your small farmer.  You’ll enjoy the meat more too”.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Franschhoek Uncorked Festival pops the corks on 20 wine estates

For the third year running, twenty of Franschhoek’s wine farmers are inviting wine and food lovers to visit their wine estates this coming Saturday and Sunday (4 and 5 September), to taste their new vintages, to eat specialities from the Gourmet capital of South Africa, and to enjoy French-style activities over a weekend of food, fun and wine.

Tickets for Franschhoek Uncorked cost R80 each, and can be bought at Computicket, or at any participating wine estate.  The full programme offered by the 20 wine estates is as follows:

*   Vrede & Lust will have a cigar lounge, Aston Martins will be on display, chocolate can be tasted and diamonds will sparkle

*   Plaisir de Merle will serve more of their lovely pancakes, offer live music, and for the first time offer bread made from flour ground in a historic water mill on the wine estate.

*   Allee Bleue will offer live jazz, and a tasting of their new Brut Rose’.  Smoked salmon croissants, Flammkuchen, Chicken Tandoori wraps, and Shrimp Guacamole wraps will be available for sale.

*   Solms-Delta will offer “Kaapse” music, food, and wine.

*   L’Ormarins has the Franschhoek Motor Museum on its property, will make its Antonij Rupert Protea and Terra del Capo wines available for tasting, boules can be played, and gourmet sandwiches can be bought

*   Graham Beck will offer its Methode Cap Classique bubblies as well as wines to taste, and oysters, cheese and charcuterie platters will be available to eat.  Winemakers Pieter Ferreira and Erika Obermeyer will host masterclasses at R 75 a head, on Saturday and Sunday, at 10h00 and 14h00

*   Lynx Wines will have a Spanish Fiesta theme again, and live Spanish music will be played.  Tapas served include serrano ham and calamari

*   Topiary Wines will release their Rose 2009 and their Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. Visitors can blend their own wines. Live music is offered.

*   La Chataigne offers boules and live entertainment

*   Moreson offers live music, and a food market

*   Maison is the newest Franschhoek wine estate, and belongs to Chris Weylandt of Weylandt’s, and is now also a winemaker.   Food, jazz and wines will be offered.

*   La Motte’s new and Franschhoek’s latest restaurant Pierneef a La Motte offers Cape Winelands cuisine, a Farm Shop sells wines, gifts and farm-baked bread.   The new La Motte Art Gallery, one of the rooms dedicated to the priceless paintings by Pierneef, has opened, and a classical guitar recital will be hosted on Saturday evening.

*   Glenwood will host a Boules Trophy, and is pairing its wines with gourmet food prepared by Camil and Ingrid Haas, previously of Bouillabaisse and Camil’s, serving Bouillabaisse, Chicken Curry and Crepe Suzette.

*   Rickety Bridge offers tapas too, and its Top 10 Shirazes.  Live music, boules, as well as farm rides in their Dodge truck are also available.

*   Grande Provence offers live music, five vintages will be paired with five dishes, a Chef’s Table is offered, and the Grande Provence Pinot Noir will be launched.  Cheese and charcuterie boards will be available.

*   Franschhoek Cellars offer cheese and wine tastings, as well as cheese lunches

*   Dieu Donne offers live music, Vineyard platters, “wine-infused casual food”, and micro-beer on tap

*   Cabriere offers a wine tour and tasting, with a Sabrage, at 11h00 on Saturday and Sunday

*  La Petite Ferme offers wine tours, and salmon and wine pairing at R120.

*   Boekenhoutskloof will launch The Chocolate Block 2009, a band will provide the “gees” and Reuben Riffel will offer his famous Reuben’s Barbeque Experience.

Further details can be obtained from the Franschhoek Tourism Bureau, Tel (021) 876-3603.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Franschhoek says cheese!

The annual South African Cheese Festival will be held at Bien Donne on the outskirts of Franschhoek from 24 – 27 April from 10h00 – 18h00 every day.   About 20 000 visitors can be expected at the Festival.

Not only will well-known cheesemakers such as Miki Ciman from La Masseria display their award-winning cheeses, but there will also be demonstrations on butter and cottage cheese making, and well-known chefs will prepare their favourite dishes.  Nataniel will also do cooking demo’s.

Tickets for the Cheese Festival must be bought at Computicket and at Checkers stores, and are not available at the gate.

Franschhoek goes to Cape Town!

Well-known Franschhoek tapas restaurant Bouillabaisse is to open a sister restaurant in the new Epicurean Food Emporium in Cape Town next month.  Chef and owner Camil Haas previously owned Klein Oliphantshoek, the guest house at which he and his wife Ingrid prepared award-winning tasting menu meals for their guests. 

Not only will a new Bouillabaisse open in Cape Town, but a new restaurant Crepe Suzette will also be opened by the Haas duo.

The Epicurean Food Emporium has been designed by Conrad Gallagher Consulting, and will open in The Rockwell, an apartment building in De Waterkant.    It will be set up as a neighbourhood food market, with 15 food and beverage stores selling freshly baked bread, homemade jam, chutney, pesto, olive oil, wine, gourmet sandwiches, chocolates, ice cream, confectionery and cheeses.  It is to become a one-stop market synonomous with fine food, outstanding service, quality and food trends, reports Supermarket & Retailer.   Further restaurants, in addition to Bouillabaisse and Crepe Suzette, are set to open.

Other restaurant news is that onewaterfront, the restaurant in the Cape Grace Hotel in the Waterfront, which became famous when Bruce Robertson was the chef, is changing its name to Signal, reports eatout, in honour of Cape Town’s traditional noon day gun on Signal Hill.   The restaurant will serve Cape food, reflecting the French Huguenot, British, Dutch and Asian heritage of the Cape.

Bruce Robertson, now the owner of award-winning and Top 10 restaurant The Showroom, is opening another restaurant, located in the Grand Daddy Hotel, previously The Metropole Hotel, in Long Street, called theshowroomcafe, reports eatout.   The menu will be casual, local and “unfussy”, and the chef is Simone Rossouw.

Richard Carstens, top 10 restauranteur when he was at Lynton Hall in KwaZulu-Natal and Bijoux in Franschhoek, is not moving to Franschhoek, as speculated, but is relaunching Relish in New Church Street, and is now called Nova, reports eatout.    A tasting menu (at R 325 per person) and an a la carte menu will be offered.