Urban Food Foraging

Urban Food Foraging – Cape Town

For SAA Sawubona Magazine May 2014

Food foraging, the act of picking and plucking fruit and vegetation, something our forebears did for survival, is an emerging trend within city and residential precincts in South Africa. It’s known as ‘urban food foraging’.

Loubie Rusch, a landscaper who has built her business, Making KOS, around this very idea, pickles and preserves foraged sour figs, num num fruit, wild plums, waterberries and spekboom. She sells these and fresh foraged small waterblommetjies, veldkool, suurings and dune spinach where available, at the Oranjezicht City Farm market in Cape Town.

Referencing her experiences of foraging as a child and later with friends in France, Rusch says, “Collecting food from around and about where one lived was something people did naturally”.

Rusch also displays the fresh ingredients at the market, inviting people to touch and taste. During cooking classes participants learn how to cook with and preserve these ingredients.

Charles Standing, known as the Urban Hunter Gatherer, conducts foraging walks within suburban areas in Cape Town. His aim is to educate people about our diminishing food resources and how to use the bounty available and minimise waste.

“I also try to encourage people to embrace the culture sharing what grows in their gardens,” he says.

Before you consume a foraged item, you must be certain it is edible, and the best way to do this is to accompany an experienced guide on walks while you build up your own knowledge. Investing in a book on local herbs and plants will also help you to identify edibles.

Contact: Loubie Rusch rusch@netactive.co.za

Making KOS on Facebook

Charles Standing:  theurnbanhuntergatherer@gmail.com. Website –theurbanhuntergatherer.com

 For more on Mushroom and Urban Foraging, click here.

On foraging in Paternoster, click here.