Our Landscapes are Edible

Our ancestors lived off indigenous foods growing abundantly locally, and yet most of us see only weeds. This is called food blindness. We take a closer look at what to look for and how it could be prepared. From veldkool to slangbessie, let’s revive indigenous foods and grow them in our gardens.

“Since colonisation there has been pretty much a complete erasure of our foodways,” Cape wild foods expert Loubie Rusch said in a webinar earlier this year. Foodways refer to the ways in which we access and make use of our foods, whether it’s by agriculture and whether it’s our cultural food systems. In her talk Forgotten use of Indigenous Plants at a Botanical Society of South Africa webinar, Loubie highlighted that we have forgotten about our indigenous food plants.

Screenshot from Loubie Rusch's presentation

For background, she explained how the majority of South Africa is a summer rainfall area and the historically farmed landscapes tend to be in the summer rainfall areas. In the Western Cape with its winter rainfall climate, farming traditional knowledge systems never existed. So cultivating edibles from the Western Cape was never anything that existed, even though people here, pre-colonially, ate off our landscapes for literally millennia.

Food Blindness

Because of the erasure of our foodways since colonisation, we have food blindness, Loubie said and made an example of a community project at Village Heights on the Cape Flats where she did a tasting with the local community. “We did a bit of cooking together, and then we did a little stroll around the area. Within three minutes I found all sorts of edibles right there next to an informal settlement where people are incredibly poor and hungry. And yet, wild foods are growing there and they’re not recognised, and they’re certainly not made use of,” she said.

The sandkool grew with gay abandon outside the borders of the very well-weeded sandy patches where the food was being grown. And yet it was weeded out of the section where what was perceived as food were being grown.

Another example of food blindness Loubie spotted, was at a food garden project in Khayelitsha where, ironically, the sandkool grew with gay abandon outside the borders of the very well-weeded sandy patches where the food was being grown. The self-propagating sandkool plants were producing food, and even competing with the wild grasses. And yet it was weeded out of the section where what was perceived as food were being grown under great difficulty in very poor, sandy soil that many farmers on the Cape Flats struggle with.

Cultivation is Key

Of Loubie’s food journey, she explains that she asked herself how we can reconnect with the fact that our landscapes are edible, and start making use of them.

“I encourage cultivation because a lot of the interest in our local edibles has happened on the back of the foraging trend, but there’s no way that we can actually bring our local edibles into our food systems, or start using them more if we’re going to be foraging for them. It’s just not a sustainable way to access.”

This led to her involvement in various projects, including starting a farm garden in Khayelitsha around 2016, working with the PEDI (Philippi Economic Development Initiative) farm on the Cape Flats on cultivating indigenous veggies, and projects bringing chefs and small farmers together as a way to try and attract other people to create a supply chain. More Agrihubs, such as Harvest of Hope, are emerging, which will help indigenous cultivated veggies and leaves reach the market.

Another area of work which Loubie emphasises as being extremely important relates to traditional knowledge systems. “This is a part of the work that I do with indigenous foods which needs a lot of attention and care, because we have a loss of knowledge about our traditional indigenous foods. This goes hand in hand with the cultural erasure and marginalisation that still exists for the majority of people in this country. So when I get involved in projects, it’s really important for me that there be some community component to make sure that we’re working with people whose traditional knowledge these foods would have belonged to.”

“Co-creating new knowledge is also important, and we worked with Stellenbosch students on a project researching these foods that we’ve forgotten. So much more of this type of collaborative research on this topic needs to happen.”

“At the Local Wild Food Hub, a project in partnership with the Sustainability Institute, we have a community of practice running, the Sustainability Institute have published both my books Cape Wild Foods – A Grower’s Guide and Cape Wild Foods – A Cook’s Guide, and there’s an indigenous food garden. It’s an incredibly exciting place to work because in addition to the garden they have a hospitality division, a research and knowledge creation division.”

In her latest book, Cape Wild Foods – A Cook’s Guide, Loubie said that she offers quite dense information for people who are prepared to be experimental in their own kitchens and who don’t necessarily need a recipe. “It gives some key ideas for how the 22 ingredients covered in the book could be used in kitchens.”

I didn’t include fancy recipes, but rather recipes which would encourage people to try them out because they are things which we know already.

However, the book does include a variety of actual recipes, such as Wild Crackers in the Appetisers & Accompaniments section, Wild Green Soup (under Mains & Salads), Kei Apple and Orange Almond Cake (Condiments, Drinks & Desserts), and using these foods in ways which are familiar to readers. “I didn’t include fancy recipes, but rather recipes which would encourage people to try them out because they are things which we know already.”

Wild Foods Categories

“I’ve been exploring wild foods for about the last 12 to 15 years. And I’ve categorised them into different categories: the leafy greens and vegetables; the aromatic herbs and teas (this is what we would think of as fynbos); and the berries, fruits and seeds,” she explained in her talk.

Leafy Greens and Vegetables

Dune spinach (Tetragonia decumbens) “It’s one of my favourites and I use it in my falafels, stir-fries,in salads, in an omelette”.

Found on coastal sand dunes from southern Namibia to the Eastern Cape. (pza.sanbi.org)

Sea pumpkin/seepampoen (Prenia vanrensburghii) “is threatened, not because it’s a delicate plant, but because its habitat is threatened by housing expansion. It grows incredibly easily. You can cook it, but I think it’s just fantastic raw.”

Found on the coastal regions of the Western Cape, from Onrusrivier just west of Hermanus, to Stilbaai in the east. (pza.sanbi.org)

Brakslaai and Soutslaai (Mesembryanthemum guerichianum and M chrystalinum). “They’re very interesting plants because they cross over a number of biomes, and grow in the Karoo and the Northern Cape as well, which indicates that it can be cultivated very easily. I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t like it – it’s just the juiciest, most divine thing. The seeds are also delicious to use. I’ve used the plants in salsas, salads, tzatzikis, etc.”

In South Africa in particular both can be found in the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape. (pza.sanbi.org; redlist.sanbi.org)

Sandkool, Namakwakool and Veldkool (Trachyandra divaricata, T falcata and T ciliata). “Sandkool is very easy to cultivate. These plants can be roasted in the oven, pickled and much more.”

Sandkool can be found in the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape (redlist.sanbi.org). Namakwakool is especially common along the west coast of South Africa and can also be found in the western parts of the Succulent Karoo and in Namibia. Veldkool is widespread, usually on coastal sands from southern Namibia to the south-eastern Cape. (pza.sanbi.org)

Aromatic Herbs and Teas

“These plants are more often used for medicinal tea use, but I think we should use it far more in beverages and for culinary tea use.”

Pelargonium sp “…are fantastic to use in cordials and infusions.”

Wild rosemary/kapokbos (Eriocephalus africanus): “Fantastic to use in cooking and used in the same way you’d use conventional rosemary. It makes fantastic crackers.”

Found mostly on clay and granite slopes throughout the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Namaqualand. Most people in the Cape know this shrub because it is so common in the veld and easy to identify with its thin, grey leaves, which smell like Vicks when crushed. (pza.sanbi.org)

Golden sage/bruinsalie/geelblomsalie (Salvia aurea): “There are several salvias which are very nice to use in a culinary way. I’ve made burnt butter with this one and you can use recipes in much the same way as you would use European herbs, but substitute our own local herbs. I’ve combined sandkool with this sage and it was pretty good. I’ve also made za’atar incorporating golden sage, taaibos, dune celery, wild rosemary and kelp and it was a total hit.”

Can be found from the coast of Namaqualand to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards from there to Port Alfred. In its natural state it grows not far from the sea and is often a common constituent of the vegetation on coastal sand dunes. (pza.sanbi.org)

Dune celery (Dasispermum suffruticosum): “It looks like a parsley and tastes like celery and the seeds can also be used. I’ve used them in pickling in the past.”

Can be found in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape. From the Olifants River Mouth west of Vredendal to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards along the coast to Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal. (redlist.sanbi.org)

Wild garlic/ wildeknoflok (Tulbaghia violaceae): “A common garden plant that so many people have in their garden, but don’t use it in a culinary way. Use less than you would with ordinary garlic because it’s pretty pungent.”

Found from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, to as far north as Zimbabwe. (pza.sanbi.org)

Berries, Fruits and Seeds

Slangbessie (Lycium ferocissimum): “An amazing bush that is very resilient. It’s a wild tomatoey plant, very closely related to the goji berry. I’ve oven roasted them, made a Romesco type sauce with them. I love them.”

Can be found in the Western Cape, from Saldanha to Agulhas and Knysna, and into the Eastern Cape and through the interior of South Africa to the Free State and Mpumalanga. It also occurs in Lesotho. (pza.sanbi.org)

Crowberries (Searsia tomentosa and s gluaca): “They are part of the searsia family – there are about 300 species across the country. I suspect that once the research and analysis are done they’ll be classified as a superfood. I’ve used them ground up in a za’atar and they’re related to the Mediterranean sumac. I’ve used them in pickles as well.”

Found in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape. (pza.sanbi.org)

Skilpadbessie (Muraltia spinosa): “This is my favourite. Children walking in the veld will still snack on these. They are incredibly juicy.”

A widespread species, commonly found on sandy flats and rocky slopes from Namaqualand, through the Western Cape and along the Eastern Cape coast. Found in Fynbos, Succulent Karoo and Savanna biomes. (pza.sanbi.org)

White milkwood/Melkbessie (Sideroxylon inerme): “The tree’s berries make amazing cordial and marmalade.”

Commonly found in dune forests, almost always in coastal woodlands and also in forests along the seashore. It also occurs further inland in Zimbabwe and Gauteng. (pza.sanbi.org)

Sour fig (Carpobrotus sp): “I’ve done something unusual with these ones: I picked them green, sliced them and then pickled them.”

Chiefly in sandy coastal habitats, and can be also found inland in sandy to wetlands places. (Wikipedia)

You can order Loubie’s books here.