Early morning, coffee in hand I meet Roushanna from Veld&Sea, her team and a bunch of other participants at Scarborough beach. We are going to learn about the food we can harvest from the sea shore.
Foraging, collecting food from nature, is a way of living. And perhaps the most natural way of living. It is how our ancestors lived before they started growing food. Strangely enough, even though I grew up picking berries and hunting mushrooms in the forrest it still feels like such a luxury to be able to collect food in nature. Whenever I do it something primal kicks in and fills me with such joy. It gives me a “rich” sort of feeling, as if I have it all when I get my sallads from the field. Harvesting from the garden does almost the same thing to me. Perhaps I get a bit overly excited but I can’t help it, it feels so good. I love nature and I try to spend as much time outdoor as my day-to-day life allows but I still sometimes feel disconnected from it. Foraging brings me a step closer, and gives me a reason to spend more time outdoor. Being a water baby, collecting from the sea and the shore, that just ticks all my boxes. Spending a day on the beach in South Africa learning about what nature has to offer my tastebuds here…needless to say, I’m in heaven!
I can tell that Roushanna has done this before. She has so much knowledge and shares it in a very pedagogic way. It’s low tide and on the rocks next to the water lies samples of the different things we are supposed to look for.. Mussels, urchins, sea lettuce, kelp…the list is goes on. All the different sea greens have different properties and can be used in different ways. We’ve been given scissors and a shoulder bag and we start collecting. Roushanna has told us how to go about foraging without causing damage, so that the sea weed can continue to grow and make more food.
Urchins are delicious and there are way too many of them in some parts of the world. I did the planet, and myself, I favour and had a few for second breakfast. A shell from a mussel served as spoon. Delicious!
After, we bring everything back to Veld&Sea HQ where a station for washing our harvest is set up. Chef Rochelle is already prepping in the kitchen. Delicious sea lettuce tacos, seaweed spiced popcorn and watermelon are being served along side local rosé wine and rooibos tea.
In the glasshouse (a foragers and beach combers dream in itself) a big table has been set up. The space is beautifully decorated with shells and crystals. Dried flowers hang from the ceiling. Every table setting has a cutting board with a piece of kelp and a knife. We get to learn to make noodles. The kelp noodles are then collected and brought to the kitchen where the chef awaits.
Cocktail hour
Flower ice
Mermaid coctail
Cocktails with or without alcohol made with home made tinctures and syrups. I got a mermaid version, made with kelp!
Followed by open fire cooking where chef Rochelle cooks up a delicious sea lettuce and mussel curry with assistance from a couple of participants.
The kelp vessels goes straight on the fire.
The dessert is prepped, cooked inside the kelp. Nature even provides cooking vessels! Something about this makes me so happy.
Then we go back inside the glasshouse and enjoy an amazing meal made up of many delicious dishes, every single one of them containing different sea greens.
Roushanna has created a whole world at Sea&Veld, getting to take part of it was one of the absolute highlights of my trip. To got to learn about both my biggest passions at the same time; the sea and food while spending time in nature and meeting interesting people in a beautifully curated setting. I couldn’t have imagined a better experience.
I still dream of this day.
A recipe to inspire;
Sea weed Bread:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. Seaweed flakes, kombu for example
500 g flour
20 g fresh yeast,
1 tsp. dried active yeast,
1 tsp. salt,
100 mL neutral oil
400 mL warm (37 Celsius) water.
Method:
Begin by mixing the flour, seaweed flakes, and salt
along with fresh yeast in a bowl.
Knead well using oil and water and make a soft and
smooth dough. Water can be added based on the dryness of the dough.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth. Leave it to rise.
After about 2 h, knead the dough again
and divide it into two balls. Roll them in smaller circles and place them in bread tins.
Cover it with a damp cloth and leave it to rise for another hour. Poke the dough with
a fork or finger, oil it, and cover it with a damp cloth to prevent dryness. After 30min ,
add the seaweed flakes and salt and bake at 200C and bake for about 30min.
