SOUTH AFRICA 

An arid, mountainous area located along the west coast of South Africa, the Cederberg is richly endowed with a diversity of indigenous plant and animal species, many endemic. The Cederberg’s valleys were once traversed by Khoikhoi pastoralists, who highly prized their livestock. Milk was an important foodstuff, but the Khoikhoi also relied on their intimate knowledge of the veld and its food sources such as berries, reed stems, tubers, bulbs, wild honey, termites, and small mammals.

This knowledge and way of life was disrupted by the arrival of European settlers in the 17th century who annexed the land and enslaved the Khoikhoi. During the colonial period, followed by apartheid, the Khoikhoi worked as laborers on farms or lived in mission stations. They intermarried with San, slaves, and Europeans, and adopted practices from the dominant European culture such as bread making in outdoor clay ovens. Today, many Khoikhoi descendants still reside in the Cederberg area, but their traditional foodways are being undermined by restrictive conservation policies, privatization of land for elite tourist attractions, and increased access to cheap, highly processed foods with low nutritional value.

To help support endangered traditional foodways, local peoples’ interest in the indigenous resources found in their surroundings was rekindled through a multidisciplinary project, Co-creating Wild Foods Livelihoods in the Cederberg Mountains.

This project has now closed, but it lives on in various forms. This includes the establishment of FynbosMengsels, a collective of local knowledge custodians, who, inspired by the project, are now conducting regular, ongoing meetings where they share their love of indigenous plants and experiment with a hybrid of modern and traditional recipes for food and personal care products. On-going research investigating Cederberg foodways, and links between the landscape, food and identity is being undertaken by a Doctoral student based at the University of Cape Town.

FynbosMengsels and their collaborators are working to revive and stimulate interest in contemporary Khoikhoi heritage and traditional foodways by:

• Cooking for visitors and tourists, using a hybrid of modern and traditional methods, with locally produced and indigenous foods.

• Experimenting and co-developing ways of preserving wild foods, thereby extending their shelf-life.

• Introducing agroecological cultivation of indigenous plants for potential markets.

• Expanding on the current range of culinary and medicinal products which FynbosMengsels sells.

• Documenting local peoples’ recipes and compiling them into an illustrated recipe book.

• Showcasing the work of FynbosMengsels at the annual Wild Flower Festival held in Clanwilliam.

Soetsuurdeegbrood

The Cederberg communities in the Western Cape of South Africa have preserved the tradition of baking Soetsuurdeegbrood —Afrikaans for sweet sourdough bread— for many generations. This distinctive bread, made without commercial yeast, relies on a starter culture derived from local vegetables or rumen. Baked in outdoor ovens, which have evolved from termite heaps to natural clay structures, the heritage reflects a deep connection between the people and their land. The bread is baked on hot coals, a method passed down through generations, blending local and European cultural influences. This mosaic of techniques traces back to the region’s ancestors, including the Khoi people, who also baked breads and cakes from local plants, and consumed termites known as rysmiere.

This documentary, co-created with local community members from the Agter Parkhuis, offers an intimate exploration of the Cederberg bread-making tradition, bringing this rich culinary heritage to life. The contributors are Anna Hein, Elzaan Hein, Marcelino Oktober, Jerome Jantjies, Siena van der Ross, Andries Koopman, Maria Oktober, Annalise van der Ross, Dora van der Ross, Eva Ross, and Tracy Du Plessis. Produced by Sascha Jaeger of SHJ Productions, with funding and support from People Plants International, the documentary beautifully captures the essence of a tradition that continues to thrive in the Cederberg today.

The Team

Rachel Wynberg, Tracy du Plessis, Loubie Rusch, Jaci van Niekerk, Eva Ross and the Cederberg-based communities of Vleiplaas, Heuningvlei, Grasvlei, Kleinvlei and Wupperthal.

A number of the FynbosMengsels members are depicted in the photographs below.

Partners

The Bio-economy Research Chair at the University of Cape Town, FynbosMengsels, Making KOS