Foodies drive gourmet market boom in South Africa

The crush of people inches past the tables of slow-brewed coffee, truffle flavoured charcuterie, and homemade ice-cream rippled with fennel pollen and peach swirls.

The former Cape Town biscuit factory, reworked into a shabby-chic urban setting, is just one of the gourmet markets that have popped up in South Africa for foodies seeking handcrafted goods over mass-produced products.

“There’s been an explosion of markets taking place, not only in Cape Town but around the country people are jumping into the idea,” said Cameron Munro of the buzzing Neighborgoods Market which opened six years ago.

The decidedly hip market draws up to 5,000 people every Saturday and expanded last year to Johannesburg with similar weekend fetes across Africa’s biggest economy offering an alternative to the supermarket shelves.

“We were totally blown away by the response that Cape Town gave us,” said Munro whose market has sparked a knock-on of galleries, delis and vintage shops in its gritty location.

“This was a nice opportunity to educate people about supporting local producers and also the beauty of interacting directly with the producer.”

South Africa’s passion for fast food and shopping malls still dwarves the trend toward Finnish-rye bread or slow-fermented beer with orange peel and coriander, despite a push by big retailers toward organic foods.


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