With many food festivals across the country, South Africa’s food scene is booming with home-grown produce and delicious local flavours.
The year 2022 is the time to tuck into SA’s food festivities with events everywhere. Here’s our roundup of mouth-watering festivals to get your teeth into.
Harvest & Gin Festival
Feeling the need to beat the winter blues this June? Get to the third edition of the Harvest & Gin Festival at the Golden Horse Casino on the 25th and enjoy fun in the winter sun, along with sampling local delicacies like sushi, goat meat, and rabbit. “Harvest 3” as it has become known affectionately is a celebration of lifestyle, agriculture, and the culture of physical activities like hiking. At this instalment, the in-house restaurant of Golden Horse casino V&V is also venturing outdoors to provide their pizza and pasta fare to the guests attending, along with The Great Dlamini, Big Bites, and Coco’s Eatery. And as you might have known, no Harvest & Gin Festival is complete without veteran and high-end gins making their presence felt, and Hendricks Gin and Cruxland Gin, both long-time supporters of the Festival, will once again be at the event. Hendricks Gin has become known for its elaborate and delightful stalls, where one can sit in giant teacups and get photographed imbibing gin from porcelain teacups. Imagin Gin, Stretton’s and Gordon’s will also be on offer.
Tamara Mkhize of PalmTree Events said they are excited at bringing the festival to the City of Choice. “We have had a warm welcome from Golden Horse Casino and we are looking to provide stellar entertainment for the family on the last weekend of June. Every time we do this festival we get better and are better able to understand our consumers. This Harvest Festival will see us up to our game in terms of the offering, all in one safe and enclosed space, ready for Pietermaritzburg and surrounds to attend”, she said.
The Harvest & Gin Festival tickets are available from webtickets and start at R100 each.
Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival
Wine and food enthusiasts will be able to taste various wines on offer and sample food from the Pick n Pay Food Market – ranging from local cheeses to tender pieces of meat – all while soaking up the experience with live music in big open seating areas. Over twenty estates from wine-producing regions across South Africa will have their varieties available for tasting at the event. Festival-goers will be able to purchase their favourite wines to sip on the lawns or take home to stock their wine cellars.
Head of Pick n Pay Liquor Gavin Levers said their stores have become ‘the home of South African wine’ as we continually list more local brands on our shelf and online shop. Levers said this festival lets them elevate their wine experience to customers and invite them to a fully interactive wine and food experience. Wine estates participating include Diemersdal, Durbanville Hills, Spier, Tokara, and Waterford, to name a few.
The Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival will be held at Waterfall Park at Mall of Africa on the 2nd of July. The ticket price is R250 inclusive of branded glass and tasting tokens and is available at webtickets.
Knysna Oyster Festival
Families, foodies, sports lovers, and adventurers if you are ready for a shucking good time then diary the first ten days of July for an unforgettable experience and a sensory explosion, in the heart of the Garden Route. The Knysna Oyster Festival promises to indulge wine lovers, satisfy food fundies and satiate any daredevil's appetite for adrenalin.
General Manager of Visit Knysna Colleen Durant said guests can look forward to offerings that include beaches and waterways, forests, family and night activities, sports entertainment, tours, sumptuous food, fresh air, and fun. The Knysna Oyster Festival has been carefully curated to include local tour operators, restaurants, coffee shops, and manufacturers to benefit small businesses in the area. The festival will take place from the 1st until the 10th of July. For more information, visit the Knysna Oyster Festival site.