Toffie Food Festival

This weekend, food experts will come together for South Africa’s most exclusive food event, where VISI’s Sumien Brink and Alma Viviers will be home-dinner hosts.

International speakers at the much-anticipated Toffie Food Festival in Cape Town include:

– Julie Powell, the US food blogger whose story inspired the movie Julie and Julia;

– Eloise Alemany, an Argentinian cookbook specialist and former managing editor of I-D magazine in the UK; and

– Tung-Yuan Lin, a Taiwanese coffee alchemist.

From South Africa, chef and food blogger Kobus van der Merwe, Gourmand World Cookbook award-winner Renata Coetzee, food anthropologist Anna Trapido, brew master Wolfgang Koedel and perfumer Tammy Frazer will draw the crowds.

We’re particularly excited about the home-dinner initiative, in which VISI’s editorial director Sumien Brink and managing editor Alma Viviers will be participating.

Festival delegates who attend the dinner of Sumien and daughter Cara will be treated to a generous spring feast at photographer Ulrich Knoblauch’s studio, while those at Alma and friend Kobus van der Merwe’s spread will be treated to a “foraged” meal. Most of the ingredients for Kobus and Alma’s meal will be foraged or found, and not bought at a supermarket, while Sumien and Cara’s dinner is inspired by Ulrich’s collection of polaroids.

Only a few tickets are still available for the Toffie Food Conference. Send an e-mail to toffie@thepresident.co.za now to book your ticket. Tickets are R1,500 (excluding VAT) and include access to all the speakers’ talks, two breakfasts, two coffees, the Nelson Mandela tasting lunch, the city-wide secret dinner party and a Sunday braai.

More information: www.toffie.co.za