TASTE | THE FOODIE

They say that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. As factual as that is, any one who has lived knows for sure that it is a two way street, because women love food just as much, if not more. Whether it be comfort food, eating out on a date, having a healthy snack or meal after a good workout or simply enjoying some snacks while watching a movie, few will argue that food is man's best friend.

With the rise of social media as a platform for any and everything that one can think of, there is a certain focus with how food is playing an important part within that spectrum. This is not only limited to so called foodies, as every person with a mouth and a stomach is naturally a foodie, this is about a lifestyle. This can range from cultural dishes, healthy treats, festive foods, smoothies and desserts, right down to every day dishes. Pretty much everybody with a camera phone likes to take snaps of what they are eating and share it with the world - if only food can be downloaded right?

Being the most important aspect of daily life, aside from water and oxygen, it is saddening to think that a large percentage of children in the the world (mainly Africa and Latin America) suffer from malnutrition, 17 million wasted and 155 million stunted, according to the UN. Food cannot be reduced to a luxury for the affluent, but should be an everyday right as it all comes down from Mother Nature. On that note, food should be cherished and not wasted, especially if it's prepared from the heart.

There are endless recipes you can find on the internet, cookbooks and cuisine shows that teach us the best ways to prepare our favourite meals. Some of these go as far as teaching us recipes for new meals we have not tried yet. The most common being the likes of Gordon Ramsay, the OG Wolfgang Puck, Rene Redzeppi, Jamie Oliver etc. The popular cooking shows such as the Masterchef (founded by Charlie Trotter) and its franchises show us that cooking can be regarded as somewhere between science and art. Even food styling is an important factor because the meal has to look appetising to the eyes, in order to make your mouth water and stomach to rumble. However, not all of us are experts when it comes to cooking with such intensity, so we appreciate whatever taste good and satisfies our hunger.

In South Africa, the foodie lifestyle is of an international calibre, yet we have the most unique cuisine because of our range of cultural and ethnic groups. From Michelle Theron, Lucas Ndlovu, Chef Jan van der Westhuizen, Clement Pedro (Afternoon Express) and the all too gorgeous Lorna Maseko, who has recently released her first book titled Celebrate With Lorna Maseko, The Lazy Makoti (we could go on all day really), we are surely spoiled for choice.

Our range in indigenous dishes range fromm bobotie, biltong, boerewors, koeksisters, gatsby, tripe, chakalaka, mielie pap, ting, sosaties. Even spell check does not recognize most of these words (we're too unique for standards, right?) Do not even get us started on our wines, as South Africa produces some of the most highly rated wines and whiskeys in the world such as,The Shannon Black, Thelena Sutherland Reserve, Kanonkop Black Label, Oak Valley Groenlandberg, Warhich The White Lady (we really can go on all day. Our whiskies, cocktails, right down to milkshakes and iced tea can satisfy you in their own right. We will bring you the best of what you can bite off the internet with our foodie articles for your most natural taste from the best that South Africa and the world has to offer.