Saving Seeds

When I cup seeds in the palm of my hand — be they basil seeds the size of pinheads or crimson-splashed lima beans — and really take the time to examine them, I lose myself. It’s hard to explain, and harder to articulate. The secrets they hold; their hereditary resilience; their unlimited potential.

A Bounty of Ginger & Turmeric

Is there any living thing out there that doesn’t thrive on the benefits of ginger and turmeric? In the garden the plants play host to a profusion of birds, bees, and wasps … the last of which I discovered through its blinding sting while picking the scented white flowers of our galangal, a Siamese ginger.

Nature’s Great Masterpiece … the Elephant

Elephants, in sets of three, lumbered into my consciousness last Friday.
Here in the Zambezi Valley where the parched winter days are slowly desiccating the leaves and grasses; where bush fires are randomly lit in the hope of speeding up the succulent shoots of grass; where the lack of food induces the migration of wild animals looking for greener pastures, it’s elephant time.

Repost – Where Ottolenghi meets Bush Gourmet …

I’ve been busy opening a new food production and services company called SavannaBel – Bush Gourmet here in Livingstone, and my first customer happens to be The Elephant Café. 🙂 In celebration of this milestone, I am reposting a short piece I wrote a couple of years ago on how the seasonal garden produce and wild food inspire my recipe development.