#oepvekoep

[juliahoskins]

Lunch at Oep ve Koep, Paternoster

https://www.oepvekoep.co.za

[lisensundgren]

Happy moments foraging by the ocean with master chef @kobusvdmerwe in Paternoster. Plants here taste like the Atlantic: salty, crisp, fresh citrusy. Delicious. Nature is a generous spirit. Walk on it gently folks! #oepvekoep #forage @wildfoodlove @kobusvdmerwe #seaweed #passionforlife #passionfornature #wild #plants #edibleflowers #livewithnature

[sardinesontoast]

“From the slowness of autumn, the West Coast’s decidedly green winter graduates quietly and unannounced. As if overnight, fields and barren dunes - even roadside ditches - transform themselves into lush fields of fragrant edibility. Succulent soutslaai, dune celery, veldkool. Cravings shift from anything warm and remotely comforting, to all things really rich and slow-cooked, with plenty of wine on the side. And when the first young sprouts of oxalis are spotted in Oep ve Koep’s backyard, it’s a sure sign that the bredie season is upon us. Also wild herb and boerbok-on-the-braai season. Hunting season. Plump mussel and perdevoet season.

As my feet swish through overgrown fields of gousblom and kleinkruid, and I stop sporadically to pick at veldkool stems, I realise that winter must have been a magical, feast-filled time of year for the early beachcombers on the Vredenburg Peninsula. Grateful for the rain, nature provides an abundance of free greens for the winter pot.  In between the spells of wet and cold, winter in the Strandveld always surprises with temperate, crystal clear and sunny days. And then it’s almost as if you can feel the imminence of spring in the veld.” Strandveldfood, p131. <Photo credit: Jac de Villiers> facebook.com/strandveldfood

[sardinesontoast]

Strandveldfood - a West Coast Odyssey I am beyond excited to finally reveal the first few pages of Strandveldfood - the West Coast food book which photographer Jac de Villiers and I put together over the past two years.

We spent equal amounts of time in the kitchen and in the veld, documenting the Saldanha Strandveld's singular beauty in pictures and words, and cooking and tasting its distinctive delicacies.  We share our discoveries with you in over 100 colour photographs and more than 60 seasonal recipes. Strandveldfood is published by Sunbird, the illustrated imprint of Jonathan Ball publishers, and will be available in bookstores (and at Oep ve Koep!) from mid September 2014.

Keep an eye out for an exclusive extract published in Taste magazine's September edition, on shelf later this month.

Visit facebook.com/strandveldfood or facebook.com/oepvekoep for more details.

Pre-orders can be placed at kalahari.com

Strandveldgroete, Kobus van der Merwe Shown here, first spread: maasbanker bokkoms; map of the Saldanha Strandveld. Second spread: watermelon, bokkom and summer ice plant salad; crayfish boats at Paternoster beach. Third spread: lichen in Cape Columbine nature reserve; Cape Malay piekelvis. Fourth spread: veldkoolbredie; veldkool in bloom at Tietiesbaai. Fifth spread: a tidal pool at Mosselbank; spring shoreline soup.