North West food terroir

Tea time treats in the Marico

© Richard Goode

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The food terroir of the North West province is a delicious melange of landscapes, cultures and cuisines. From the valley farmlands of the Magaliesburg, to the wide horizon plenty of Vryberg, and the game-laden bushveld of the Marico, the produce of the North West province is deliciously diverse.  

North West food terroir is characterised by grasslands and savannah vegetation, which are ideal for cattle farming. In the northeast, the Magaliesberg mountain range extends about 130 kilometres across the province, dividing the cool-climates berry crops of Skeerpoort, and deciduous fruit grown outside Pretoria, from the nuts, and avocados, citrus, and mixed-crops of Rustenburg and Brits. Maize, wheat, sunflowers and peanuts also stem from the North West's breadbasket. 

The North West province has food traditions both ancient and modern, and few epicurean occasions are as pleasurable as those found in the Marico, where sips of mampoer fuel tall-tale-telling accompanied by hearty portions of venison potjiekos.

The “seven colours feast” is a complex cultural meal prepared on special occasions by the women cooks of Marico, that will see you devouring diphaththa (flat breads) and sipping sorghum beer with your slow-cooked beef stew. 

In Kroondal, eat a bratwurst in dished up by a community whose German ancestors arrived in 1857, and taste the essence of North West food terroir in Batswana dishes like morogo diretlo iserobe (tripe with spinach) or ditloo beans.
 
Gourmet glamour is found on the plates that serve the province’s dining elite, with truffle and porcini-packed opulence being the order of the day at Sun City resort’s Villa Del Palazzo. Understated elegance marks the mood at the Silver Orange Bistro outside Hartbeesport, and lunch at the Ou Pastorie in Skeerpoort is a garden-to-table celebration of seasonal tastes.

The Batswana people have a saying ’moeng goroga re je ka wean’ that translates as ‘when guests arrive we eat.’ Wherever you pick up a fork in this most hospitable of provinces there will be a meal to suit your mood, palate, and wallet.