CAPE TOWN-based food design specialists Studio H will launch its millet report (2023 is the International Year of Millets) at Decorex Cape Town through a striking interactive installation called Don’t Feed the Birds. The title was drawn from the discovery that it’s almost impossible to find millet that is fit for human consumption in South Africa – most of our millet is processed as animal feed and the easiest way to buy it is as bird food in the supermarket. Ironically, millet is an ancient indigenous African grain with enormous potential to help us solve problems we are facing today.
In addition to this thought-provoking installation, Studio H’s founder Hannerie Visser will present a talk at the Future of Design Studio, taking place at Decorex Cape Town, running at CTICC from 22 -25 June 2023. “As a future food design studio, we are constantly confronted with all the ways in which our food system is broken – from gender inequality to food shortages due to load shedding, to the global water crisis, and a population growing faster than our food supply,” she states. “Through various projects, we investigate ways in which we could use food to draw attention to these issues and hopefully find solutions, too.”
The talk is free to attend.
WARM MILLET SOSATIE SALAD (GRILLED LAMB, ROAST GRAPES, CURRY SPICES AND APRICOT)
Recipe by Khanya Mzongwana for Studio H
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 8 x lamb sausages
- 60ml extra virgin olive oil
- 100g red grapes
- 2 cups white millet
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1T garam masala
- 50g sliced almonds
- 100g dried apricots
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
- Boil the millet with 4 cups of water and salt until tender to the bite.
- Drain excess water.
- Heat a pan and add olive oil. Fry the sausages until brown and cooked through.
- Fry the grapes in the same pan until charred.
- In another pan, heat and add olive oil. Fry the carrots and onion until soft, then add the garam masala.
- Fry for a few minutes until the spices become fragrant.
- Stir in the apricots and almonds and adjust seasoning.
- Stir in the millet.
- Dish onto a serving platter and serve with the grapes and sausages.
This recipe is published in Studio H’s Millet Report to be launched at Decorex Cape Town 2023.
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