Picture a plant nursery, surrounded by tall grasses and lush palm trees. At the centre, a wooden trestle table, draped with crinkled white linen, is laden with bowls of fruit, salad and just-baked bread. A sun-bleached pergola, heavy and verdant with vines shades the scene. It’s the height of summer in South Africa. And we’ve come to Veld & Sea. To photograph our summer collection. And to learn all about foraging and cherishing nature.

Tell us about wild foraging. What do you love about it?

Roushanna (Founder of Veld & Sea): Every season throughout the year in Cape Town, there is a beautiful cycle of flavour that happens. So there's always something wildly delicious available.
  
Tom (Roushanna’s husband): The landscape here is incredible.  

Roushanna: And there are treats every part of the year. In autumn we head to the forests and the fields for wild mushroom foraging and other forgotten foods like chestnuts, acorns and wild berries. In winter, we look for beautiful indigenous vegetables and edible weeds. And in springtime we host our edible flower experiences.  
Right now it’s summer, so it’s all about coastal foraging. We head to the beach, to the rock pools and kelp forests for seaweeds and shellfish.  

Nokubonga (Head of Front of House): As a child, I was scared of kelp. But when I started working at Veld & Sea, I did my first snorkelling trip and realised kelp is fine!

How do you use that foraged seaweed?

Nokubonga : My favourite way is to smoke the kelp over a fire and then use it as a garnish for making cocktails. It blends so well and adds that smoky, umami finish.  

Thandi (Resident Chef): Another seaweed we collect is nori, which is traditionally used to make sushi paper. And tongue weed, which you can put in soups and stocks to enhance the flavour. Or you can use it as an exfoliator on your face and it makes your skin feel really nice.

Sounds really interesting. Can you tell us more about Veld & Sea?

Tom: So we’re a foraging and culinary education company, teaching people from all walks of life about using plants and seaweeds. 
 
Roushanna: We teach foraging workshops. We want to inspire reciprocal relationships with the land and the sea, using nature as our classroom.

And how did Veld & Sea all come about?

Roushanna: I've always been a curious foodie and I come from a big multicultural family of food lovers and artists. I grew up eating mussels from the rock pools, fishing for calamari on the harbour wall. But when I moved to Cape Point about 20 years ago, I had the privilege of slowing down enough to learn about the edible landscape and all of the incredible wild flavours and medicine that is available. And I slowly, slowly started developing this ongoing love affair.

Roushanna: I would say that we are nature. So when we are in nature, we feel at ease.

Can you tell us more about what nature means to you?

Roushanna: Being out in nature is a deep space of curiosity for me.  

Tom: For us, we recognise that nature is everything.  

Roushanna: In our busy modern day lives, especially when we are so overwhelmed with the digital world, a wonderful antidote is to get outside. To step out of artificial intelligence and back into ancestral intelligence.

What would you say to people who want to get outdoors more?

Roushanna: Just do it. Next time you are feeling out of balance with yourself, find a wild open space, a park bench, even a view of a tree out of a window. Get outside and find your peace.  

Tom: Our life has always been centred around nature. Trying to make the most of this very, very special place. This amazing piece of wildlife that we are so fortunate to be custodians of. And honestly, I wouldn’t change it.

To find out more about Veld & Sea, visit their website. And to see more from the wonderful Roushanna, Tom and the team (including their irresistible cocktail), head to our Instagram.