Partner content: South African lamb – an ode to Mother Nature

Braaied sosaties and chops, Sunday roast, potjiekos, bunny chow, bobotie, frikkadels, vetkoek and mince, skilpadjies, offal… These are just a few of the many favourite South African lamb dishes worth celebrating this Heritage Month. 

The South African lamb and mutton industry is as old as time itself and deeply engrained in our South African heritage. South African lamb and mutton producers have years of experience and know-how, when it comes to producing the highest quality lamb and mutton meat, which they pass down from the one generation to the next. The majority of South African sheep graze freely on natural pastures, which means their surroundings, or the “terroir” like the wine industry calls it, translates directly in the taste of the lamb and mutton meat from different parts of South Africa. 

The final-year hospitality management students from the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences at the University of Pretoria showcased and celebrated South African lamb earlier this month as part of a fine-dining function with the theme “An ode to Mother Nature”. The evening’s menu was packed with fresh, unique and sustainable South African ingredients and dishes that showcased the wonders of nature, such as real honeycomb, various indigenous grains, locally produced wines and spirits, and of course, South African lamb. Diners were also treated to a unique taste experience where they could taste the differences between the flavours of lamb produced in two different areas in South Africa – the Karoo and the KZN Midlands. This experience once again emphasised the fact that South African lamb caters for all taste preferences, whether one prefers the herbaceous flavours of Karoo lamb or the sweet-savoury mild flavour of lamb produced in lush grassland areas of South Africa. 

Lamb and Mutton SA would like to urge South African food lovers to chat to their local butchers about the origin of their lamb and mutton products and to experience  and experiment with different tastes of lamb. For more on South African lamb visit www.cookingwithlamb.com and follow @cooking_with_lamb on Instagram. 

Lamb and Mutton SA would like to thank the UP students who managed the “An ode to mother nature” function, Rachel van Zyl, Pamela Moyo and Nastasiya Vrey.