Herbivores Claim their Place at the Braai for Heritage Day

Annually millions of South Africans celebrate their National Heritage Day on the 24th of September with one of the country’s most beloved activities – gathering jovially together around an open fire as they grill local favourites and traditional fare. For many, beef and boerewors are indispensable items on the day’s menu, but are there other intriguing and moreish options that people may want to put on their plates?

Every year local food awareness organisation ProVeg SA hosts a rebellious plant-based event celebrating the country’s rich heritage and highlighting Africa’s non-animal culinary history and practices. This year ProVeg invites all South Africans to sample some of the huge number of extraordinary plant-based products available in our marketplace as a great-tasting, healthy alternative to meat.  

Breaking Bean

For a lot of people in this country, the idea of cutting back on meat might seem very un-South-African and antithetical to the event, but the reality is that eating meat isn’t our heritage. Our heritage in this nation is a much more layered and multifaceted prospect; from our blend of cultures, ethnicities and languages coalescing harmoniously, to our natural beauty and unique biodiversity. Nonetheless, food is also culture and good food is central to the braai. But the paradigm is shifting to a point where plant-based is being recognised as a worthy and normalised inclusion, if not substitute – and a food swap that in fact helps preserve our environment due to its low carbon footprint and resource use.

“The braai is such a central part of the South African culture and a space for all South Africans to come together and celebrate our rich heritage,” says Donovan Will, ProVeg South Africa Country Director.  “A lot of people who are not vegans or vegetarians ask why we would want to eat stuff that looks and tastes like meat. But we didn’t stop eating meat because we don’t like the taste of it. It is for health and ethical reasons.“ And we still like to eat things that we are familiar with. I think it’s important to show people that they don’t have to eat animals to have something similar to what they’re used to and that they’d enjoy just as much,” he continued.

If you’re worried that your braai day guests might stage a mutiny if you served them some veggie wors instead; these days some non-animal products mimic meat so closely that some may find it shocking, and probably wouldn’t know unless you told them. For World Burger Day on the 28th of May this year ProVeg hosted a group of emergency and law enforcement officers in the city of Cape Town for lunch. What was in effect a blind tasting, a meat alternative by Beyond Meat was served, and only disclosed after everyone had eaten an rated their meal – on average above 9 out of 10 – much to their surprise that they had relished a vegan product indistinguishable in taste and texture from meat.

Bans go Bust

For years there has been the legal threat of seizure of meat alternative products from South African shelves. However, the so-called veggie “burger ban” was defeated in the Joburg High Court earlier this year, allowing meat alternative products to retain familiar naming conventions such as “burger”, “sausage” and “nugget.” Since this ruling there have been intimations of further attempts at litigation by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development [DALRRD] which has still been looming threateningly over the meat-alternatives market and it remains to be seen if there will be further developments. That being said, with the Government of National Unity holding dominion after the recent national elections, DALRRD has been riven into two separate ministries, with the Democratic Alliance placed in charge of the Department of Agriculture – thus far presumably more sympathetic to the plant-based cause and not showing signs of renewed attempts at product seizures. Meat alternatives remain a foreseeable fixture on South African shopping lists.   

It is difficult to determine whether South Africa’s plant-based market is growing or slowing, however the ProVeg 2023 Plant-Based Friendliness Restaurant Report demonstrated an evolving number of options at both sit-down and quick service restaurants, indicating a willingness by the public to at least try meat alternatives and that exact sales numbers, challenging as they are to obtain, evidently justify their continued presence. 

Being no small feat to quantify the vegan and vegetarian demographic in South Africa one merely has to examine activity in the retail marketplace to get an outline for the scope of these still somewhat niche consumer goods. A steady stream of new products in the animal alternatives space has been the norm over the past few years; with major retailers all offering numerous options and companies such as Checkers and Woolworths even selling their own extensive in-house range of plant-based products. All of this makes the transition to a plant-based lifestyle easier for the unconverted to chew on. By manner of example, in August of this year ProVeg logged a total of 351 dairy alternatives available nationally: including 126 plant milks, 91 vegan cheeses, 30 vegan yoghurts, 10 vegan butters and 94 vegan ice creams. South Africans have never had more vegan options available to them. 

“If you ask the average South African: ‘Do you care about the environment? Do you care about your health? Do you care about animals?’ Everyone says yes,” Donovan Will notes. “There are very few people who will say: ‘I don’t care at all about my health. I don’t care at all about the environment. I don’t care at all about animals.’ But would you be willing to go vegetarian for all that? To that proposition, some people say yes, and others say no … but by offering products that taste exactly the same [as meat], you don’t have to convince anyone of the health benefits, the environmental benefits or any other benefits. You just say here is a better product which tastes just as delicious as anything else you usually eat.”

ProVeg advocates for the transition to plant-based lifestyles and economies, working with the public and private sectors.

ENDS

Media Contact

ProVeg South Africa – Wikus Engelbrecht – Communications Manager: [email protected]; +27 64 172 0120

About ProVeg South Africa:

ProVeg South Africa is the local branch of ProVeg International. ProVeg is an international food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing conventional animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives.

ProVeg works with international decision-making bodies, governments, food producers, investors, the media, and the general public to help the world transition to a society and economy that are less dependent on animal agriculture and more sustainable for humans, animals, and the planet.