{"id":222611,"date":"2022-04-21T16:05:06","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T14:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=115014"},"modified":"2022-04-21T16:05:06","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T14:05:06","slug":"karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Karoo\u2019s culinary delights on offer at food festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115015\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115015\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=115015\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"201\" class=\"wp-image-115015 size-thumbnail lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-115015 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"201\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-115015\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cradock community is ready to welcome visitors to the annual Karoo Food Festival, supported by SPAR Eastern Cape, from April 29 to May 1. Photo: Full Stop Communications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The community in Cradock \u2013 and those further afield \u2013 are licking their lips as they anticipate another exciting Karoo Food Festival, supported by SPAR Eastern Cape, at the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p>This annual gathering to celebrate the culinary experience of wholesome Karoo fare was started in 2013 and this year it will take place from April 29 to May 1.<\/p>\n<p>The festival\u2019s core theme is to provide festivalgoers, both local and from out of town, the opportunity to taste the traditional dishes associated with the region and, in particular, the world-renowned Karoo lamb.<\/p>\n<p>But, said co-organiser Lisa Ker, the festival\u2019s concept was wider than just sampling Karoo delicacies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a platform to attract people to our town and to bring the local community together, which is something a food festival can do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Ker, whose family run accommodation establishments in Cradock, is a member of the local voluntary organisation that hosts the festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, the centrepiece comprises the food stalls, but we have tapped into the broader community to offer other activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor instance, we have linked up with Old Mutual, who are organising a trail and social run, while we also profile local cooks and chefs, who provide demonstrations and talks on their skills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are opportunities to go canoeing or to play golf or tennis, so we use all our local resources to make it a community-focused occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SPAR EC sponsorships and events manager Alan Stapleton said it was \u201cwonderful\u201d to be able to move into the country and support their communities away from the cities in initiatives like plastic pollution awareness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is close to our hearts,\u201d he emphasised. \u201cAnd bringing communities together in a spirit of fun and camaraderie is always special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ker said that it was essential to involve the whole community and therefore the 70 to 80 store holders each employed about four people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to promote the town and the trendy topic of Karoo food, but also to give members of our community a purpose through the employment opportunities which exist and to give them hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe assist in training these people in the workings of a festival and then we are able to use them at other functions or similar occasions during the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She paid tribute to the support provided by both SPAR EC head office and the retail outlet in Cradock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout them it\u2019s doubtful that we would have been able to sustain this festival,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlan Stapleton (SPAR EC sponsorships and events manager) has such a passion for developing the community, in particularly job creation, and it is really wonderful to have them on board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough their support, we have been able to provide T-shirts for the festival workers, make rubbish bins available and create a system of using recyclable containers which ties in with SPAR\u2019s drive to protect the natural environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe strive to run the festival as professionally as possible and SPAR has really helped us with marketing and ensuring that the stores operate smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ker, who is also involved with the writers\u2019 festival in the town, said they had started out with low expectations but were excited at the growth of the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiterally whatever is authentic and important in the Karoo food-wise will be on offer and it is getting bigger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis time we are up to about 80 store holders and previous festivals have brought in R2-million to the town\u2019s economy. This year I\u2019m expecting it to be more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople come here because they have very specific ideas of what they want to taste, while we encourage young entrepreneurs to become involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are opportunities such as the potjiekos competition to display your culinary skills, all of which take place in a safe and gentle environment driven by the local community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Find more information on the Karoo Food Festival\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Post Views:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">94<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. The Cradock community is ready to welcome visitors to the annual Karoo Food Festival, supported by SPAR Eastern Cape, from April 29 to May 1. Photo: Full Stop Communications The community in Cradock \u2013 and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-222611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"tag-mypr","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/karoos-culinary-delights-on-offer-at-food-festival.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}