• VERUSKA DE VITA La Grande Epicerie and Fauchon in Paris, The Organic Café in Dubai, Harrods Food Hall and Fortnum & Mason in London, Dean & DeLuca in New York. Besides having the commonality of world-class cities, these food emporiums have another common element – they’re all geared for the executive eater who is conscious of organic produce, variety and daily freshness. In these stores vegetables sparkle, uniformed staff are friendly and knowledgeable, hot meals are made from delectable recipes and shopping becomes a bucolic experience of one-stop gourmet browsing, even for those who hate trudging up and down food…

    Soy sauce, thought to be one of the world’s oldest condiments, has been integral to Eastern cooking for 3 000 years. Fx went to a soy tasting at Lynton Hall, the renowned boutique hotel in KwaZulu-Natal TRACY GIELINK Soya beans can be traced back a remarkable 4 000 years, and Chinese Emperor Shen Nong declared them one of the five sacred crops. It’s no surprise, therefore, that its derivative, soy sauce, also shares a long history. The beginnings of the sauce can be traced back to early Asia when people preserved meat and fish in salt, and the liquid from…

    After years of being the avant-garde enfant terrible of the Gauteng food scene, Dario d’Angeli has returned from a grand tour of the world’s finest restaurants with a…

    The Foodbarn’s Franck Dangereux chats happily while sidestepping a predominantly female team in a cramped restaurant kitchen, stopping to taste a fragrant mix of coconut milk, lemongrass and ginger. It’s late morning and menu orders are trickling in. “The food here isn’t too adventurous,” says Franck. “We’re in Noordhoek, after all. But we have offal on the menu – no restaurant within a radius of 30km is touching kidneys. We also have old customer favourites such as Karoo lamb with black olive and goat’s cheese quiche, and seared tuna with chermoula.” The Foodbarn joins a tree-lined group of pubs, cafes…

    By Vicki Sleet If you live in the city, you may well have thought of doing it: selling up, simplifying life and settling down to a quiet, considered existence where the rise and fall of the sun dictates your days and where there really is time to smell the flowers, take long lazy walks on the coast and gaze at the stars. Of course, many people who opt for a new rustic existence often find their lives are fuller than ever. Their guest rooms are invariably occupied by out-of-town friends and they’re kept busy crossing things off a lifelong list…