September, Stories and a Good Old South African Braai

September is a busy month for South Africans. We celebrate Heritage Month and Tourism Month, and then, on 24 September, Heritage Day and National Braai Day arrive together.

That is actually quite a fitting combination.

Because what better way is there to celebrate South Africa than by exploring it, remembering where we come from and ending the day around a fire with something sizzling on the grid?

Heritage is about much more than old buildings and dusty museum displays. It is also about the things we carry with us without giving them much thought – family recipes, food traditions, stories told around the kitchen table and the way certain smells can take you straight back to childhood.

South African food has plenty of those stories. Our kitchens have been influenced by people and cultures from all over the world, and somehow we have made it our own. That is probably why our food is so difficult to put into one neat little box.

Tourism works in much the same way. The best trips are not always about ticking famous places off a list. Sometimes you find the best stories when you take a road you have never travelled before, stop at a place you normally drive past or wander into a restaurant because it simply looks interesting.

We see plenty of travellers doing exactly that here in the Witzenberg Valley. People heading between Ceres and Wolseley, exploring Michell’s Pass or simply taking a break from the road.

And then they stop.

That is where we come in.

Harvest Table Bistro has been welcoming people around a table for years, in a building with a story of its own. And like most good places, some of the best stories are not written on the menu. They happen around the table.

So this September, get out there.

Explore somewhere new. Take the scenic route. Stop at the little places that do not necessarily appear at the top of every travel list.

And when 24 September arrives, light the fire.

Because if there is one thing South Africans can usually agree on, it is that someone standing around a braai will always have an opinion about how the meat should be cooked.

Happy Heritage Month. Happy Tourism Month.

And happy Braai Day.

From our table to yours – enjoy the journey.