The fifth annual South African Street Food Festival will take place this year from September 1 to 9 in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The festival celebrates street food from all cultures that make up the melting pot that is SA. Street food from foreign cities will also be represented at the festival, along with food trucks creating the fare.

Conceptualised and produced by culinary-minded experience designers, Studio H, the 2018 festival celebrates African flavours as its central theme. Tourists will be able to experience the signature flavours of Africa over 10 days of festivities – a new addition to the festival this year – commencing with a launch party at House of Machines in Cape Town on August 31. Smaller pop-up events such as food walks and food movie screenings will lead up to the two big market weekends in Cape Town, then Johannesburg.

“Tourists will be exposed to an array of South African foods housed in a single space, where they’ll be able to engage with locals,” says Leigh Briel, of Studio H. “It’s a fully immersive experience, from the food to the music and, of course, the people.”

In addition to the myriad foods on offer, visitors can look forward to DJs playing music over the course of the event, and ‘crate talks’ by local food entrepreneurs. “The food talks will be centred on each speaker’s food journey, including how they became entrepreneurs; their struggles, failures and successes; sustainability; job creation, and so forth,” says Briel. “The talks are free to all ticket holders and are generally informal. We really believe that this type of set-up encourages more knowledge-sharing between the speakers themselves and their audience.”

In Cape Town, these will include talks by Dial-A-Koeksister which delivers warm koeksisters to one’s door on Sunday mornings; Toast Ale which brews beer made from unsold bread loaves; Elisha Madzivadondo, co-founder of The Sunshine Co.; and Jeremey Barty, founder of Breadrev.

Briel says the Cape Town location of the festival will provide benefits and opportunities for tourism businesses. “Businesses in this area will have increased foot traffic over and above the standard number of people visiting the waterfront. Because the festival is slowly becoming an institution in itself, a lot of people coming to the festivals are loyal followers. In addition, some of our vendors have establishments outside of the festival, so the festival serves as further exposure as well as a chance to expand their customer base.”

The Johannesburg leg of the event brings talks by Trevor Chomumwe, host of The Hello Dinner Club; Kgosi Rampa and Sifiso Dlangamandla, the co-founders of Soweto’s LoCrate Market, and the Makhelwane Festival (where houses along Poka Street in Soweto are transformed into eateries and art galleries over three days); Boitumelo Ramashaba, founder of Thirst Trap Juices; Mokgadi Mabela of Native Nosi – a black female-owned bee farm; and Vusi Ndlovu, head chef at The Marabi Club.

This year, the festival also launches ‘SFF Loves’, an initiative that will identify a different cause to support each year. The 2018 partner is Food Forward SA – an organisation that collects surplus food from manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to redistribute to verified partner NPOs that run food programmes that feed thousands daily. SFF Loves has also created an online pop-up shop, where virtual-versions of South African street food favourites are displayed, and can be purchased. Proceeds from the sales of these foods will go to Food Forward SA to assist the brand in alleviating widespread food waste and hunger in South Africa.

“At the core of the Street Food Festival is a sense of community built on a shared love of food. There’s no better way to explore culture than through food. The combination of authentic local food and the festival’s new location makes for a new experience for tourists who are looking to engage with locals and do something off the beaten track,” concludes Briel.

For more information, visit Street Food Festival.