FROM FARM TO FINE DINING RESTAURANTS

While many of my days are spent in fine dining restaurants, for which I am grateful, one of the more thought-provoking aspects of my work is discovering provenance. I have an insatiable curiosity for the why, where and how. Imagine my delight when invited to meet the cows, chickens and pigs on Spier in Stellenbosch, with Farmer Angus Macintosh. Along the way I had my eyes opened…one of the facts that pierced a dagger in my heart was that 90% of antibiotics produced worldwide are administered to animals. With only 2% of the food market in SA being vegan, it translates into a whopping 98% of people consuming animal protein, and antibiotics, daily. These antibiotics are to promote animal growth and to prevent disease, especially as in many cases animals are standing in their own manure.

As a regenerative livestock farmer, I know that if animals roam freely in uncrowded outdoor spaces and eat only grass, there is little need to administer antibiotics, said Angus McIntosh, owner of Farmer Angus. 

More than 1.2 million people—and potentially millions more—are said to have died in 2019 as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, according to a landmark study by the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project published in The Lancet. Urgent action is needed to prevent a predicted 10 million deaths each year by 2050. It’s estimated that by 2030, antimicrobial resistance could force up to 24 million people into extreme poverty.

HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

• Know where your food comes from.
• Eat grass-fed and grass-finished beef as well as eggs. (Egg producers don’t routinely administer antibiotics because they would weaken them, and they wish to keep their hens alive for as long as possible)
• When you choose meat, ensure that it is from a farmer that you can trust.

I have utilized every innocent audience since my day on the farm to wax lyrical, in the hope that my family and friends, and theirs, will become more aware of what they eat. I’ve urged them to be on the lookout for reputable farmers. Farmer Angus products are sold at Spier and Boschendal farm shops, and at other outlets, plus it’s good to know that top hotels and restaurants like the Belmond Mount Nelson, support him. From farm to fine dining, and everywhere in-between, you too will find responsible, clean produce if you care enough to also become a farmer by proxy. Visit www.farmerangus.co.za.

Tune in to FMR Fine Food on Saturday 5 March at 10h45 as I learn more from Farmer Angus about the value of knowing what goes into our food.