Last week the very first Veggie Buntch Workshop took place at Wild Organic Foods, in Woodstock. It was an amazingly organic process putting the workshop together – and the support and advice from everyone involved was fantastic. I thought I would share some of the experience with you.

How did it all come about?

Well, I have to thank Charmain Lines from Natural Balance. Late last year I was sent a Wonderbag to test. Mightily impressed, I thought a vegetarian workshop that incorporated the Wonderbag would be a nice idea. Charmain thought so to – and gave me the motivation I needed to make it a reality.

From this seed of an idea, surprising connections and synergies emerged. Through Janis Hopley, who is one of the faces of the Wonderbag in the Western Cape, I met RAWlean - a raw foodist who runs fabulous raw food workshops and has transformed her life through her diet. Take a look at her facebook page for info on upcoming events.

After going to one of RAWlean’s workshops and chatting about the idea for the Veggie Buntch workshop, I invited RAWlean to help host the Veggie Wonder Workshop and add her expertise and enthusiasm to the evening. Next, I had to find a venue and contacted Liz and Anne from Wild Organic in Woodstock. And what do you know? It turned out that RAWlean was going to be running a workshop at their store! (We bought as much of the fresh organic produce that we could directly from Wild Organic. Check out their site www.wildorganics.co.za and order some seasonal, local food.)

The last ingredient was great vegetarian friendly wine from MAN Vintners. Vegetarian wine pairing is not something that usually gets much focus, and winemaker Michelle and marketing manager Matthew added their wine knowledge to the event – rounding off the flavours and adding that little something extra to the evening. The interest in the workshop was overwhelming – hopefully I will be able to run more in the future.

The event

As this was the first workshop I’ve put together, I wanted to cram as much as I possibly could into the evening! Between RAWlean and myself we prepared:

• Green juice
• Sprout salad
• Chickpea salad with Peppadews, tomatoes and basil
• Spicy lentil salad with dried apricots and capers
• Green vegetable curry with fried haloumi
• Fig and date smoothie with almond milk
• Chocolate mousse

All the guests also received their own Wonderbag – courtesy of Natural Balance – making this a really special workshop. To everyone who was there, thank you for your support.

Via Veggie Buntch