Creator
Brent Meersman
Brent Meersman is a political novelist Primary Coloured, Reports Before Daybreak. He has been writing for the Mail & Guardian since 2003 about things that make life more enjoyable – the arts, literature and travel and in his Friday column, Once Bitten food. If comments on the internet are to be believed, he is a self-loathing white racist, an ultra-left counter-revolutionary, a neo-liberal communist capitalist, imperialist anarchist, and most proudly a bourgeois working-class lad. Or you can put the labels aside and read what he writes. Visit his website: www.meersman.co.za
Fifty shades of vegan sex
A new sex shop offers animal-free lubricants, whips of bicycle tubes and phthalate-free toys
Nobody listens to vegans
Brent Meersman ponders whether veganism and being a food writer can go together.
The fine art of cooking
Boutique restaurants are on the increase in Cape Town – selling product lines as well as meals.
Terroir’s earthy taste of winter
Brent Meersman explores the elegantly casual Terroir restaurant’s European inspired cuisine and its sweet deals for winter.
The feast behind the arts festival
If a theatre critic reviews food at the National Arts Festival is the irony dramatic or simply delicious?
Haute of this world
The menu at Haute Cabrière is specifically designed to complement the estate’s wines – and it works.
Makaron’s new taste: Chef pairing
Makaron’s Tanja Kruger has introduced a chef pairing concept for the month of May.
Up to the vegan challenge?
Cape Town Vegan Challenge is an invitation to try veganism for a month and several restaurants have taken up the gauntlet, writes Brent Meersman.
Stay calm: Kelp is on the way
For foragers who can tell a dead man’s fingers from a Mediterranean mussel, our coastline is cornucopian.
Twelve Apostles get down to earth
The unusual four-course menus at Cape Town’s Azure restaurant match its superb backdrop.
The best of a raw deal
In this overprocessed world with industrial agriculture doing violence to the planet, it makes sense that some have turned to a raw food diet.
Sexy’s simply the best
James Kuiper is bringing the sexy back in healthy meals that are gluten, soya, sugar and preservatives free.
Banting is found wanting
If you insist on being a Banter, then stick to your steak and forget the substitutes, writes Brent Meersman.
Noakes cult infests the Cape’s menus
"The Noakes narrative has all the elements needed for a quasi-religious story," writes Brent Meersman.
Mushrooms: delectable fungi
Foraging classes, internet buzz and phone apps bring mushroom hunting into the mainstream