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What initially began – in 1958 – with a warm bowl of soup and bread has grown into a hot breakfast of maize meal and a cooked lunchtime meal, consisting of protein, carbohydrates and vegetables. on Wednesday 17 July at the Cape Town Hotel School Restaurant in Granger Bay, saw these humble, yet nutritious, warm and filling meals revamped. After 16 years, the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) menu has been given a makeover. It still includes staples such as samp, rice, sugar beans, soya, pilchards in tomato sauce, fresh vegetables and fruits. However, there is now a variety of seasonal vegetables and fruit and meals are being prepared differently – with the addition of noodles, chicken livers, soya variants and raisins.

To showcase just how delicious these simple staples can be, renowned celebrity chef and PSFA ambassador – Zola Nene – revitalised these local flavours, and added her own dash of creativity and pizzazz to create meals for guests at the launch to sample. These tasty treats included:

• Canapes of chicken liver pate en croute and creamy samp croquettes
• A tasting menu of
  • Pilchard fish cakes served with apple and cabbage slaw
  • Imfino pasta
  • Rice and chicken soya bowls
  • Sugar bean curry, uPuthu and Ushantini

‘Food is an essential part of my community and culture and I am passionate about promoting local ingredients. I enjoy the challenge of reworking humble staples to produce wholesome, tasty and nutritious food,’ says Zola Nene. ‘The work that PSFA does is incredible. They are not simply serving a plate of food to thousands of schoolchildren in the Western Cape but are changing lives.  I feel privileged to be part of a solution to alleviating hunger.’

Learners from St Paul’s Primary School, a school on PSFA’s nutrition support programme welcomed the guests with traditional songs and dances. Top Cape Town singer Loren Erasmus sang a song between each serving of the taster meals prepared by Zola Nene and the guest speaker, Helen Donkin, a public health and nutrition consultant who analysed the new menu on PSFA’s behalf concluded the launch with a talk entitled ‘Big impact of tiny nutrients’.

The director of PSFA, Petrina Pakoe, is a product of the PSFA school feeding programme. ‘I know what it’s like to go to bed hungry and the value of that daily meal,’ she says. ‘I am who I am today, thanks to PSFA. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them, which is why I am so passionate about providing meals for children in need.’

‘But’, she explains, ‘it goes beyond a simple plate of food, it is about ensuring the meals are filling and nutritious. Adequate nutrition is essential for the growth and development of children and to help combat malnutrition and related health issues,’ says Pakoe. ‘And, although RDA differs for different age groups and between genders, our meals have been analysed by nutritionist, Helen Donkin, in terms of the macro and micronutrients, minerals and vitamins.’

The PSFA volunteer general committee and staff would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere gratitude to the following:

• Zola Nene for finding time in her busy schedule to devise the menu and cook the taster meals using our school feeding menu ingredients
• Cape Town Hotel School Restaurant for sponsoring the venue, their chef and students for assisting Zola in the kitchen and the hospitality students for serving the meals
• Fresh Fruit Logistics for the financial donation that was used to purchase ingredients
• Dorria Watt from KC Communication for the outstanding job she did managing the public relations for the event
• Helen Donkin for being the guest speaker
• Loren Erasmus for singing
• The learners from St Paul’s Primary School for singing and dancing

How you can help

‘Feeding is what we do,’ says Pakoe, ‘Over the years we have been fortunate to fulfil our vision and expand the programme.  Interest on investments allows us to cover all operating expenses. This means 100% of donations are directed exclusively to the school feeding programme.’

It is thanks to donations, the generosity of business and bulk buying that PFSA is able to keep costs to a minimum. For this pilot phase of the menu, the budget – until March 2025 – average out to R4-67 per learner per day or R888-00 per year to supply two meals a day, over the 190 school days. A donation to sponsor meals for a child, for a year, is still set at R670-00, with PSFA subsidising the difference during this pilot phase.

If you’d like to help, PSFA offer options from monthly donations to feeding a child or a class for a month or a year, adopting a school, sponsoring a kitchen or adding PSFA as a MySchoolCard beneficiary.

They say that ‘people who give you food, give you their heart.’ PSFA, the donors and volunteers are truly giving their hearts to thousands of learners in the Western Cape.

#newPSFAMenu #NourishYoungMinds #FeedOurFuture