When I first met Hannerie she and graphic design legend Peet Pienaar were the formidable duo behind The President, one of South Africa’s most impactful design studios. We worked together to create an animation my boss didn’t quite understand — it was genius, I promise, as many things they made were. Their distinctive style carved into the very fabric of the South African design landscape at the time and we can still see their influence today from the visual brands they left behind such as Bos Ice Tea and Babylonstoren.
The President also started doing the same ground breaking work with events, gifting us the Toffie Pop Culture Festival, whereby Hannerie, Peet and their team brought together local and international heavyweights to impart creative knowledge for a price so reasonable that even young, broke creative’s such as myself had the pleasure of learning from the likes of The Gentlewoman’s editor Penny Martin and Tumi Molekane. Next the Toffie Food Festival was born tackling culinary delights with the same raw, punk, energetic gusto that locals rarely saw attributed to all things edible. So when The President finally closed its doors in Cape Town, the hungry and the creative all eagerly waited to see what would happen next.
We've since had utensils baked into bread, edible walls of meringues, a Norwegian salmon fisherman, Dutch milk maidens, magical flavor bending candies, Mopani worm gin, toasts from the ceiling, ostriches baked in clay, hotdog dress up photo booths and juices squeezed out of machines at the touch of an emoji. Studio H — the hands behind the Street Food Festival, Spier Secret, Good Food & Wine, The Eat Out Festival and many exciting Woolworths Taste installation — has built up a reputation as the countries leading food experience curators and for good reason; because as fun as their experiences are (and they are) they also champion their belief and love of South African food and what it could be.
“We are very lucky in that chefs like Kobus van der Merwe, Ash Heeger, Wesley Randles and Giles Edwards all opened restaurants in the last year offering world-class, simple food, cooked with love and sharing their passion for ethically sourced, seasonal and alternative ingredients.”
Embracing ethical, resource-conscious living is key for the future of food according to Hannerie who believes that as consumers and brands become more environmentally conscious we will be able to not only make better food but also leave a more positive impact on the earth. The next step is to start more food waste and water saving initiatives as we face more drought and unconventional weather conditions. It will become increasingly more important to consider every drop of water and each piece of waste we throw in the bin moving forward but we can start that process today by knowing where the ingredients come from and use them responsibly.
“Using honest ingredients by cultivating great relationships with farmers and producers, suits our country perfectly. We are a nation of farmers, makers and entrepreneurs, people living close to the earth.”
A practice that brings us back full circle to the farm where Hannerie's play in the panty and her Ouma Babs’s oxtail and her dad’s waterblommetjie potjie taught her to think about where food comes from and led her to be the considerate adventurous eater she is today. And the things she eats these days are jealousy inducing, such as a Brazilian carne de sol dinner by Hannes Bernard, Guido Giglio and Marcelo Conceicao, rotisserie chicken at Rijsel in Amsterdam and seafood cooked in a shell with a blowtorch at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. After being tormented by her Instagram posts from her recent trip to Amsterdam (you should totally follow her on Instagram by the way at @hannerievisser) we asked her to share with us what her five all-time favourite meals are:
1. De Melksalon breakfast
Breakfast consisting of boiled eggs on toast with homemade butter and whole fresh peaches with a glass of raw milk by Sietske Klooster from De Melksalon in the Netherlands and Hendrik Coetzee at last year’s Spier Secret festival in Johannesburg. It was so simple but was beautifully presented and you could taste and smell the farm freshness of the milk. I will never forget that smell — as if I was drinking it on the farm, in a field, surrounded by cows.
FOOD TRENDS
At play with Hannerie Visser
This creative is the driving force behind ground-breaking Studio H, a culinary-minded experience and brand design studio
Growing up on a farm away from the complacent convenience of the local corner store meant that as a child Hannerie Visser, the mind behind Studio H, a culinary-minded experience and brand design studio, had to create her own games, toys and snacks.
“We were forever inventing snacks with whatever was available in the pantry and also had to get creative and create our own entertainment. And I guess in a way I am still doing that today.”
And play she does.
When I first met Hannerie she and graphic design legend Peet Pienaar were the formidable duo behind The President, one of South Africa’s most impactful design studios. We worked together to create an animation my boss didn’t quite understand — it was genius, I promise, as many things they made were. Their distinctive style carved into the very fabric of the South African design landscape at the time and we can still see their influence today from the visual brands they left behind such as Bos Ice Tea and Babylonstoren.
The President also started doing the same ground breaking work with events, gifting us the Toffie Pop Culture Festival, whereby Hannerie, Peet and their team brought together local and international heavyweights to impart creative knowledge for a price so reasonable that even young, broke creative’s such as myself had the pleasure of learning from the likes of The Gentlewoman’s editor Penny Martin and Tumi Molekane. Next the Toffie Food Festival was born tackling culinary delights with the same raw, punk, energetic gusto that locals rarely saw attributed to all things edible. So when The President finally closed its doors in Cape Town, the hungry and the creative all eagerly waited to see what would happen next.
We've since had utensils baked into bread, edible walls of meringues, a Norwegian salmon fisherman, Dutch milk maidens, magical flavor bending candies, Mopani worm gin, toasts from the ceiling, ostriches baked in clay, hotdog dress up photo booths and juices squeezed out of machines at the touch of an emoji. Studio H — the hands behind the Street Food Festival, Spier Secret, Good Food & Wine, The Eat Out Festival and many exciting Woolworths Taste installation — has built up a reputation as the countries leading food experience curators and for good reason; because as fun as their experiences are (and they are) they also champion their belief and love of South African food and what it could be.
“We are very lucky in that chefs like Kobus van der Merwe, Ash Heeger, Wesley Randles and Giles Edwards all opened restaurants in the last year offering world-class, simple food, cooked with love and sharing their passion for ethically sourced, seasonal and alternative ingredients.”
Embracing ethical, resource-conscious living is key for the future of food according to Hannerie who believes that as consumers and brands become more environmentally conscious we will be able to not only make better food but also leave a more positive impact on the earth. The next step is to start more food waste and water saving initiatives as we face more drought and unconventional weather conditions. It will become increasingly more important to consider every drop of water and each piece of waste we throw in the bin moving forward but we can start that process today by knowing where the ingredients come from and use them responsibly.
“Using honest ingredients by cultivating great relationships with farmers and producers, suits our country perfectly. We are a nation of farmers, makers and entrepreneurs, people living close to the earth.”
A practice that brings us back full circle to the farm where Hannerie's play in the panty and her Ouma Babs’s oxtail and her dad’s waterblommetjie potjie taught her to think about where food comes from and led her to be the considerate adventurous eater she is today. And the things she eats these days are jealousy inducing, such as a Brazilian carne de sol dinner by Hannes Bernard, Guido Giglio and Marcelo Conceicao, rotisserie chicken at Rijsel in Amsterdam and seafood cooked in a shell with a blowtorch at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. After being tormented by her Instagram posts from her recent trip to Amsterdam (you should totally follow her on Instagram by the way at @hannerievisser) we asked her to share with us what her five all-time favourite meals are:
1. De Melksalon breakfast
Breakfast consisting of boiled eggs on toast with homemade butter and whole fresh peaches with a glass of raw milk by Sietske Klooster from De Melksalon in the Netherlands and Hendrik Coetzee at last year’s Spier Secret festival in Johannesburg. It was so simple but was beautifully presented and you could taste and smell the farm freshness of the milk. I will never forget that smell — as if I was drinking it on the farm, in a field, surrounded by cows.
2. Mutton bunny chows at Goundens in Durban
I just loved the vibe over lunch time in this canteen-style restaurant in Umbilo, an industrial area in Durban. Eating the most fragrant curry with plain white bread and a Coke with our hands.
3. Anchovy toast at St John Bread & Wine in Spitalfields, London
I had the boiled egg and anchovy toast for breakfast and it was so good that I went back that evening and had the roast Middlewhite (a kind of pig breed), white beans and trotters. Although technically two meals, to me it’s one food memory. The simplicity of flavour of Fergus Henderson’s food is mind-blowing and this is by far the best meal I’ve eaten in my life.
4. Mutton berry rice pulao at Britannia & Co a Persian/Iranian restaurant in Mumbai.
My mom and I were served by the owner, Mr Kohinoor, who is well into his 90s. Their recipes are well-guarded family secrets that his wife brought with her from Iran. Mr Kohinoor is full of anecdotes and loves showing off his file filled with cards and letters, from Queen Elizabeth to the Pope and Dick Cheney. Apparently he got to meet Will and Kate last year when they visited India after a video of him requesting to meet them went viral and they made an off-schedule stop to meet him. Legend has it that people fly all over India and the world with paper bags filled with Britannia & Co takeaways. An air hostess had a standing order to take 100 chapatti’s with to a client in London every time she did the Heathrow-Mumbai route.
5. Trout cooked on tree trunks in the middle of a bush on Kalmoesfontein farm in the Swartland by Wesley Randles at Convivium 2016.
Wesley is incredibly passionate about the local food industry and so generous with his knowledge and ingenious ideas.
6. Jacques Erasmus’ mieliepap at Hemelhuijs
I know I am only allowed 5, but my all-time go-to comfort meal is Jacques Erasmus’ mieliepap at Hemelhuijs with my wonderfully wise friend Sam Woulidge. It is soft and silky with a generous amount of butter and just the right amount of sweet, sweet honey.
To find out more about events and experiences curated by Studio H, visit them on Facebook