Ongoing water restrictions imposed on Cape Town residents could lead to the dawn of a new culinary era in South Africa’s gastronomic capital, where "waterless dinners" are currently being researched and advertised.
S/Zout — a collective of Dutch and South African "food designers" — has proposed a series of three pop-up waterless dinners to take place in January 2018, at which all meals will be cooked using "salt-tolerant crops", S/Zout says on the event’s Facebook page.
They say the event, "explores the use of sea water in agriculture".
"The project presents research into the edible properties and possibilities of sea water and sea salt, to draw attention to the worldwide water problem that has reached crisis level in Western Cape."
Crops that can be grown using sea water include potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, onions and garlic, the team says.
It’s not clear yet what will be served at the waterless dinners, but the team have previously created seaweed bacon, insect sausages, saltwater soda, lettuce ketchups, and cabbage cake iced with carrot jam.
There will only be 87 tickets available in total for the dinners, which is the amount of water (in litres) one person is allowed to use per day.
All profits, the group says, will be donated to sustainability organisation Veld and Sea.
Checkout the Facebook event page for details.