Evening meals in the research station are a good time. The kitchen becomes a place where we cook, update spreadsheets, dissect flowers, make plans, share stories and ideas, and discuss the days observations. It's an intense if unsustainable kind of scientific commune. And inevitably we talk a lot about food. Sampling of the local cuisine has been almost as rigorous and systematic as our sampling of Gorteria. The first Sunday after we arrived in Kamieskroon, the folks from the Cape Leopard Trust invited us to a braai (a barbecue). We drove to a farm east of Springbok, coralled the trucks on a vast expanse of granite next to a seasonal reservoir and spent the afternoon eating daisy-fed mutton chops, gem squash, and sweet potatoes. Courtesy of Alan Ellis we enjoyed a lamb Potjie, a sort of al fresco stew cooked in a three legged pot on the open fire. And under the expert guidance of Caroli de Waal we have sampled Springbok Jaffels (Wild Game Pasties); Droewors (dry spiced sausage); Boerewors (traditional sausage); Biltong (Beef Jerky); Sosaties (Meat on a Stick); Braaibroodjies (charcoal toasted sandwiches); Koeksisters (hot donuts twists plunged into cold syrup), Hertzoggies (a dry bakewell tart); Rusks (unsweetened biscotti), Skuinskoek (aniseed flavoured donuts); and Mrs H.S. Balls Chutney (this last with everything). But you can't be too reckless on these culinary adventures. When Greg Mellers returned from a hard days collecting the other day I was immediately struck by the expression on his face - a peculiar mix of delight, pride, self loathing, and panic. It turns out he'd eaten a Vetkoek or 'Fat Cake' for lunch. It's a large donut stuffed with curry. He purchased it in a furniture store. They microwaved it for him. Enough said really.
