There is an intimate connection between a veggie garden and a garnish, or – these days – more like the plate itself. As I read trend predictions for 2012, the one that keeps coming up is chefs’ love affair with their vegetable gardens and, if they’re lucky, a few orchards too.

This immediately makes me think of Babel out in Klapmuts where the magnificent quince mazes, waterblommetjie ponds, guava lanes and purple kale are transported not only on to the plate, but also adorn the restaurant in magnificent displays. Here they offer paper bags filled with rose geranium, mint, sorrel, roses and other greenery freshly clipped into a chic glass teapot.

Just up the road, in Franschhoek, chef Chris Erasmus at Pierneef a La Motte is inspired by his bountiful crops, which are often on sale in the farm shop too.

In the next suburb of Stellenbosch, George Jardin is often found foraging in his garden at Jordan for flowering coriander, artichokes and broad beans growing in between his homemade smoking barrels.

The ultra-manicured vegetable gardens at The Cellars is where chef Peter Tempelhoff of The Greenhouse and his team transport magnificent flavours from the plot to plate.

The latest talk is around the possibilities of more Japanese vegetables. Think edible chrysanthemums, sansho peppers and kabu (small white turnip) and – the height of gastromony in the kitchen garden – home-grown cocoa beans. But for now, my four year-old’s first abundant forest of baby rosa tomatoes will suffice.

All the best for 2012 and cheers to many delicious plates of food.
Happy holidays! 
Abigail

Image: Babel