Foodies unite and get ready for a culinary journey. Make the most of your long weekend in picture-perfect Stellenbosch as it comes alive with patrons enjoying good food, cheese, wine, beer, gin, and more at the SA Cheese Festival. Live music sets the mood for ambiance abuzz with full tummies and happy people. Secure your tickets and get discounted rates for children.
Those who’ve been to this festival describe it as a cheese theme park of cheese demonstrations and exhibitions, cheese art and carvings, sightings of celebrity chefs and competitions, games, and live music.
SA CHEESE FESTIVAL’S RIGHT AFTER PAYDAY Regular attendees to the SA Cheese Festival in Stellenbosch also recommend that you go on Friday before this popular weekend-long event (from Friday 26 April to Sunday 28 April) gets busy.
This year that Friday happens to fall after payday – so now you know where to spend some of that hard-earned money. And if you book early for Friday, you can take advantage of the Raak ‘n Bietjie Rustig group package (buy four adult tickets, pay for three/buy four pensioner tickets, pay for three).
ONLY 100 TICKETS PER DAY FOR THE CONNOISSEURS’ EXPERIENCE
In the private Connoisseurs’ Bedouin, you’re entitled to the Connoisseurs’ Experience, with its cool perks. There are only 100 tickets available per day, for which you get VIP parking and entrance, early access, reserved shaded seating near the music gazebo, and personal attention from a hostess as well as a bottle of Linton Park wine and a Président Cheese curated cheeseboard.
NEW ITALIAN MARKET AND FOODIES
At the Cheese Emporium, you’ll taste and buy old favorites, but also try out new creations. New at the festival is a piazza, a marketplace for Italian gastronomy, with offerings from Mozzarella and olives to provolone, prosciutto di Parma, pasta, and pesto.
ROOM FOR TASTING
In the Tasting Room, interesting taste combinations will be presented by foodies and celebrities, like The Kate Tin (baking blogger Katelyn Allegra) and The Food Fox (food writer and cook Ilse van der Merwe), as well as the popular Bok Radio breakfast duo Wimpie and Le-Lue van der Sandt. “We marry cheese with wine, beer, and every new trend,” says Isabeau Botha from festival organizers Agri-Expo.
LOCAL, ARTISANAL CHEESES YOU MUST TRY According to South African cheese experts, we’ve been eating more cheese since 1995 and our taste has evolved from a preference for milder cheeses to the more flavourful. We’re experimenting more, which is why you’ll want to support the local entrepreneurs and boutique producers serving unique handmade and artisanal cheeses.
In the Cape Made Mall, you’ll find a fresh-from-the-farm collection of alternative products such as olives, honey, and rooibos sold at bargain prices because it comes directly from producers.
FAMILY FAVOURITES
Always a highlight is the Ladismith Cheese Carving Competition, where you create art from a block of cheese, and can enter for free daily. The Kiddies Corner is a safe zone to drop off your kids to play while you gallivant. And, against this backdrop of cheese and more, will be music from local artists throughout the day.