13 October 2015, Centurion, Pretoria, Gauteng

A "first" in South Africa. An experiment to taste the difference and compare the costs. Two tables of food.

• Table 1 - grass fed, free range Afrikaner beef and local organic veggies.
• Table 2 - factory farmed, feed-lot raised, hormone and antibiotic dosed beef with industrially produced veggies.

Whenever we talk about organic or ethical food, the first reaction is always "It costs too much". So it became our mission to test the perception.

All the food was seasoned and cooked identically with an almost obsessive determination by the chefs to make it a "fair fight". Food was weighed before and after cooking. Shrinkage was measured. Then we tasted both and guessed which was which.

Huge thank you to Caroline McCann (Braeside Butchery) for the meat and Robyn Higgins (Blubird Wholefood Market) for the vegetables, and our incredible team in Cape Town. To my speaker friends, thank you for your time, your commitment to your cause and for sharing your knowledge and stories with us. We will do this again.

Thank you to Prue Leith Chefs Academy for going way, way beyond the original brief. Anthony Roberts for faith in our passion and support every step of the way. Chef Adele Stiehler and her students for an honest and exhaustively accurate experiment, with food professionally prepared and elegantly presented.

After doing all the sums, we worked out that the ORGANIC food that finally ended up on our plates, cost R12.00 LESS than the industrial food... something we have always suspected! No more excuses.

Here's the link to an article in Business Day - Food takes on an ethical flavour

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  Final outcome

  
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  Presentations in the beautiful, state of the art auditorium at Prue Leith Chefs Academy.

  
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  We had 8 speakers covering introduction to Slow Food, organic meat, fish farming, genetic engineering, Bokashi for waste, green kitchens, Fair Trade, climate change and more.

  
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  Hectic activity and strict guidelines for the student chefs.

  
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  Some of the 80 attendees taste and discuss the dishes.

  
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  Table 1 and Table 2. Identically cooked dishes using organic vs industrial meat and vegetables. We had to guess which was which.

  
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  Dr Billy Gallagher gave a delightful talk on his interpretation of ethical food and some great anecdotes.