The weed-eaters

From advertising to artisanal ice cream, design pioneer Cherylle Cowley has turned her innovative talents towards a trend that looks set to pick up where foraging leaves off: common- or garden-variety weeds

- ILANA SHARLIN STONE

Could it be time for us to show some love to our much-maligned garden weeds? Despite their inherent goodness and vitality, they endure all kinds of verbal abuse, savage yanking and even worse – extermination – in the modern age. Whether they’re in the midst of a Cinderella moment or, more likely, represent a deep and timely desire to return to simpler ways and ancient plant-eating wisdom, it seems that weeds – those former outcasts of flower beds and lawns – are the new greens on every respectable plate.

“Look at rocket. It was once seen as a pesky weed; now it’s a cherished salad green,” says weed enthusiast Cherylle Cowley, the Cape Town-based food product design pioneer and former advertising creative who would like to see nasturtiums, dandelions and mallow take up their rightful place in dishes across the nation. And not just as a garnish either.

“Think of all the goodness they can bring to your table,” she says, presiding over a magnificent spread of dishes starring garden weeds that she has created in her industrial farmhouse kitchen in the Table Mountain-hugging suburb of Tokai. Some, like the green nettle cake drizzled with pale violet-hued malva icing (the plant, not the pudding) have gemstone-like allure. We all know nature’s most colourful fruits and vegetables are healthy, but do you know how delicious a pastrami on rye can be with mayo made from pulverized red nasturtium petals? Or a wild and “tamed” b’stilla: a vegetarian version of the Moroccan phyllo pie, filled with layers of soft omelette and a mixture of steamed spinach, basil, amaranth, and dandelion?