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On your average Saturday morning in Cape Town you will find about 2,000+ trendy type people wandering around in a small square of town called the Old Biscuit Mill. Remember, biscuits are what South African's call cookies, so basically it's an old cookie factory. Like most developers in America, somebody got real smart and decided to renovate this downtown space into a shopping center with high end designer stores, tucked away antique venues and hideaway spaces for artists and offices.

While the shopping at the O.B.M. is unique, and it's always fun to take a peek at the offered wares, the real gem is hidden under a giant white tent surrounded by hay bales to the right of the square. Each week hundreds of local food vendors show up to make their specialty food items, and for a few bucks you can literally eat your way around the world with all the different ethnic cuisine varieties offered. 

Portuguese BBQ skewers, German style hot-dogs, New York style bagels, Asian stir-fry, Dutch pancakes, French macaroons & tarts, Indian curry dishes, Spanish paella, Italian style pizza, homemade lemonade and much, much more! It's the most amazing variety of food you have ever seen in one place and you can sample just about all of it. After you have sampled all the dishes and viewed all your edible options, it's time to formulate a plan, and let me tell you, it's important to go in with a food eating strategy, lest you end up with no money and a bad tummy-ache later.

I try to get something different every time I go, but sometimes it's hard to resist my standby favorites.  This last time around, rather than picking one big food item like I normally do, I tried to combine a bunch of small things.  For my main meal, I had Greek lamb souvlaki, followed by a Japanese paper veggie spring roll and a granadilla & strawberry smoothie made from local fruit. Dessert was a Turkish espresso shot, a homemade honeywine chocolate cup and a Norwegian gingerbread man. Uh-mazing. I'm so glad I branched out. Mhm mhm good. Lots of people get take-aways for their next meal, but I'm usually to stuffed to think about ever eating again.

It can get a little crazy with 2000+ people in a small space, but it definitely has a fun family feel to it and awesome live music. You never know who you will find yourself sitting next to on the long wooden benches and many a conversation starts with a chat to the stranger next to you about where they found their specialty food item...

"Where did you find THAT?"

"At the back of the second tent, third stall down from the beer guys on the left."

"THANKS!"

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