Across South Africa, questions about food are never just about what’s on the table. They point to deeper concerns about access, dignity and the right to live well. While supermarkets remain full, many families go to bed hungry. The challenge lies not only in how food is distributed, but in how the system is structured, in terms of who has control over land, markets and knowledge.
Food sovereignty programmes play a massive role in response to this imbalance. From small-scale growers and seed-saving collectives to informal traders, community kitchens and food redistribution programmes, these initiatives are working to build a future rooted in local resilience. Yet too often, their stories don’t reach the public in ways that inspire support or deepen understanding.
Through working in the food space, we have come to see the urgent need for communication to play an enabling force in the sustainability of food programmes. Let’s unpack this a bit more.
Making the Work Visible
The work of building alternative food systems doesn’t always take place in visible or well-resourced spaces. It unfolds in backyard plots, street corners, hole-in-the-wall kitchens, under-resourced schools and informal networks. These are not always the places media go looking for stories and when they do, the lens is often narrow and focused on the novelty rather than the importance.
Our client, Unexplored Cape Town opened our eyes to this. Cape Town, well known for its fine-dining and first-class tourism experiences, has a flourishing network of informal food businesses, that most never get to see. These street markets and informal food vendors offer a rich layered history and deep immersion into the City’s food culture, and Unexplored Cape Town brings this to life with some of the best storytelling we have been an audience to.
This experience taught us a lot. Storytelling has the power to connect the dots between food systems, history, culture, politics, and business. Our food sector is not as straightforward as many believe it to be, and the stories that shape food culture deserve to be told.
Storytelling highlights the knowledge and creativity already present in communities. It makes it easier for the public to understand that food justice is not only about access to meals, but about access to decision-making power.
Whether it’s a food tour, community radio interview, newsletters, social media or a local newspaper, food-based storytelling shine’s a light on the food networks that exist in our country, not just Cape Town. It’s a fascinating space, filled with creativity, history, and profound economic importance. Do a bit of city exploring and you’ll find this.
But while we encourage you to do that, let’s ask an important question. Is the informal food sector supported enough?
Bridging Policy and Public Life
Policy documents on food, health, land and the economy are often written for specialists – not for the growers, traders, parents and food entrepreneurs who live with the consequences of these decisions every day. The language is formal; the timelines are exclusionary and the spaces for feedback rarely feel welcoming. Accessible public participation needs to come into the informal food sector more. When information is shared in ways that speak to people’s contexts, and when engagement tools are designed with local realities in mind, policy stops feeling like something that happens elsewhere. It becomes something people can actually respond to, challenge and help shape.
Making communication accessible is about being deliberate with how and where messages are shared. It involves thinking clearly about who the information is meant for, what mediums they trust, and how meaning is shaped by language, visuals and voice. When the format matches the audience’s needs, people are more likely to engage, reflect and act. Communication becomes not just a way of delivering updates, but it becomes a form of education and organising. It creates space for people to see themselves in the bigger picture and to take part in shaping it.
Food entrepreneurs across the supply chain need to be given a platform
The food sector is arguable one of the most important sectors when we speak about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Resilient, equitable, regenerative, and healthy food systems directly speak to SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 15: Life on Land. That’s a lot of importance.
Fortunately, it is the sector where we have seen the most entrepreneurship and innovation emerge – and across the full food supply chain. From small-scale hydroponic farmers to cultural food guides, food waste circular solutions, and distribution programmes – the food economy needs to provide these organisations with platforms that enable further support. As a communications company, we see it as our responsibility to offer communication as a catalyst to broaden storytelling.
We believe this is one small seed towards a more inclusive and resilient food system.