THE MAGIC OF MUSHROOMS

But that is precisely what former chef Mongezi Mzoneli had to do in order to realise his dream to become the kind of specialist farmer whose produce requires very little work to yield delicious results. That is a dream worth having.

“THE BIG CHALLENGE IS TELLING SOMEONE: ‘I WANT TO RENT YOUR HOUSE TO GROW MUSHROOMS.’”

This dynamic young cultivator grew up in Ballito Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, where he developed an interest in food that led to him studying culinary arts at the Swiss Institute. Mongezi then worked as a chef at The Greenhouse in Cape Town for 18 months, first under Peter Tempelhoff and then Farrel Hirsch. With this invaluable experience, he decided to leave restaurant kitchens behind and start his own business on a small scale.

Mongezi says his grandmother, Lydia Dabukile Mzoneli, inspired him to dedicate his life to farming. “She would tell me stories about how she started her business. She had a stall at our local market selling corn,