More Than a Meal: Tasting South Africa with Culinary Tactics
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Featuring Karin Schmidt, Culinary Tactics — Gourmet Food and Wine Tours
On this episode of The Real South African, recorded in Cape Town, Geniene sits down with Karin Schmidt of Culinary Tactics, a gourmet food and wine tour company built on 30-plus years of professional chef and hospitality experience. Karin's tours are largely tailor-made, starting in Cape Town and stretching up the West Coast, over the Berg, and along the Garden Route — sharing not just meals, but the story of how Cape Town's culinary identity began as a refreshment station for passing ships.
A recurring theme: South Africans should eat well at home and save their travel budget for experiences abroad, not the other way round — Karin's advice is blunt and practical: skip the cheap croissant-hunting overseas, come home, and eat properly, because South African food genuinely holds its own internationally.
The conversation gets candid about Cape Town's tourist-restaurant trap too — spots resting on reputation while service and food quality slip, versus smaller, consistent players like Salty in Simon's Town that stay sharp regardless of who's watching. Karin flags up-and-coming energy in Sea Point, the Pan Collection on Bree Street (home to standout spots like Maru), and the Black Elephant Project for wine-and-music pairings.
The heart of the conversation, though, is about connection — cooking tours where guests actually cook together rather than sitting in silence on a bus, and the "table of unity" concept Karin and her team run back home in Johannesburg: one long table, fairy lights, strangers becoming friends over a shared Sunday lunch instead of everyone staring at their phones.
Find them: Culinary Tactics — culinarytactics@ymail.com, or call/WhatsApp +27 72 836 2902
On this episode of The Real South African, recorded in Cape Town, Geniene sits down with Karin Schmidt of Culinary Tactics, a gourmet food and wine tour company built on 30-plus years of professional chef and hospitality experience. Karin's tours are largely tailor-made, starting in Cape Town and stretching up the West Coast, over the Berg, and along the Garden Route — sharing not just meals, but the story of how Cape Town's culinary identity began as a refreshment station for passing ships.
A recurring theme: South Africans should eat well at home and save their travel budget for experiences abroad, not the other way round — Karin's advice is blunt and practical: skip the cheap croissant-hunting overseas, come home, and eat properly, because South African food genuinely holds its own internationally.
The conversation gets candid about Cape Town's tourist-restaurant trap too — spots resting on reputation while service and food quality slip, versus smaller, consistent players like Salty in Simon's Town that stay sharp regardless of who's watching. Karin flags up-and-coming energy in Sea Point, the Pan Collection on Bree Street (home to standout spots like Maru), and the Black Elephant Project for wine-and-music pairings.
The heart of the conversation, though, is about connection — cooking tours where guests actually cook together rather than sitting in silence on a bus, and the "table of unity" concept Karin and her team run back home in Johannesburg: one long table, fairy lights, strangers becoming friends over a shared Sunday lunch instead of everyone staring at their phones.
Find them: Culinary Tactics — culinarytactics@ymail.com, or call/WhatsApp +27 72 836 2902
