Food & Drink

In the Karoo, lamb lands on the plate almost automatically. The sheep graze on the pungent herbs and shrubs of the semi-desert, giving their meat a noticeably richer, slightly aromatic taste compared to ordinary lamb. Karoo lamb is the dish most closely associated with the region.

Potjiekos, a stew cooked in a three-legged cast-iron pot over an open fire, is one of the region's oldest culinary traditions. It's often simmered for hours while family or neighbors sit around it. Biltong, air-dried and spiced meat, is the everyday snack found at almost every gas station in the Karoo.

At a braai, the South African open-fire barbecue, this cuisine meets the same fire culture from which the agave spirit itself comes: both are born from embers and smoke. Anyone wanting to understand the smoky notes of a Karoo Blanco should first breathe in the scent of an open fire pit, and only then the glass.

The local agave spirit is usually drunk on special occasions rather than as an everyday drink, and rarely neat alongside a meal itself. Next to hearty Karoo lamb or smoky biltong, the smoke in the glass feels less like a contrast and more like a continuation of what's on the plate.

A braai without an open fire would be almost unimaginable to Karoo residents, just as an agave spirit without the smoke of a brick oven or earthen pit would be. Both tell the same story of a dry landscape that demands little water but plenty of fire and patience, in every season.