Skip to content

World Food Day: How To Celebrate With Your Favourite Dish

World Food Day 2023 is all about taking water action for food and to be the change

Bookmark article to read later

By House & Garden South Africa | October 16, 2023 | Recipes

If you look at almost any recipe, you will see ‘water’ listed as an ingredient either for boiling, binding, cooling, or smoothing out an ingredient. Image via Unsplash.
If you look at almost any recipe, you will see ‘water’ listed as an ingredient either for boiling, binding, cooling, or smoothing out an ingredient. Image via Unsplash.

Every year on 16 October, the United Nations (UN) gathers to raise awareness around food-related issues facing the world like hunger, food security, and safety on World Food Day. As folk who love to both cook and eat delicious food, it is important to remain conscious of the resources that go into many of our favourite ingredients and the flavourful dishes they help to create. If you look at almost any recipe, you will see ‘water’ listed as an ingredient either for boiling, binding, cooling, or smoothing out an ingredient in the dish, making it one of the most important things to anyone who cooks.

To celebrate World Food Day 2023, we have rounded up some of our favourite recipes from the House & Garden SA archive, where water is an integral ingredient for flavour and texture.

Rigatoni al Forno By Cape Town’s Scarpetta restaurant

This humble family recipe that brings each ingredient to life. Salted water brings rigatoni to life by injecting savour flavour to the shells, as well as a starchy-creaminess to sauces that may become too thick. This pasta dish gently encompasses the true essence of Italian cuisine. Making use of the best ingredients you can find as the dish is honest and simple.

Rigatoni Al Forno from Cape Town's Scarpetta Restaurant is a family recipe dating back to time spent in Italy. Image: Samantha Pinto

See full recipe here: Rigatoni al Forno By Scarpetta

Summery Sunshine Salad with Corn

The best salads (in our expert opinion), are those that are bright, colourful, and optimistic. But how can you preserve the vibrancy of some of the world’s most flavourful vegetables? Boiling or blanching your vegetables in heavily-salted water will preserve colour and natural flavours of your corn before combining it with fresh green herbs, and creamy feta. This summer salad of green and gold hues is perfect for a get-together braai or outdoor lunch to celebrate the beauty of a blooming garden.

This summer salad was inspired by South African artist, ceramicist, and founder of Chandler House, Michael Chandler who lets fresh seasonal salad ingredients shine. Image via Pexels.

See full recipe here: Artist-Inspired Sunshine Salad.

Home made Weekend Dim Sum and Dumplings

Learn how to pleat, fill, and cook your dim sum for a fun weekend activity with foodie friends. Depending on your preference, you can steam or fry your dim sum creations either bamboo baskets or a shallow pan. Why not invite friends over for a fun dim sum dinner party where everyone can get involved in preparing the filling and pleating their very own dumplings? Remember, making dumplings takes practice!

Dumplings often have pork, ginger, and cabbage in the filling, but it’s up to you whether you’d serve the sauce separately or pour it all over. Image via Pexels.

See full recipe here: Weekend Dim Sum and Dumplings