Rev up your appetite: Street Food Festival coming to Joburg

Sticky fingers, fried dough, clean-cut veg, meaty marvels and delightful thirst quenchers. These are some of the things you can expect from the third iteration of the Visa Street Food Festival taking place in Johannesburg on Sunday at Maboneng's Common.

The festival has grown from strength to strength. What started as a mini-market, accompanied by a series of talks, has become a cashless munch party at which you'll discover food industry insights, hot live tunes and an even bigger food selection than before.

Last weekend the festival was held in Cape Town, where the hip and the hungry followed the sound of their growling stomachs to Woodstock to eat in the street, disregarding lessons taught by strict mothers.

Street food enthusiasts were treated to a wide selection of treats ranging from indulgent everyman's "slaptjips" rolls to poppadom kingklip tacos from chef John van Zyl of Thali at this year's new mini Convivium market.

The Convivium market is the brainchild of chef Wesley Randles of the Shortmarket Club and Andy Fenner of Fankie Fenner's Meat Market. They wanted to use their skills as top Cape Town chefs to find ways of giving back to their communities.

"We raised some nice money for charity today," said Randles, referring to the R50 entrance fee to the special mini market.

All the proceeds went to Abalimi Bezekhaya: The People's Garden Centre in Nyanga.

"I think it's great that we can do something like this and give it some meaning," he said.

Joburgers won't have the joy of giving back by buying beef and dumpling stew or by drinking a sparkling wine called Claudia as the Cape festivalgoers had.

But this year for the first time they will have free access to a new mini food conference called Crate Talks. Street food devotees can listen, in a makeshift plastic crate amphitheatre, to industry professionals - like Dawood Petersen from Mama San or Jaco and Dené van Deventer from Rogue Cheddar - sharing their knowledge in between snacks from the market.

Sundays are for chilled, lazy relaxation, so if you're in the mood, there will be plenty of great tunes, with DJ Okapi, Maria McCloy and Mr Moeh 24 on the decks and Cards on Spokes, featuring Bonj Mpanza, serving up fresh beats at the Windhoek Bar.

The main focus of the event is, of course, the food and you can expect deliciousness from Toro Loco paella, Knickerbocker ice cream, Culture Kitchen - serving comfort BBQ pulled pork buns and eggs benedict - and the always welcome Chip 'n Dip.

Get there early and come hungry and relaxed. As stated it's a cashless market so no need to queue at the ATM this year.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Don't miss: The ever-favourite chow down food competition is here to stay and we dare you to see how many Chappies you can chew for all the glory.

Take away: A copy of local food zine, CHIPS! and some Black Mamba Chili - their fair-trade chilli from Swaziland is a thing of joy.

Listen to: Uno de Waal and Lee-Ann Orton from pop-up restaurant Osterio Vincenza at the Crate Talks and make time for Uncle Party Time on the decks at 3pm.

What to drink: The event is sponsored by Windhoek so that is pretty much the only beer you can get, not that we're complaining.

What else to do while you there: It's Maboneng on a Sunday, the party is known to happen there every weekend. Feel free to take a wander around Market on Main, The Living Room and Time Anchor Distillery.

• The festival will be hosted at Common Ground in Maboneng on Sunday, September 10 from 10am. Visit streetfoodfestival.co.za. Tickets are available at the door or online via Webtickets.. 

• This article was originally published in The Times.