Sunday lunch for Loubie Rusch, freshly picked from her suburban Cape Town garden, comes with dune spinach, kruip vygie, sandkool, veldkool, slangbessiebos and sout slaai.
Once regarded as "weeds or poor man's food", Rusch believes these nutritious crops hold the key to the future for farmers whose livelihoods are being threatened by climate change and drought.
Now Rusch is spearheading a campaign to revive the so-called fynbos foods, and has just returned from Italy, where she showcased local indigenous foods at the Origins, Diversity and Territories Forum in Turin.
She also attended a Slow Food International conference that brings thousands of farmers and food producers from more than 100 countries to Italy.
Her organisation, Local WILD, hopes to shift an "acceptable norm of eating empty food that uses terrible farming practices into including heritage food that's not only nutritious, but also better adapted to the local environment and climate".
Rusch, from Kenilworth, said indigenous food can help "rescue us" from climate change that is exacerbated by bad agricultural practices and contribute to ending food insecurity.
She believes local wild foods can become a source of healthy and affordable food, particularly for the poor, if widely cultivated by small-scale farmers and communities.
"Asking questions will help us to ensure that as individuals we don't hurt the planet through the food we eat. Food is a big contributor to climate change," she said.
Seven years ago, the former landscape designer started foraging for wild, indigenous foods, and with 20 flourishing in her garden she wants to spread the word so they begin to reach restaurants and supermarket shelves.
Rusch said the cultivation of these plants can help to restore the landscapes that have been damaged by destructive farming practices. "We have to find ways to do restorative agriculture, and one of the better ways is to invest in farming some of the indigenous foods from this landscape."
Though most indigenous plants are seasonal and dormant during the dry season, Rusch believes that with cultivation and minimal irrigation, many would survive and help farmers extend the harvesting period. She is working with growers and encouraging chefs to use their "celebrity status" to effect change.
Kobus van der Merwe, from Wolfgat restaurant in Paternoster, has based his menu on local wild foods. "People are excited to taste these. Apart from being delicious, they are nutritious and have incredible texture and flavours ranging from oceanic, saline, briny to herbaceous, citrussy, grassy and peppery."..