Caroline McCann

Caroline took her first step into the food industry when she bought her aunt's butchery in Parkhurst as an intended gap year from practicing law. However, she quickly fell in love with the people and found herself at the fore front of promoting good, clean and fair food and especially meat.

Caroline fought the establishment and successfully wrote the first multi species multi farm protocol for free range and grass-fed beef under her business name of Braeside Meat Market over a decade ago.

She then went on to win numerous awards and recognition including being named as one of the inaugural winners of the Lioness of Africa. She founded the Grassfed Association of South Africa, is the co-owner of the National Butchers Challenge and director of Neighborhood Farms.

Her passion to promote not only ethical but regenerative farmed meat soon led to her joining Slow Food International. Initially her role was as volunteer and she successfully organised numerous events around South Africa including Slow Meat, Eat Ins and the highly successful 3 year collaboration with the University of Johannesburg and Soweto Theatre - Soweto Eat In and Free People's Conference.

In recent years she has sold Braeside and works by consulting and teaching organisations around sub Saharan Africa on small scale farmer development, regenerative and sustainable farming, agro processing and circle economies in agricultural, rural and peri urban landscapes using the food economy to create resilience. With completed projects in Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda her latest project with the United Nations Development Agency in Lesotho on the Mountain Products Projects is her most diverse to date.

Her latest initiative was wearing the Slow Food International Councilor Southern Africa hat as she was a behind-the-scenes driver to bring together organisations to start Chefs with Compassion as lockdown hit COVID plagued South Africa in March 2020. Using rescued and surplus food, a network of chefs and cooks prepare nutritious delicious meals which mostly small community based organisations then distribute to those most in need. With almost 2 million meals and soups provided to date, Chefs with Compassion continues to prove Caroline's personal belief that everyone is entitled to good, clean and fair food.

Notes from the Kitchen

We received large donations of vegetables and utensils from Chefs with Compassion which are helping us maintain our homeless soup kitchen that feeds over 200 people daily and vulnerable children in informal settlements in Berea.

Themba Mbatha-Chalumbira,
One Moment Foundation

After my restaurant business shut down at the start of lockdown, I saw people struggling. They couldn’t get food to eat. I chose to make a difference and I started a soup kitchen to feed people, with help from my staff and family – and Chefs with Compassion.

Thandi Dyantjie,
Germiston

I used to have a catering business before Covid. Now I am involved with Chefs with Compassion in serving my community by cooking food and also sharing it with other organisations for their communities. I feed 1,500 people each week.

Busi Twala ,
Vosloorus

We would like to thank the CWC team as they continuously provide rescued produce that has helped us feed hundreds of thousands of hungry people since the start of the lockdowns.

Dr Nishaan Kishore,
Infinity Foundation

Hope of the Hopeless Centre would not be open if it was not for CWC, which came and rescued us in the pandemic.

Margo Williams,
Hope of the Hopeless, Ennerdale

CWC gives Army of Yahweh the opportunity to help other soup kitchens for children and old age homes and vulnerable people in informal settlements in different areas.

Pastor Adrian Breda,
Army of Yahweh