A foretaste of the delicious things visitors to the Riebeek Valley’s inaugural MedFest food festival can expect.

They might just have been tempted by the thought of spending an evening out at someone else’s place, but they came anyway. A whole collection of restaurateurs from the Riebeek Valley turned up at the Bar Bar Black Sheep in Riebeek Kasteel to listen to Philicus Olivier. Because he had an idea, one that had been brewing for some time. Recognising the unmistakeable similarities between the fertile Riebeek Valley – with its wheat, wines, olives, cheeses and rolling green fields – and the food lands of the Mediterranean, the idea was to celebrate the similarities with a festival that focused on food: a Mediterranean Food Festival.

It was a simple concept – each of the valley’s restaurants would adopt the persona of a Mediterranean country and put together a menu in the style of that country, and, hopefully, people would flock to the valley to try them out. Voila!

Being a former architect as well as a man of words, images and ideas, Philicus wanted to get his message across in style. So, working through a mountain of travel literature and photographs of local attributes, he put together a comparative slide show to back up his plan. He made a CD of appropriate music, filled with accordions and balalaikas, and, because the only way to really get to people is through their tummies, he consulted his groaning shelves of cookbooks and spent hours creating a range of demonstration Med-type dips and dishes. These, as it turned out, served as the final persuasion. A good and inspirational evening was had by all and there was buy-in from 12 restaurants.

Of course the work had only just begun. Because it’s a given that food comes with wine, 12 wineries had to be invited to take part, one for each restaurant. This again didn’t prove to be much of a problem, given the amount of grape gurus and garagistes in the vicinity. Then came the matter of allocating a country to each eatery, which called for a bit of geographical licence. It also meant finding flags, suitable decor and, most importantly, references for the national foods. Philicus’s library came into good use once again and he loaned cookbooks out all across the valley. Though perhaps not his revered 1952 copy of Elizabeth David – which he refers to as ‘the bible’ and its author as ‘the ambassador of Mediterranean food’.

Needless to say, in true small town style, a lot of negotiating was required to ensure that everyone who came on board was happy and that as many people as possible would benefit. The festival had to promote cultural and agri-tourism to the area as well as satisfy the growing public hunger for all things gastronomic. Meetings were held regularly, some sponsorship was obtained from PPC, the local cement works, a logo was created by local resident and designer/illustrator Louisa Gerryts, branding was organised and, little by little, the pot started to bubble.

The Riebeek Valley has had some practice with festivals as its regular Olive Fest has brought foodies out in droves over the years. But this idea, dubbed The Medfest, needed sampling to see how it would work. You only have to say ‘market’ to the creative residents of the Riebeek Valley, though, and they’ll be out there behind a stall in two ticks. And so it was that for one delicious weekend last March, the twin towns of Riebeek Kasteel and Riebeek West turned into Portugal, Spain, France, North and South Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco and the Mediterranean Islands. The hub of the activity was Short Street with its trendy little cluster of bars and boutiques. Here bakers and biscuit makers, as well as biltong, cheese, olive and oil producers from all around, set up their trestles. Loaves and other locally made goodies were flying out of Crisp, the deli. Much tasting went on in The Wine Collective, and someone was playing the guitar and getting everyone very deeply into the Mediterranean mood.

We started in ‘Portugal’ – at Bar Bar – where head chef Maynard Joubert’s menu kicked off with marinaded calamari and pan-fried crumbed sardines glossed with olive oil. After that it seemed best to do a complete cruise before making any international destination decisions. There are, after all, only so many meals you can swallow in a weekend.

We popped into Spain at The Barn with its iconic view of bokkies in a field outside town, and took a turn past Turkey at the Travellers Rest, where they were also hosting a country wedding party (one of three that we encountered at various venues. Seems the valley is as big on marriages as it is on festivals).

After that we looked in on North Italy at Allesverloren, seizing the opportunity to do a little port tasting, and were later offered complimentary ouzo in Greece at The Cook and Gardener – where Dot from the neighbouring Fat Frog beadwork business had come in to help out with waitressing.

Cafe Felix, high on decor, looked very tempting as Morocco. But at this stage, needing a break, we settled in France at Kasteelberg Bistro for a rather English cup of tea to settle the system. Running out of time, after that we swung past L’Attitude and Cafe Oppie Square, Italy and South Italy respectively, before checking out the Mediterranean Islands at Cafe Merlot and Pulpit Rock.

Finally it was in Lebanon that we hung our hats for dinner. At Flamboyant, Joshua and Viviane van Zyl had laid an exotic buffet table heavy with platters and tagine of dolmades, falafel, feta, pita and yoghurt. We ate till we were swollen like hot buttered couscous grains.

Having vowed never to eat again, over brunch the next morning at the Cook and Gardener, we heard that the trial run on the MedFest had been given a thumbs up. The restaurateurs had popped in on each other for drinks and to compare tips, notes or commiserations. Follow-up meetings have since been held, the go-ahead for the festival was given and now it’s about to happen. So, gastronomes, make a note of the dates – 26 and 27 March – and get your passports ready.

Riebeek Valley Tourism 022 448 1545, www.riebeekvalley.info