In this episode of A Table in the Corner, Russel travels to Boschendal to sit down with Travis Finch, head chef of Arum, to talk about cooking inside one of the Cape’s most ambitious agricultural ecosystems. Travis reflects on a career shaped by formative years with Peter Tempelhoff’s team and long stints abroad, before returning home to cook at the intersection of land, produce and restraint.
The conversation centres on what it means to cook on a regenerative farm at scale, with direct access to gardens, livestock and orchards, and how that proximity reshapes menu thinking, waste, seasonality and responsibility. Travis talks about breaking down formality without lowering standards, working with whole animals and vegetables alike, and designing food that reflects abundance rather than excess.
We also explore the realities of running a restaurant across breakfast, lunch and dinner, collaborating with farming teams, and feeding produce back into the wider restaurant group. This is a thoughtful, grounded discussion about provenance, process and pace, told by a chef who understands that the future of cooking is inseparable from how the land beneath it is treated.
Learn more about Arum at Boschendal here
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