Building on the massive success of its inaugural event, the Makers Halaal Market is set for its second edition. And it’s not hard to see why.

“Honestly, we were a bit overwhelmed,” laughs Mohamed Mohidien from Concious Carnivores, who initiated the idea of the market with the Makers Landing team “We knew it was significant. Of course. And we had hoped for a good response, but the way the community came out to support one another was just on another level.”

Taking place inside Makers Landing, itself inside the newly renovated Cruise Terminal Building, and in collaboration with the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, it was a runaway success.

Henry Mathys is the Senior Manager of Social Impact and Food Ecosystems at the V&A and he agrees. ‘When the idea was presented to us by Mo and Mo (Mohammed Adam is Mohidien’s partner at Conscious Meat Merchants, as well as co-lead on this project) we listened to the passion behind it. What emerged was a clear need for an event like this.” Mohidien explains further, “The Muslim community is massively under-represented at farmers’ markets and festivals. There is limited offering and limited platforms for people to tell their stories.”

The original event went a long way in addressing this. With carefully-curated vendors and slick organisation, the venue transformed into a stage for premium halaal artisans to proudly display their talents. Numbers of attendees were extraordinary, with the V&A and both “Mo’s”, as they call themselves, left feeling proud but also not satisfied.

“We always want to push ourselves,” elaborates Mo Adam, “we know the first one was a great success but we want to take it further. This event means so much to us and to our community and to be tasked with growing the halaal food culture here is something we take seriously. We also want every chance of success for our vendors, who we see as partners. Of course we are looking for ways to improve! We do that in our own business every day and we can’t help but look for areas to ramp up here.”

“People who came through the doors for the first event left with smiles on their faces and a deep satisfaction of seeing their people represented,” says Mo Mohidien. “We want them to come back, and to be wowed all over again. We have started to build something special and we can only continue with the support of our vendors and our visitors. We want people to feel welcome. We want them to feel like they have arrived. We want it to feel like home. We want to share this with anyone and everyone. We can do that, together.”

Bring your family and friends because there is no better time than now to get all the Halaal grub you could want!

Date: 4th and 5th February 2023
Time: Saturday 9:30am – 21:00 and Sunday 9:30am – 17:00
Venue: Makers Landing (inside the Cruise Terminal at V&A)
Ticket prices: Entry is FREE!
Parking: Silo District