About Eben

I live in Cape Town. I am passionate about meat curing and other forms of processing; an amateur food historian; a meat processing consultant with 8 years of production management experience in a large bacon plant, and 10 years of operations management experience. As factory manager, I have been exposed to the best management systems globally related to food safety, product development, and production. I have extensive formulation experience in emulsion sausages, blended hams and bacon. I base my work on a thorough understanding of meat science. I am an avid student of the chemistry and various biological processes underpinning our trade. I do this, however, not in a bubble for the sake of academia, but to be better at my work, formulate better and advance our trade.

I have two children, Tristan and Lauren. I write about what fascinates me, which is the basis of EarthwormExpress. My book on the history of bacon curing, Bacon & the Art of Living is hosted here.

Here is the link to Get in Touch.

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My work has always been about going back to origins. Origins of humans, origins of various technologies and the origins of our food. My consultancy company is therefore appropriately called “Origins.” I apply what I’ve learned to solve clients’ needs. Here, I pool the efforts of best-in-field industry professionals from around the world and create a team with superior synergy. We have amongst others the following capabilities:

• NPD;
• Complete factory design including AutoCAD design and complete project management of the entire process including oversight over sub-contractors;
• Complete oversight over new factory commissioning and start-up;
• Compliance with current food safety legislation;
• We have exclusive access to various novel meat technologies;
• Improve bottom line by fully utilising local raw material supply by re-designing functional components to formulations. The approach is discussed in Nose-to-Tail: Root-to-Tip;
• Through a network of contacts, we are able to enhance current marketing strategies through innovative product formulation and design.
• Also refer to:
  • Best Bacon System on Earth which includes us providing your company direct access to one of the largest TG suppliers on earth.

Personal Pages

Here I host a selection of personal pages. Originally I designed it as part of Bacon & the Art of Living. The Dutch have a saying that the art of writing is not in the writing itself, but in the cutting. I removed the pages from my work since it provides important background to the work but does not sufficiently speak to the core subject to retain its place in the work.

I did the same when I removed chapters from Bacon & the Art of Living and moved it to “Die Kompleet Werke van JW Kok/ The Collective Works of JW Kok (Oom Jan/ Kokkie)”

I also add my personal recollections related to the meat trade and my work.

• Eben Family Photos.
• Lauren’s Photos
• The Art of Living: Sketches to Understand Ourselves and Others.
• The Art of Living
• Tristan’s Photos
• My memories

Prospective clients may mostly be interested in my work related to the meat factory: The Meat Factory

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I am available for contract work and consultancy.

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Eben van Tonder
email:  ebenvt@gmail.com
cell: +27715453029

ps. The photo of me and my daughter, Lauren, is a very old photo! 🤣😎🤣😎

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