Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Business travelers in the USA want free wifi first and foremost when choosing a hotel to stay in when on business, followed by proximity to the work/meeting venue, and free breakfasts. Loyalty programme membership appears less important in the USA, but is more important in our country in shaping hotel choice, according to Travel News Weekly.
* A Mandela International Film Festival will be held from 3- 13 December 2015 in Port Elizabeth, featuring 400 films and celebrating bravery in film-making by embodying ‘hope and reconciliation’. About 40 films will feature the late Nelson Mandela at the event, which is planned to become an annual highlight. The goal is also to showcase our country as a location for film-makers, and to enhance the tourism image of the Eastern Cape.
* Nico Bezuidenhout, CEO of Mango, has been appointed Acting CEO of SAA. Monwabisi Kalawe, CEO of SAA, was suspended recently by the SAA Chairman.
* ‘Starfish‘ by Daisy Jones was named Cookbook of the Year at the first Sunday Times Food Weekly Cookbook Awards, in association with Pick ‘n Pay, telling the story of our country’s top sustainable fish. More than 50 entries were received for cookbooks published between September last year and ‘December 2014‘! Sunday Times Food Weekly editor Hilary Biller said about the Awards: ‘The judges were looking for cookbooks written by South Africans that reflected both the personality of the writer and the idiosyncrasies of South African food. One of the main criteria was that the recipes were current, topical and innovative and developed with an eye for changing tastes and current issues such as seasonality, provenance and sustainability – and of course beautiful design and photography‘. The winners were as follows:
Best Cookbook of the Year – Star Fish by Daisy Jones, published by Quivertree;
Runner Up – Cook. Better by Nikki Werner and Brandon de Kock, published by Quivertree;
Runner Up – Braai – Reuben on Fire by Reuben Riffel, published by Quivertree;
Highly Commended – Another Week in the Kitchen by Karen Dudley, published by Jacana;
Highly Commended – Durban Curry – So much of Flavour by Erica Platter, Clinton Friedman and Devi Sankaree Govender, published by Jacana (the author has advised that the cookbook was published by PawPaw),
Best Innovative Newcomer – Strandveldfood – A West Coast Odyssey by Kobus van der Merwe and Jac de Villiers, published by Sunbird.
* Buitenverwachting won the Best Restaurant Award of the recent Restaurant Week, scoring highest for atmosphere, service, and food of all participating restaurants. The Restaurant at Newton Johnson won the Food Network Award for Best Dish. The Dish by Chef Eric Bulpitt of The Restaurant at Newton Johnson was an attractive organic vegetable and herb salad. The restaurant was one of the top ten selected, and received the most likes on Facebook of the ten. A total of 10000 South Africans ate at 125 restaurants participating in Restaurant Week.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Tel (021) 433-2100 Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
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