Tag Archives: Namibia

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 29 April

April 29, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* South Africa, and the Cape specifically, has two The World’s 50 Best Restaurants on the top 100 list: The Test Kitchen at 48th position, and The Tasting Room at 72nd position.

* A Schengen-type visa may be introduced for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries, to make travelling easier for tourists. This suggestion is on the agenda of the WTTC Global Summit, and it is planned to increase the tourism market share of the continent to a double-digit one by 2020, from the current 4%. Our country is pushing for such a visa, but only a handful of the other SADC countries Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is expected to sign the visa agreement initially.

* Surprising is to read that Distell ad agency The Bester Burke Slingers Group is closing its doors in July, the partners saying that they have had enough of the advertising industry, and that they are no longer able to guide clients in their marketing.

* SA Tourism CEO Thulani Nzima appears to know the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius case, telling journalists attending Continue reading →

Global Pizza Challenge 2014: top SA passionate pizza makers sought!

April 12, 2014

On Thursday evening I attended the launch of the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge, a project which belongs to Chef Arnold Tanzer from Johannesburg and Martin Kobald from Australia. South African pizza makers have done well in the past seven years of the competition.

I almost did not make the function, which was held at the offices of Dish Food & Social, giving us a street address of 423 Main Road in Observatory. A building marked 423a on one side of a Shell garage was visible, but not the street number on Main Road that we were searching for in the near dark, which turned out to be on the other side of the petrol station. To complicate matters the entrance gate is in a side road off Main Road! Having survived the panic of finding the venue, it was great to catch up with Chef Arnold, whom I had met last year on a Media Day for MasterChef SA Season 2 at Nederburg.

Before we got into pizzas, we caught up about Season 3 of MasterChef SA, which is being filmed at the moment and will continue until June. The series will be broadcast from August onwards. Chef Arnold did not answer all my questions, such as if there would be two broadcasts per week again as in Season 2. He would not discuss how strict new MasterChef SA judge Reuben Robertsons Riffel is with the contestants, given that he may not want to rock the boat! We talked about the very honest and harsh review by Chef Arnold of Aarya, the Montecasino restaurant, the use of which Deena Naidoo won for a two year period in winning MasterChef SA Season 1. We chatted about how low key Season 2 winner Kamini Pather is, not being visible,and not (yet) having created her planned food communication channel, as she announced when she won. As before, there will be guest chefs. Continue reading →

Justin Bonello passionate and patriotic Cooked in Africa Films food TV producer! Ultimate Braai Master Season 3 on the grill!

March 30, 2014

Yesterday I was invited to attend the judging of the Cape Finals of Season 3 of Ultimate Braai Master held in the parking area of The Lookout at the V&A Waterfront. Not only was it a good way to catch up with a number of chefs who judged the Cape Finals, but it was also an opportunity to meet Cooked in Africa Films producer Justin Bonello.

Justin chatted to blogger Thuli Gogela of Mzansi Style Cuisine Blog (she appeared in the Bloggers episode of season 2 of MasterChef SA) and I as the judging came to an end at the Finals. One sensed his overriding passion for food, which has grown into TV production, with 21 productions to date, including two previous Ultimate Braai Master seasons, two seasons of Charly’s Cake Angels, as well as ‘Seasons at Terroir‘, which was launched last week and focuses on Chef Michael Broughton, and his restaurant Terroir at Kleine Zalze. Justin denied that Terroir not making the Top 20 Eat Out restaurant list last November was a blow to their production, saying that Chef Michael’s food is beyond Top 10 competitions, clearly a fan of the chef’s food. He is fascinated by the revolution of growing one’s own vegetables and herbs, and proudly showed me a photograph of his vegetable garden at home, out Hout Bay way, which will become the subject of a TV series ‘Green Time’ at the end of 2015, with seven pilot projects of vegetable gardening at schools being developed. Continue reading →

SATSA appoints David Frost as CEO, driving Tourism competitiveness!

October 2, 2013

The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), an association of tourism operators, has appointed Economist and Tourism Strategist David Frost as its CEO. Given that SATSA represents a large number of tourism operators, and Frost does not fear speaking out, it will be interesting to see how he will drive his association and members to achieve his goal of enhancing the competitiveness of our country’s Tourism industry.

SATSA has more than 700 members who guarantee ‘quality in tourism‘, its website states. This is achieved by annual assessments which are done of its members, and that all members are bonded, ‘providing a financial guarantee of deposits held against the involuntary liquidation of a SATSA member‘. Members span the transport, tour operator, destination management, accommodation, tourism broker, adventure tourism, business tourism, and tourism service sectors, the bulk of the components of the Tourism industry. The main benefits of being a SATSA member are the lobbying done with the government on behalf of the industry, networking with other members, an Employee Benefit and Provident Fund, legal advice offered, member discounts, arbitration services, and newsletters.

Frost has a wide experience in Tourism, having moved into the Continue reading →