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‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ – who is he, are SA viewers being misled, Woolworths pushing its Australian investments ?

Hayden Quinn Title page sunflowersThe question on the lips of many South African viewers of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ is: why Hayden Quinn?  Why choose a MasterChef Australia top 3 finalist (no, not winner) of 2011 (no, not even 2013) to promote the beauty of South Africa and its abundance of sustainable foods amongst South Africans? We did some research, and found that South African viewers are being misled about the TV show host, and that Woolworths appears to have a hidden agenda in pushing its Australian investments!

I started with the Cardova Group, the production company of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa‘, and of the ‘Expresso Morning Show’ and ‘Top Travel‘ too, all flighted on SABC3.  A random e-mail landed in my Inbox from LinkedIn, asking me to congratulate Mark Bland as newly appointed Producer of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’, just as the series kicked off and my interest in it was piqued.   I got Mark’s cellphone number via LinkedIn, and asked him for more information about the food series.  He was extremely hesitant in talking to me, even though we have known each other for  a good two to three years.  He is a regular reader of my blog, and has commented on it on occasion.  I was taken aback about his hesitancy to meet, to talk about the new show, stating that he had just been promoted, and did not want to jeopardise his new appointment in case I wrote something that could land him in trouble. As a regular reader he would have known that I can only write what I have been told.  As the producer of the show, one would have thought that he would have wanted information about the series to be shared, or expected that he would have referred me to a PR person within his company, or at Woolworths, SABC3, and/or Nedbank, the major sponsors of the series.  The best he could send me was this bland (pardon the pun) media release: Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ episode 3 very fishy! Paternoster a West Coast ‘Greek island’!

Hayden Quinn 3 Kobus van der Merwe and Hayden Quinn 10494566_298016930370357_9146370295150676386_nIt was lovely to see ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ back on track in episode 3 last night, with beautiful filming of the small fishing village where nothing happens every 45 minutes, it was joked!   The word ‘Afrikaans’ was not mentioned once by Hayden, but he struggled to pronounce the surname of his host Chef Kobus van der Merwe from Oep ve Koop Bistro,  previously named Oep ve Eet when we ate there.

Paternoster was shown from its most beautiful side, with an endless beach, fishermen’s boats on the beach, and white-washed houses making the village look like a ‘little Greek island’, Hayden observed. It is the oldest fishing village in our country, and the name of the village comes from ‘Our Father’.  Hayden stayed at Abalone House & Spa, and the ‘quirky bohemian feel’ of its interior decor was shown, being dominated by prints of the work by the late artist Vladimir Tretchikoff. The strict architectural guidelines for houses in Paternoster was highlighted.   Interesting is that there was no mention of Reuben’s Restaurant at Abalone House, one of the five restaurants belonging to Reuben’s Robertsons Pop-Up and Pop-In Riffel!  Interesting too is that Gaaitjie restaurant with unfriendly owner Suzi Holtzhausen also was not mentioned, one of the better restaurants in the village.

Chef Kobus used to work at New Media Publishing in Cape Town before returning to his home town Paternoster, where his parents own ‘Die Winkel op Paternoster’, a mouthful for Hayden to say!  Chef Kobus uses a section of the building and the garden to serve his guests, and forages seafood as well as wild greens and shoreline herbs, which he uses in the preparation of his dishes.  Chef Kobus was described as being recognised as a WWF SASSI (South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) ambassador in his sustainable and responsible use of fish in his Bistro. Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ episode 2: behind the Stellenbosch ‘Boerewors Curtain’, very disappointing!

Hayden Quinn 2 Fritz and Hayden MosbolletjiesPoor Hayden Quinn!  Trying to be clever, the promo for last night’s episode 2, which was flighted on SABC3 on Sunday evening, had Hayden proudly sharing that he was going behind the ‘Boerewors Curtain‘ in Stellenbosch, to meet artisanal baker Fritz Schoon of Schoon de Companje.  The Tweet left Hayden with dough on his face, in making what he called a ‘joke‘, in poor cultural taste!

In reaction to a Tweet about his incorrect information (the ‘Boerewors Curtain‘ is a less than complimentary name for the residents of the suburbs of Parow/Bellville/Durbanville, to describe their love for braai-ing, in preference to most other activities, which means that they rarely leave their area, and that the area smells of braais from Friday evenings to Sunday lunch times on weekends),  Hayden replied: ‘I guess the little joke was lost haha just referencing stellies (sic) as a (sic) Africaans (sic) town‘.  His producer Riaan Badenhorst quickly jumped to his defence, explaining that Boerewors is ‘proudly heritage food‘, which was not the point of the Twitter exchange!

‘Hayden Quinn : South Africa‘ was first flighted on SABC3 last Monday,  doing a great job in making Capetonians proud of their beautiful city and its fresh produce bounty.  Hayden was a MasterChef Australia finalist in 2011, but did not win the series, and has managed to sign up the series about our country’s sustainable food production.  The programme is sponsored by Continue reading →

Australian Hayden Quinn makes Capetonians proud of their beautiful and sustainable city!

Hayden Quinn Title page sunflowersIt is ironic that Australian 2011 MasterChef Finalist (and not even a winner) has become a celebrity, to such an extent that he has become the host of a 13 series SABC3 programme about sustainable eating in our country, also combining the travel highlights of the regions Hayden will visit. Beautifully filmed, with some product placement overkill, the first episode last night made one proud to be a Capetonian, and to see our beautiful city through the eyes of the guest chef! Hayden described Cape Town as the ‘tip of the iceberg‘, whilst raving about loving South Africa.

The episode begins with Hayden doing some surfing, sharing his passion for the ocean, saying it is the place at which he feels most at home.  The link to the ocean  is made, to share that he is a WWF SASSI ambassador, our local organisation that educates consumers about only ordering and buying orange-listed fish.  It explains Woolworth’s dominance in the programme, with a number of TV commercials, although none match the beautiful ads which it created for MasterChef SA in Seasons 1 and 2.  Hayden is ‘crazy about adventure’ and good food, he shared.

The start to Hayden’s food adventure was the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill, where he sampled sandwiches from The Kitchen, and samoosas from Cumin Catering.  He described it as a ‘buzzing inner-city market‘, reflecting the flavours and fresh foods of Cape Town. Continue reading →