{"id":60301,"date":"2014-08-12T00:23:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=60301"},"modified":"2014-08-12T00:43:22","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:43:22","slug":"hayden-quinn-south-africa-episode-5-whale-of-a-time-in-hermanus-and-stanford-no-mention-of-its-wine-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/hayden-quinn-south-africa-episode-5-whale-of-a-time-in-hermanus-and-stanford-no-mention-of-its-wine-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ episode 5: Whale of a time in Hermanus and Stanford, no mention of its wine stars!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hayden<\/a>‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’<\/em> focused on the Overberg last night, visiting Hermanus and Stanford, as well as Elgin, but this was not mentioned, being described as being just outside Hermanus! \u00a0It was a whale of an episode highlighting the Southern Right whale visitors, the sustainable apple and pear farming in Elgin, and Marianna’s sustainable restaurant in Stanford. \u00a0No mention was made however of Hermanus’ produce nor its world-renowned wines in the Hemel en Aarde Valley!<\/p>\n

Hayden raved about the Southern Right whales, which visit \u00a0Hermanus’ Walker Bay from July, he said incorrectly (they arrive from the Antarctic from May onwards) until early December. \u00a0On the Facebook page of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa<\/em>‘<\/strong><\/span><\/a> it is incorrectly claimed that Hermanus is the ‘Whale Watching Capital of the World<\/em>‘, copywriting nonsense. \u00a0Hermanus is however known as the offering the best land-based whale watching in the world, which is something different, and Hayden did say words to this effect in the episode!<\/p>\n

To add some real adventure to his visit to Hermanus, Forest Adventures’ Clinton Lerm (infamous for wanting to change the name of the village to ‘Lermanus<\/em>‘<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>when his family tried to take over the tourism management of the town, to their own benefit) took Hayden to a lagoon, where he was ejected off the edge of a rubber ‘Party-Blob’<\/em> four to five meters into the air and then into the water, by two other persons jumping onto the other end of it! \u00a0 Hayden sounded concerned about the safety of it, and about the 12\u00b0C water temperature.<\/p>\n

All of a sudden Hayden is seen at the Fruitways’ Eikenhof farm<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, \u00a0one of three farms belonging to the company in the Elgin region, visiting Production Director Stephen Rabe, who explained the\"Hayden<\/a> value of ‘soil health<\/em>‘ in growing apple and pears. \u00a0 Organic materials are kept on the ground under the fruit trees, and even apples and pears that fall off the trees are kept on the ground. Healthy soil leads to healthy roots, which leads to healthy trees, and therefore produces healthy fruit. \u00a0Healthy soil is better able to retain water, and requires few chemical inputs, viewers were told. \u00a0Hayden could bite into an apple without washing it, being ‘ready to go<\/em>‘, it being so healthy to eat. \u00a0If one eats what is in season, the produce does not have to travel far, which helps to lower our carbon footprint. \u00a0When the episode was filmed in February, the pear harvest was underway, and Hayden was told that the pears were picked one to two weeks before ‘eating maturity’! \u00a0<\/em>Clearly the Fruitways farms supply Woolworths with apples and pears. <\/em>Viewers were told that they take care to not pollute the water in the dams with their farming methods, focusing on farming ‘for the future’. <\/em>Care is taken to maintain the indigenous fynbos.<\/p>\n

The focus then jumped to Gansbaai, where Hayden visited the Flower Valley Conservation Trust<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, meeting with its Conservation Director Roger Bailey. Here proteas and other fynbos is grown, and cut with 40 cm stems, being ‘sustainable harvesting<\/em>‘, to allow the proteas to seed, to allow new plants to be generated. Hayden was told that much like the WWF-SASSI list of sustainable fish, there is a ‘Vulnerability Species<\/em>‘ list. \u00a0The Nedbank Green Card holders were told that the use of their cards would benefit the WWF Nedbank Green Trust,<\/strong><\/span><\/a> which supports nature conservation projects through community programmes. \u00a0It was a relief that shark-cage diving in Gansbaai was not part of the episode!<\/p>\n

Hayden went back to Hermanus, where he did a promo for the Marine Hotel, raving about the lovely seaviews, whale watching from the cliff path, and swimming in the panoramic ‘freezing Atlantic ocean<\/em>‘! \u00a0He went to the Old Harbour, alongside Bientang’s Cave, setting up a table on the rocks, to prepare some apples for his Eton Mess dessert. \u00a0He fried apple chunks in butter, adding cloves and green cardamom, cinnamon, brown sugar, and lime, and packing the cooked apples into his ‘picnic basket<\/em>‘, with walnuts, Greek yoghurt, meringues, and coconut.<\/p>\n

His journey then took him to Stanford, where he visited Marianna and Peter Esterhuizen of Marianna’s, whose food journey took them from a stand at a local weekly food market, to a deli in Stanford, and then to a country restaurant in the village. \u00a0They have a vegetable and herb \"Hayden<\/a>garden and use ‘leiwater<\/em>‘ to irrigate their garden once a week. \u00a0From the restaurant they went off to the Klein River, where River Rat pontoon skipper Ernie knows the river and its birdlife. \u00a0Marianna showed Hayden how to prepare her dish of duck breasts on a fire, which she scored first, \"Hayden<\/a>and to which she added ginger and all spice, tarragon and olive oil, after having marinated them. \u00a0Pears were thinly sliced, and slowly cooked in balsamic vinegar and Muscadel, to caramelise them. \u00a0 This they ate with bread. \u00a0Hayden made his variation of Eton Mess, adding his pre-cooked apples, crumbed meringue, the walnuts, and Greek yoghurt, which he topped with ginger honey syrup.<\/p>\n

The episode was educational, the Fruitways farms and the Flower Valley Conservation Trust being unknown to most. \u00a0It is a shame that so many unforgivable content errors are being made in the ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’<\/em> series, reflecting on poor research by the programme writer! \u00a0The exclusion of Hermanus’ produce and its world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in particular is a huge shame!<\/p>\n

The question remains: who is Hayden Quinn<\/strong><\/a>, and why was he selected by the production company on behalf of Woolworths to show us the beauty of our country, and its bounty of sustainable foods and wines? \u00a0Hayden Quinn is an Australian surfer and former professional lifeguard,\u00a0\u2018WWF-SASSI ambassador\u2019,<\/em>\u00a0a\u00a0\u2018cooker\u2019<\/em>\u00a0and by his own admission not a chef, and a 2011 MasterChef Australia top 3 Finalist. \u00a0\u00a0Episode 1<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>of \u2018Hayden Quinn: South Africa\u2019<\/em>\u00a0focused on Cape Town, and made Capetonians proud of their city! \u00a0\u00a0Episode 2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was very disappointing and boring, focusing on Stellenbosch! \u00a0Episode 3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was beautifully filmed in Paternoster, and was back on track. \u00a0Episode 4<\/strong><\/span><\/a> was filmed in Franschhoek, which creatively included Fairview into the village!<\/p>\n

Hayden Quinn: South Africa<\/strong>, SABC3, Mondays 21h30 \u2013 22h00. \u00a0www.haydenquinn.com.au<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @Hayden_Quinn @HaydenQuinnSA<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ focused on the Overberg last night, visiting Hermanus and Stanford, as well as Elgin, but this was not mentioned, being described as being just outside Hermanus! \u00a0It was a whale of an episode highlighting the Southern Right whale visitors, the sustainable apple and pear farming in Elgin, and Marianna’s sustainable restaurant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,3,124,179,587,266,26736,75,20,432,22,21,19],"tags":[27003,382,27001,847,6445,7329,32366,4779,32378,2992,253,27007,32379,15566,27016,27002,270,27010,27004,32369,27006,1007,1565,26473,2501,32377,18939,2995,27018,1195,24212,27011,27017,3250,27005,4932,27019,27020,27012,16438,27009,6077,32386,32376,27008,4614,27014,2245,6075,32373,53,171,27015,27013,27021],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t