SASSI Trailblazer Award winners announced

2 Dec 2015

Seven South African chefs were named 'Trailblazers' in the 2015 WWF-SASSI Trailblazer Awards, held at The Table Bay Hotel at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront earlier this week.

The seven chefs were:

Chef Peter Pankhurst - Savoy Cabbage Restaurant
Chef Greg Coleman - East Head Café, Knysna
Chef Michelle Theron - Pierneef à La Motte
Chef Jocelyn Myers-Adams - Table Bay Hotel
Chef Hylton Espey - Equus at Cavalli Wine Estate
Chef Sias Tabambi - Harbour House Restaurant
Chef Jonathan Japha - Black Sheep Restaurant

From top to bottom: Jocelyn Myers-Adams, Jonathan Japha, Peter Pankhurst, Sias Tabambi, Hylton Espey, Brad Ball, Daisy Jones

Building on the success of SASSI's 'Green, Orange, Red' guide amongst the South African public, the SASSI Trailblazer Awards recognise and celebrate chefs who are actively championing sustainable seafood practices in their restaurants.

Pavs Pillay, SASSI programme manager of WWF-SA, commented: "Our partnerships with chefs are inspired by a love of seafood and a shared commitment to help restore our over-exploited seafood species. The chefs we are recognising have gone the extra mile in advocating the sustainability message."

A previously awarded Trailblazer, and now Mentor, Chef Brad Ball of Peddlars & Co. in Constantia, Cape Town, added: "Chefs serve as the gate keepers for the food and hospitality industry and therefore play a critical role in leading market forces and influencing popular taste. The reality is that chefs who support and promote ocean-friendly seafood can help ensure that there are fish to catch and enjoy tomorrow. My role is to do this, and to make up-and-coming chefs aware of what's at stake."

Clare Mack, of Spill Communications, and the awards organiser, said: "It's gratifying to see, in the third year of these awards, that many restaurants are adopting sustainable practices in seafood, without any intervention or prompting. Sustainability is now mainstream, it has really caught on."

Judging criteria

The criteria on which the restaurants and chefs were assessed were:

The restaurant's seafood sustainability policy
The effectiveness of their communication of their seafood sustainability practices to their customers, employees and suppliers
Their level of engagement in communicating their seafood sustainability practices to a wider audience (e.g. via social media, TV appearances, etc.)
The 'Trailblazer factor' i.e. those chefs and restaurants that are going the extra mile in promoting and supporting seafood sustainability

The SASSI Media Award for 2015 was won by Daisy Jones, a journalist, for her cookery book, Star Fish, published by Quivertree Press. Daisy's cookbook is a collection of recipes using only green-listed seafood.

To find out more information on sustainable seafood choices, go to wwfsassi.co.za