Seven South African chefs were awarded Trailblazer status at the SASSI Trailblazer Awards, held at Harbour House, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, Monday 23rd October 2017.

Chefs Honoured at the SASSI Trailblazer Awards

The seven awarded chefs are Philip Alcock – SeaBreeze Fish & Shell, Robert Giljam – Societi Bistro, Julie Carter – Ocean Jewels, Giles Edwards – La Tete, Massimo– Massimo’s, John McArdle –The Big Mouth, Graham Neilson – 9th Ave Bistro.

Building on the phenomenal 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 at WWF-SA, commented, “Our partnership with chefs is inspired by a commitment to help restore our overexploited 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, Executive Chef at Harbour House Group, added, “Chefs serve as the gatekeepers for the food and hospitality industry and therefore play a critical role in leading market forces, influencing popular taste and promoting ocean-friendly seafood.”

This is the fifth year of the awards. Many restaurants have adopted sustainable practices in seafood, without any intervention or prompting. Sustainability has really caught on and is now mainstream.

Judging for the

Judging the SASSI Trailblazer Awards

The judging for the SASSI Trailblazing Awards is based on a number of criteria such as the restaurant’s seafood sustainability policy and the effectiveness of their communication of their seafood sustainability practices to their customers, employees and suppliers.

The SASSI Media Award for 2017 was won by Anna Trapido, a well-known journalist who writes extensively on food, sustainability and food issues in South Africa. She has covered sustainable seafood issues extensively in her articles in magazines, press, TV and radio.

Want to know more about sustainable fish? Take a look at our seasonal fish buying guide.

wwfsassi.co.za | Facebook | Twitter