It's not every day that you meet someone who discovered their lifelong passion at a young age. Some people spend years exploring various interests, and searching for what truly resonates with them, before they find their path.

Chef Shane Sauvage of La Pentola, whom critics have dubbed "the South African father of fusion", has had a passion for food since the tender age of four, when his parents took him for a meal at Burgers Park Hotel in Pretoria in the 1970s.

While there, little Shane discovered croutons at the buffet table. Fascinated, he asked the chef standing nearby what they were. At that moment, the executive chef was walking past and heard Shane's question. "He picked me up and took me into the kitchen and showed me how to make croutons," recalls Shane, "That was my first time seeing an industrial kitchen, and from there on I was hooked."

Shane has always been exposed to good fusion cooking as his parents (Seychellois and French-Irish) used to cook and entertain frequently at home. "My mom taught me how to set a table, and showed me napkin folds that I still use today," he says, "I spent a lot of my time growing up in the kitchen, while other boys my age were playing outside."

In Grade 9, Shane began working for restaurants, including Santorini and Giovanni's, twice a week and on weekends. He started off as a busboy cleaning tables, and worked his way up to head waiter and manager before the age of 17. 

In 1990, he was drafted into the army where he spent his 18th birthday. Needing help in the army mess, the "bush kitchen" asked if anyone had restaurant experience. Shane came forward and after impressing the chef and officers in the mess, got the chance to go to the School of Catering. There he completed a chef course before heading back to the bush kitchen. After one year of service, Shane left the army, and found work at a few top tier restaurants in Pretoria. 

During this time, Shane refined his dishes, explored fusion combinations, and met his wife, Janet, who was studying at the time. Shane convinced her to join him in the restaurant industry, and in 1995 the unstoppable duo opened their own restaurant together in Pretoria called La Pentola. The original restaurant was a pizzeria which could seat 40 people, and with Shane and Janet's hard work and guidance, grew into the fusion restaurant that is so well-known today. 

In 1997, at 25 years old, Shane was awarded the French Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Regional Junior Chef of the Year title. 

Shane's career really took off in 2001 when he took part in BBC's Good Food & Wine Show at the Cape Gourmet Festival alongside other local and international chefs. La Pentola Hermanus was voted Top South African Restaurant in the Gourmet Festival that year, and Top African Ethnic Restaurant in the Gourmet Festival for 2002 and 2003. 

Shane's crowning glory was when he received the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Blazon in 2005, which was re-awarded to him on 21 July 2024. The lifetime award is given to only the finest restaurateurs and hoteliers who "maintain a superb level of cuisine, service and hospitality, as required by the exacting standards of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs internationally". 

In 2007, Shane released his first recipe book titled The Edge of Fusion, and the following year made his way onto The Toasty Show – eTV's first try at breakfast television. The show sadly ended in 2009 when the channel decided to focus on harder news. Undeterred, Shane released his second recipe book, Infusion, which won two international titles at the Gourmand Awards in Spain.

With La Pentola Pretoria running well on its own, Shane and Janet began to look at moving to the coast, which was a lifelong dream for Shane. An opportunity presented itself in 2011, and Shane began work at La Vierge in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. "I was so happy to be in Hermanus, but driving to La Vierge every day I still felt like I was turning my back on the sea," says Shane, "So when the space opened where La Pentola Hermanus is today, Janet and I decided to take a risk and open our second restaurant".

La Pentola Hermanus opened on 27 April 2012 and Shane released his third book Cape Fusion in 2015, which also received two Gourmand Awards. Over the years, Shane and both La Pentola restaurants have received a total of 36 local and international accolades, including the American Express Platinum Fine Dining Award for the past 16 consecutive years. 

Shane and Janet were very involved in their community in Pretoria, assisting local charity organisations where they could. This love for community has not changed, and when they moved to Hermanus they found new causes to support (just ask Shane about the penguins at Dyer Island!).

"We want to thank Hermanus for 13 years of incredible support," says Shane, "Thank you for opening your hearts to us."

La Pentola Hermanus has recently undergone some exciting new renovations including the expansion of their kitchen. Enjoy a stunning view with top quality food prepared by Shane and his team. They are open Monday to Sunday 11:00 – 22:00. To book a table call 028 313 1685. You will find them at the Hermanus Waterfront.

Businesses and individuals across the Overstrand came together on 18 July for Mandela Day to spend 67 minutes, or longer, giving back to their communities.

At Hermanus Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), the Rotary Club of Hermanus donated R10 000 worth of dog and cat food, which they then decanted into 1kg bags that are sold by HAWS to the public. Rotary was assisted by individuals from Onrus Manor, and with over 30 people volunteering, the work was done in no time.

Just around the corner at Zwelihle Primary School, Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary (PABCS) gave a presentation on their big cats. They were supported by Harcourts Hermanus (main sponsor), Soundworks, 3@1 Whale Coast Mall, Hermanus Office National, and Ariani Health Solutions. Each child also received snacks and a colouring-in page, and the winning artwork from each Grade 4 to 6 class will earn a visit to Panthera Africa 

PABCS would like to give all 258 children from the Grade 7 classes a free visit to the sanctuary. To do that they are looking for a transport sponsor as well as support to provide the children with a healthy meal and a Panthera Africa handout on the day. If you can help, please contact marketing@pantheraafrica.com.

Abagold Development Trust spent their time for Mandela Day at Ithemba Day Care Centre in Zwelihle – the only place in the area that caters for special needs children apart from Camphill School Hermanus. Volunteers from Abagold worked from 15 to 18 July, fixing ceilings, installing cupboards, painting walls and laying brick paving for easier wheelchair access. On the Thursday, the Sluyter Foundation donated a delicious meal for the children, teachers, and parents of Ithemba. They were also serenaded by the Zwelihle Young Boys, a group of learners from Qhayiya Secondary School, who made their way to the day care centre after school to sing for everyone.

In the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Volmoed hosted a morning service which was followed by a talk by Zelda la Grange on her work with Madiba. At noon, for 67 minutes, Bevil Spence led a drumming circle which was open to members of the public, allowing people from all communities to meet and come together. 

At Ocean Basket Hermanus, knitters and crocheters came together to make beanies and scarves for the children that Soraya Pieterse feeds at her soup kitchen. Ocean Basket will be handing over the finished items (about 150 beanies and scarves) so that the children have something to keep them warm this winter.

Just Care Aftercare spent their afternoon on 18 July at the Anglican Church Senior Centre, singing and performing for the residents and giving them each a little snack pack. Both the children and their audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

These are just a few of the good deeds that were done to honour the memory of Madiba last week, and proof of what a community can achieve when everyone comes together. 

It's time for the community to nominate

Pro-Musica donates to worthy causes 

Pro-Musica’s choir members received a special surprise at their weekly practice session on Monday 15 July in the form of in-person donations to various charities. 

Pro-Musica is a registered NGO, and the proceeds of performances done throughout the year are donated to charities and causes in need. This year, it was decided by the board to make much needed donations to three charities in the Overstrand area, namely S.H.A.R.E (R10 000), Badisa (R15 000), and the Hermanus Night Shelter (R15 000).

S.H.A.R.E is an organisation that has been operating in Gansbaai for the past 18 years under the auspices of Pastor Frikkie Zeelie and with assistance from Rob Koppel as treasurer. They offer a valuable service in the form of a soup kitchen in the informal areas of Gansbaai. They also do tremendous work with youth and the vulnerable, with early childhood interventions and day programmes designed to keep pre-primary children off the streets and prepare them for when they go to ‘big school’. 

Pastor Zeelie received this donation in person, and in an emotion-filled speech thanked the members of the choir for their generosity and care towards this cause that is so close to his heart. This donation alone, he said, will keep the soup kitchen operating for the whole of winter.  

Badisa welfare organisation, based in Hermanus, was represented by Sarie Snyman who explained the costs involved in meeting the needs of the children in their care, who come from as far afield as the West Coast, Paarl, and other areas within the Western cape. Although they do get a grant from the provincial Department of Social Development, this only covers the social workers’ costs. All other expenses must be covered by private funding, such as the donation from Pro-Musica. 

Last to speak was Les Abbott, who is the chair of the Hermanus Night Shelter. In another emotion-filled address, Les illustrated the need for funding by telling the success story of one of the people that was supported by the shelter. He also explained that the Hermanus Night Shelter is not only a place of safety at night for those less fortunate but is also doing crucial work in acting as a halfway house and a social upliftment centre. 

At the end of the meeting, Pro-Musica choir conductor Louna Stofberg stressed the importance of donations to charities like this. She also invited the public to attend future Pro Musica concerts, which will not only fill the heart with music and song, but generate income which will go towards people and causes in dire straits. She thanked the public for their continued support and commended the Pro-Musica choir family on their dedication, commitment, and care towards each other and the community of the Overstrand. 

Pro-Musica will be performing at the Oulap Hall in Stanford on Friday 26 July at 18:00, and again on 28 July at the Dutch Reformed Church in Hermanus at 16:00. Tickets are R150 per person and are available at the door. The choir will also form part of the Mass Choir Performance presented by renowned artist, Jannie Moolman, as part of the Kalfiefees on 3 August. For more information contact info@pro-musica.co.za. 

The birth of tourism in Hermanus

By Dr Robin Lee

U3A Overberg History Interest Group

The rise and fall of the fishing economy around Visbaai (the Old Harbour) in Hermanus over 100 years ago resulted in a fishing culture that still lives on in the Overstrand today, but our town became equally famous for another kind of fishing, which also had economic consequences. 

This type of activity is more accurately referred to as angling, which involved individual fishermen and not crews. The participants were usually of upper or middle-class social standing, fishing off the rocks or from a hired boat with a single rod, catching large fish for personal use. Angling was the recreational activity offered by Hermanus to busy diplomats, bureaucrats, and even minor aristocracy such as the Earl of Athlone and his wife, Princess Alice.

Usually, the individual angler got involved only when the catch was ready to be reeled in. Even at this stage, he might be assisted by a local fisherman referred to as a ghillie, who did all the dirty work: digging bait, baiting hooks, casting, gaffing, and killing the fish. The angler took all the credit.

He (very seldom ‘she’) was much more prosperous than any local fisherman and could afford expensive imported equipment and tuition in fishing from the local ‘professional’, Bill Selkirk, a resident famous for his exploits in catching sharks of world-record size. He tutored anglers in the basics of the pastime, as well as selling them tackle from his shop near The Marine Hotel.

Noteworthy specimens were weighed, and individual records kept at the hotel at which the angler was staying. The hotel chef would also prepare the trophy according to the angler’s wishes, and it would be consumed in a convivial fashion with other guests, accompanied by regular tales of the 'one that got away'. 

A sort of collective ‘anglemania’ surrounded the run of a specific fish. Runs occurred quite frequently when millions of a certain kind of fish entered Walker Bay. Berdine Luyt comments on a run in 1945:

For the last four days, the kabeljou has been running. Everyone is at Kraal Rock, which is almost a solid mass of bodies and lines, and all the anglers are in the most angelic tempers. Paddy (Berdine’s sister) caught two in one day, and we had them for dinner. Ginger (Berdine’s brother-in-law) has caught several every day, but Mac Prain holds the record with eighteen. Reggie Davis’s fish are bigger than anyone else’s – fortunately, because we then get to drink Liebfraumilch at dinner.

One should not underestimate the economic impact of angling. While the fish that were caught did not themselves generate income for anyone, anglers contributed in many other ways to the economic growth of Hermanus. They paid their ghillies and met the costs of their stay at the hotel, which in turn employed increasing numbers of the wives and daughters of the fishermen. They spent money at the local general dealers and demanded goods of a higher quality and price than the shop owner would stock for domestic consumption, thus stimulating the local economy.

Also, they acted as publicity agents for the town, encouraging more of their colleagues to visit. There are multiple records of people like Judge Reggie Davis or Sir William Hoy playing this essential marketing role as they went about their business around South Africa and the world. PJ Luyt of The Marine Hotel incorporated angling into his marketing campaigns for various sports in order to fill his hotel, using the idea of an angling club. Members competed to record the biggest fish caught in one day or fish of a particular species, or the most unusual fish.

We can see the first indications of tourism in angling. Visitors heard about the attractions of the town, with a strong emphasis on the healthy climate along the coast. It supplemented a wholly different type of tourism that we would today call wellness tourism. This had been started by Dr Hoffmann’s Sanitorium in 1896 and Walter MacFarlane’s construction of the Victoria Hotel in the same year. The climate, health care and angling laid the foundation for our tourism industry. 

Sad to say, but Hermanus’s fishing history effectively ended in the same way as fisheries all over the world did. Serial over-fishing by trawlers with huge nets destroyed the vast shoals of small fish – anchovies, pilchards, and silverfish (or doppies, as they were known locally). Deprived of food, the larger fish left Walker Bay. Record catches by single fishermen faded into memory, while politicians and interest groups squabbled over sanctuaries and marine-protected areas and fishing quotas.

The truth is that the days of our town as a fishing village will never return to Hermanus, and only the Old Harbour Museum helps keep the memory of the old Visbaai alive.

Wild orchid season in the fynbos has begun 

By Jenny Parsons

One of the delights of living in Pringle Bay and being part of the Kogelberg Biosphere is daily walks in the fynbos. My fascination for flowering plants and the symbiotic relationships with endemic fynbos birds was my gateway into what I now refer to as my ‘botanizing’ walks. 

Disperis capensis was my very first wild orchid discovery in the fynbos, and so my love affair began with the local Western Cape endemic orchid species. I am no expert in this field, but my enthusiasm and natural inquisitiveness has resulted in my walks becoming a daily treasure hunt. Meeting fellow enthusiasts who have been willing to share their knowledge has been inspirational. 

The genus has 78 species that are mostly confined to Africa. Of those, 26 occur in South Africa and 6 are endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom. The biggest threat to the orchid species in fynbos is habitat loss mostly due to urban spread, agriculture, and invasive alien vegetation.

Fynbos, in simple terms, is the sum of four different parts namely the proteoids, ericoids, restioids, and the geophytes (which orchids fall under). Some species of orchids have adapted so that they only flower in the first year post-fire and can then go dormant for 20 to 30 years, thanks to their underground storage organs. Interestingly Disperis capensis did not show well in the first year after the January 2019 Kogelberg fires but flowered en masse the next year in the post-burn areas. 

I normally find Disperis capensis in established and thick fynbos. They start flowering after the first good winter rains from July to September, so spring is not too far away (hopefully!). I am sure most folk are tired of all the stormy weather and are looking forward to brighter days. 

The flowers contain no nectar, but deceptive pollination occurs where it mimics Polygala and Muraltia species to trick carpenter bees (Xylocopa rufitarsis) into visiting and pollinating the flowers. Nature always amazes one, in how it evolves, so that a species can survive. 

Common names of this little orchid are Granny’s Bonnet (Moederkappie), or the Cape Witch Orchid. It is described as a small, erect terrestrial orchid with a single distinctive flowerhead with a large purple hood and two long spurs that stick out at the side and strongly curve backwards. These two spurs are actually highly modified side sepals. Normally there are two lanced-shaped basal leaves, while there are a few leaves that sheathe the stem. 

Colour variations do occur, but most of my observations have been the typical magenta-green combination with only a few with a whitish hood. They are typically found near Pringle Bay, in damp areas, on the lower slopes of Hangklip and in the Kogelberg sandstone fynbos. 

There is little worse for dog owners than receiving the news that there is something wrong with their pet, and even more so when they learn it is incurable. One of the lesser-known diseases afflicting dogs is Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS) which causes blindness that occurs within a few days to a few weeks. 

SARDS was first identified in the 1980s but 40 years later the disease is still not fully understood despite much research and many theories. SARDS usually follows a typical pattern. The affected dog will likely gain weight, and there is a marked increase in thirst and urination. SARDS dogs may also display excessive hunger. These symptoms may happen prior to, during, or after the period when vision is lost, and continue for many months, in some cases even years. 

Vision loss in itself can be difficult to detect and the first signs might be as subtle as your dog not wanting to jump on the couch anymore. As SARDS blindness occurs so quickly, it is often only after all vision has been lost that the owner realises that something is wrong. 

Blindness in dogs can have different causes and unfortunately most vets do not have the correct equipment to diagnose SARDS. A definitive SARDS diagnosis can only be made using electroretinography (ERG) which measures retinal activity in response to light stimulation.

While initially SARDS was thought to be a disease that mostly only affected vision, it is now known that it can cause additional problems. Amongst these is kidney damage, low levels of thyroid hormones, liver function abnormalities, high blood pressure and neurological symptoms. It is important for SARDS dogs to undergo regular veterinary checks to identify possible problems. 

Research into SARDS is ongoing and several theories and protocols have been suggested. Amongst those is Caroline Levin who, in her research, has noted a correlation between SARDS and elevated levels of adrenal oestrogen (read more here). Veterinary ophthalmologist, Dr Sinisa Grozdanic has theorised that SARDS is an autoimmune disorder, with the body's immune system attacking the retinal cells (read more here). Both have reported some minor success in retaining partial vision when treatment is started immediately. SARDS more commonly affects smaller, spayed, female, middle-aged dogs but cases have been reported in dogs as young as three-years-old.

A SARDS diagnosis can be especially difficult for dog owners as it is likely that they have never heard of the disease. Their vet may also have limited SARDS knowledge as it is a specialist field and this can leave dog owners with more questions than answers. Even searching for information online can be challenging as there is limited literature on SARDS.

Upon diagnosis, many SARDS dog owners spend hours and hours trawling through research papers online in an attempt to understand the disease, and faced with various theories and protocols they find themselves no closer to definitive answers to their many questions. This is where support becomes invaluable.

A Facebook group called SARDS Dogs United has for many been a lifeline. The group is a community of SARDS dog owners from around the world who share their experiences, offer advice for helping dogs adjust to blindness, and sadly welcome new members whose numbers seem to increase week on week. It is not known whether this is due to an increasing rate of SARDS cases or whether it is due to increasing awareness of the disease. The group also has a resources section where one can find information about the various SARDS theories as well as the respective protocols. Any protocol should only be done under the supervision of a vet. 

The good news is that most SARDS dogs adjust well to being blind, though the time that this takes varies. A great option to help a dog adjust is to use a Muffin’s Halo (shown in the image). A halo helps blind dogs determine where they are and protects them from hurting themselves. Click here for more information.

This article has been written by a SARDS dog owner and is intended as a guide only. It should not be used to substitute veterinary medical advice. If you suspect that your dog may have SARDS please consult with your vet who can refer you to a specialist for an ERG.

World Athletics has confirmed that a total of 35 South African athletes will be competing in the Paris Olympics which will run from 26 July to 11 August. Among the 35 is Kleinmond resident Victor Hogan, who will be representing South African in discus throw. 

Victor has competed in five world championships, but this will be his first opportunity at the Olympics. He currently ranks 21st in the World Rankings with a personal best throw of 67.62m. Victor's coach, John Smith, says that he has thrown even further during their practices and is confident that Victor will reach a new personal best at the Olympics.