Monday night saw public acknowledgement of a dozen chefs who take sustainable seafood seriously at the launch of the Pick ‘n Pay SASSI Seafood Circle. And once again, the peculiar demographics of SA food were brought into stark relief. Only one Gauteng establishment (DW 11-13) and only two from KZN (the Oyster Box and Hartford House) made the grade, which locates 75% of the awardees less than one hour’s drive from the Clock Tower. Is this really the state of sustainable seafood in SA? The other curiosity is the dominance of Afrikaans surnames in the seafood Sanhedrin: Basson, Erasmus, Ferreira, Kruger, Liebenberg, Marais,… a statistic unlikely to warrant a cover of Time magazine to match the Oscar Pistorius coverage. Aren’t stereotypes wonderful?

The most exotic fish-hugging chef is Bjorn Guido from the Millhouse on Lourensford who is called Bijon Gudio in the press release, a real bijoux of a mistake, and his manager Tyrone, a stereotypic black hip-hop hipster, as is clear from the photo above.

Meanwhile, I can’t decide if it’s OK to be a chef who smokes but who only poaches green list fish. Would Anthony Bourdain forswear kingklip (orange list) in a fish curry like the one I enjoyed at the Taj on Monday? If you break the law when it comes to recreational drugs, why worry about the colour of your fish? Can you mix and match laws that suit your mood? These are weighty questions for the department of health to consider when it comes to the push to outlaw advertisements for alcohol.

With Pisces the current zodiac sign, embracing fish at the Waterfront has become a popular pastime, as is clear from the candid photo above taken after the awards were announced.