The biggest upsets of the 2009 Pick n Pay Oyster Festival so far have been the results of two popular events, the Pick n Pay Oyster & Wine Mardi Gras presented by Tabasco, and the Longbarn Oyster Eating Competition presented by Tabasco!

On Wednesday night in the Heineken Pavilion at Loerie Park, over 1,000 guests applauded as the two top prizes for the Best Cooked Oyster went to Local Loerie development teams, Eden Campus, and The Something Sweet and LTee’s team.

Team Eden Campus, sponsored by Lunar Café, consisted of Knysna locals Bridget Hasley, Mandisa Kwehla and Anneline Jantjies whose recipe for oysters poached in white wine and honey, served on creamed spinach in a homemade puff-pastry case and garnished with spring onions, won them top honours over 16 local restaurants.

The competition was judged according to the strict criteria of the Chaine des Rôtisseurs by a panel which included SA Chef’s Association Garden Route Chairman, Martyn Hill, Vice Chairman, Gino Adriaensen and Judging Officer and Baillie Délégué of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Bailliage D’Outeniqua, Francois Ferreira. It was a “blind tasting” and judges were not told which competitors had cooked which oysters.

The Local Loeries programme is a Knysna Tourism initiative introduced to assist the local community to participate in and benefit from the Knysna Oyster Festival. The cooking teams were trained by Kilzer’s Kitchen Basics and mentored by development officer Glendyrr Fick to participate in the Oyster & Wine Mardi Gras. They will now be able to use their new skills in their catering businesses.

On Thursday night at the Oyster Eating Competition, local Pick n Pay employees Whayne Rhode and Eben Strydom beat long-time champion Michelle Lesch and her partner Eleki Ngcwangu, to take the title that Lesch has held for 10 years running! Rhode devoured a record 28 oysters, which were opened by his shucking partner Strydom, in one minute. Lesch’s team managed 26 oysters in the same time.

Rhode then went on to break the Longbarn record held for the last six years by local Didier Orlando, for eating 24 opened oysters in 1 minute 19 seconds. In his first attempt, Rhode managed 1 minute 7 seconds, however judges found flesh in the shells.  On his second attempt he managed 1 minute 15 seconds with no dirty shells, beating the record by 4 seconds! 

Attempts to contact Rhode at work today were unsuccessful as, according to his supervisor, he was sent home feeling a little queasy….not surprising since he managed to quaff a total of 224 oysters during the competition!

Organisers of this year’s Oyster Festival say that this is the best ever in terms of attendance of and participation in events.

“Numbers are up for all events this year,” said Festival Manager Nicci Rousseau-Schmidt. “The Cycle Tour was 20% up in the MTB races and 10% in the road races and the Forest Marathon has a record field of over 8,000 runners. The Salomon Adventure Nights were 35% up in the Petzl Night Run and slightly up in the Capestorm Night Bike. The Duesouth XTERRA had a 12% increase. The Salomon Featherbed Trail Run was more than 100% up because Magnetic South introduced a second run this year.  Chris Crewdson told us that they could have filled another ferry-load of runners!”

The Oyster Festival finishes on Sunday 12 July and there is still plenty for festinos to see and do. The Forest Marathon and Half Marathon take place on Saturday followed by the Official Heineken Afterparty at the Heineken Pavilion, Loerie Park, featuring The Parlotones and Prime Circle. On Sunday, most of the events take place at the Waterfront with the Nando’s Knysna Lagoon Challenge kicking off at 09h00, followed by the SA Navy Band in Concert at 11h00.