Unleash your inner oyster in Knysna

There are a million good reasons, most of them packed in shells and tasting delightfully of the sea, for visiting the Knysna Oyster Festival (KOF) next month, but wanting to lose weight is not one of them.

Oysters themselves are not fattening and are packed with nutrients but, serve them fried and smothered in a bacon and blue cheese sauce, you can almost hear the calorie-counter going berserk.

And that’s just for starters. A two-day media visit last week to preview the 42nd annual festival, from 4-13 July, began fairly virtuously; oysters in the half shell accompanied only by lemon, black pepper, peri-peri sauce and a glass of Leopard’s Leap bubbly at Sirocco.

It was, so to say, a shucking good time. Things went south that evening when we decamped to Wildside Beach, a shack-style diner on the rocks at Buffels Bay – included, along with Sedgefield and Reenendal, in the Knysna municipal district – for sundowners and dinner.

Sunset was accompanied by a full moon almost as spectacular as dinner of creamy mussels, garlic-butter prawns, deepfried hake and panko-crumbed calamari.

Nothing slimming about that… what followed was a Weight Watchers’ nightmare. Tammy Coby, one of the Knysna Oyster Festival organisers, placed three mini-puddings in front of us and told us to score each out of 10.

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Chocolate dreams and dessert wars

This, she said, was the premise of Dessert War Fair. Promising this would be the sweetest happening of the festival – it takes place on 9 July, tickets from Quicket – “where talented chefs and bakers showcase their most scrumptious creations” in a contest to find the most epic dessert, Tammy offered another tempting morsel.

She introduced us to one of last year’s winners. Kirsten Walters is the owner and founder of Ile de Chocolat (“Island of Chocolate”) and is a Swisstrained chocolatier with her manufacturing studio at the five-star Pezula Hotel and a retail outlet at Thesen Harbour Town.

She is not affiliated to nearby Ile de Pain (“Island of Bread”), the renowned artisanal bakery where we had breakfast the next morning.

“I am a trained pastry chef who indulged her passion by studying at the International School of Chocolate Art in Zurich, where I finished as valedictorian in 2006.

“South Africans at the time did not have much of a chocolate culture – they basically knew Beacon, Nestlé and Cadbury – and I wanted to introduce them to the ‘proper’ stuff only the wealthy had encountered through international travel.

“I had the mad idea of producing chocolate on site in a retail environment where people could watch the process and it was Brian Coppin who was building his flagship Food Lover’s Market in Tyger Valley (Cape Town) who gave me the break.

He said ‘we’re opening in a week, can you be ready?’ We were literally an island of chocolate in the middle of this huge, magnificent store,” said Walters.

Apart from giving the business (www.iledechocolat.com) its name, it was the proverbial springboard to success.

“We were in seven stores around the country within a year but business came to a screeching halt two-and-a-half years later when I gave birth to twins,” she said.

The Walters family moved to the Garden Route three years ago for a life that was less hectic, but just as sweet.

“Our speciality, my pride and joy, is truffles. I love developing new fillings and have about 50 flavours.

“There are your traditional hazelnut, almond and creamy chocolate fillings before going fruity with raspberry and mango.

We do a whole alcohol range; Kirschwasser with a maraschino cherry is the most popular but I also do whisky, Van der Hum and Amarula.

“More extreme flavours include rosemary and pear, chili and I’ve even dabbled with curry on occasion.”

The KOF caters to gourmands as well as gourmets.

From forest runs to fine wines

There’s a carbo-loading pasta evening on 4 July, the night before the Knysna Forest Marathon, that’s not restricted to runners; a burger and beer extravaganza on 5 July; and a “pizza-eating showdown not for the faint-hearted” on 9 July.

For those on a liquid diet, Stella Artois is one of the sponsors and there will be several beery hotspots around the KOF, notably at Wildside Beach in Buffels which does not have a liquor licence.

If you don’t like beer with your fish and chips, the restaurant doesn’t charge corkage.

The Knysna Fine Wine Festival takes place at Simola Hotel on 4 and 5 July, and several estates will be serving their best vintages at the oyster cooking and shucking championships on 8 July.

As the organisers say, “Come hungry, come happy – and come out of your shell!”

The forest marathon might be the festival’s signature sporting event, but there’s also the Knysna Cycle Tour on 12-13 July.

Physicality is as physicality does… there’s live music and (of course) dancing throughout the 10-day event.

There are also adventure offerings, including guided and self-guided canoeing and hiking.

For the latter, visit the Pledge Nature Reserve in the centre of town for a gentle uphill stroll that will reward hikers with wonderful views of the Knysna Heads and lagoon.

Petrol-heads can wander around the Eden Classic Car and Motorcycle Show at Sedgefield’s Scarab Arts and Crafts Village on 9 July.

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