Biltong may just be one of the greatest inventions ever to come out of South Africa. Right up there with Bunny chow and rusks. I love the low-fat protein hit and the great taste. I can imagine it being the perfect nutritional accompaniment on a long trek or during a marathon battle. Why I love biltong on the golf course is for the same reason. It provides the energy boost needed to sustain you through a round without weighing you down. Golf can be a gruelling test of concentration both physical and mental.

Biltong Avoids the Heavy Digestion Blues

I find that digestion adversely impacts upon my ability to swing the club well and stay in touch with the subtilities necessary to play good golf. Biltong avoids the heavy digestion required by carbohydrate rich foods. It is like a miracle superfood supplement easily available for a quick top up of energy out there on the links. There is nothing worse than having a good round going and watching it disappear due to diminishing energy levels. If you can, also, avoid the heavy digestion blues impacting upon a few holes during your round it makes for the ideal support for top line golf. Which is why I love biltong on the golf course.

Why Are There So Many Great South African Golfers?

I have, often, wondered why there are so many great South African golfers and whether biltong plays a part in their superior on-course performances? I know, in my own case, I could not imagine doing without this natural helper. Golf is a game where you walk around 10km every round (real golfers walk the course) and swing the club upward of a hundred times (counting practice swings). There are highs and lows happening during every round, searching for golf balls (yours and your partners), missing fairways and putts, digging holes in bunkers, and having to add up all your shots. Chewing a delicious and nourishing mouthful of biltong can be a momentary relief from the enormity of all this at the time.
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Sure, golf is just a game, but it definitely doesn’t feel like that when you are out there doing battle with the course. The concentration required to drive the ball immense distances and keep it on the fairway is demanding to say the least. The ability to change gears from the big booming drive down to the delicate finickity putt that breaks right to left is equally challenging. Suddenly, forcing yourself in the bunker not to hit the ball but to take sand instead asks much discipline of the proponent of the game of golf. Biltong provides the protein hit necessary to maintain these feats for more than four hours in this bubble of competing golfers at your local course. If you haven’t tried it, as an accompaniment over 18 holes, then, you have something to look forward to. Get the edge over your mates and blitz the field next Saturday.
 

In a sign that the coronavirus crisis is easing in South Africa sales of alcohol and tobacco will be allowed after a ban restricted their sale during the height of the pandemic. The tough lockdown and restrictions may have reduced the death toll in this heavily infected nation. South Africa has the highest number of infected people in Africa and the fifth most in the world. So far, there have been around 11, 667 confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 infection. However, new infections are trending at a lower rate since July.

The Adverse Effects of Alcohol Consumption During the Pandemic

The ban on alcohol and tobacco sales was implemented on March 27. At the time, the government stated that the bans were necessary to reduce the demand upon hospital trauma wards and to limit respiratory diseases. Home sales of alcohol were allowed from June 1, but the ban was reintroduced on July 13 after trauma admissions surged. It is interesting to observe the adverse effects of alcohol upon vulnerable parts of the community in response to this pandemic. In Australia, there have been huge spikes in alcohol consumption and incidents of domestic violence during this pandemic. I spoke to a policeman last week, who shared with me that he has been attending these incidents in his constabulary at never before seen rates. People are not dealing with the stress of this crisis well and indulging in excessive alcohol consumption is making things a hell of a lot worse.

The Human Cost of the Misuse of Alcohol is Misery & Violence
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In South Africa, alcohol and tobacco producers and retailers have complained about the economic damage to their businesses and the loss of jobs in their industries. Governments have missed out on tax revenue and there have been reports of illegal trade flourishing in these products. It seems that this virus pits our health concerns up against our economic concerns here in South Africa and right around the globe. The human cost of the misuse of alcohol consumption is misery and violence, with women and children bearing the brunt in many cases.
 
The lifting of the prohibition on the sale of alcohol will make many people happy but there will be ongoing costs in terms of community health and wellbeing. Cases of COVID-19 have dropped from 12, 000 a day to around 5 000 a day.  Hospitalised coronavirus patients have fallen from 10, 000 to about 4 000 in August. However, the government’s declared state of disaster has been extended until September 15. It seems that things are heading in the right direction and hopefully a vaccine is just around the corner. We wish all our friends and compatriots everywhere our very best during this challenging time.

I have often asked myself, whilst out on the links, why South Africa has produced so many world class golfers? Many times, I have pondered this, as I lined up a putt or prepared myself for a cracking drive down the fairway. Perhaps it is the prevalence of the great outdoors amid our culture or the fact that we are all strapping, very fit, men and women. Maybe it is the biltong? Whatever it is, I have collated a list of the greatest golfers from South Africa in honour of their achievements in the game.

The Great Gary Player Completed a Career Grand Slam

Arguably the best-known golfer to have emerged from South Africa is the great Gary Player. The wee man in black mixed it with Arnie and Jack, as part of the Big Three back in the sixties and seventies. Player won an incredible 163 times around the globe and this included 9 Majors and 24 wins on the PGA tour. Gary Player completed a career Grand Slam of Major wins, which is a rare feat indeed. Next on my list of the greatest golfers from South Africa would be Bobby Locke. Arthur D’Arcy Locke was one of the best putters of all time, hooking the ball into the hole with incredible regularity. Bobby won The Open 4 times from 1949 to 1957.

Ernie Els is a True Champion of the Game of Golf

Who can deny that Ernie Els, The Big Easy, is one of the all-time great golfers hailing from South Africa? The likeable Els has had victories in 4 Majors, including 2 US Opens and 2 Opens. Ernie was and is a gentleman on and off the course. His wins came on tough circuits, usually in tough conditions. Ernie Els is a true champion of the game of golf. Retief Goosen is another top South African golfer who has achieved greatness in the hardest game of all. Retief has ground out 2 Major victories in the US Open on very testing tracks in 2001 and 2004.
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More recently, Charl Schwartzel has competed in the Majors again and again, winning The Masters in 2011 in fine style. Louis Oostihuizen has a Major to his credit, with victory in the 2010 Open at St Andrews. David Frost did not win a Major but was a feisty competitor on the PGA tour, where he won 10 times. Trevor Immelman scored a wonderful triumph in the 2008 Masters over Tiger Woods. Tim Clark duelled with the best in America and elsewhere winning 12 times globally. Brandon Grace is another regular competitor in the Majors and has amassed a dozen victories to boot.
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Other notable mentions are Erik van Rooyen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Brandon Stone, Justin Harding, Shaun Norris and Dylan Frittelli. Great South African women golfers include Ashleigh Buhai, Stacy Lee Bregman, Lee-Ann Pace, Sally Little, Paula Reto, Connie Chen, and Monique Smit. There are so many top South African golfers emerging on the scene today that it is sometimes hard to keep up with all their fine achievements. I have always thought that a Rider Cup style biannual competition between African golfers and Australasia would be an event worth watching.

Its funny how foods from our formative years produce comforting feelings within us. Despite all our sophisticated civilising human traits and our penchant for high tech, the things we like to eat most are, often, derived from our past. My time as a cooking teacher taught me how few things, most people, cook for dinner week in and week out.  The psychology of food is firmly entrenched in association with the nursery, which is why familiar foods comfort us through life. We may like to dabble in exotic dishes but return to well trodden paths when it comes to the culinary journey.

Nurturing Dishes That Remind Us of South African Life

For many South Africans it might be a Bunny chow or some biltong. Alternatively, it may be a Cape Malay curry or a cut of Boerewors. Then again, for those with a sweet tooth a serve of Malva pudding might light up their night. Why familiar foods comfort us through life is probably less important than the fact that they do. A chakalaka and pap may be the dish that rings your bell the best and transports you to a special place inside yourself. Good food can and does nurture us more than many other things in life.

Simple Comfort Foods Are Divine

I remember some comforting dishes that my mother made for me with that secret ingredient – a mother’s love. No celebrity chef has ever reached those sensual heights in my book. Not even Neil Perry or Jamie Oliver can touch the food inspired memories imprinted by my dear departed mum. Today, we can mention Adriaan Maree and Reuben Riffel, as great South African chefs of the 21C. These chefs are rocking the boats and making waves upon the culinary seas. A rusk, a braai, a melktert? Whatever it might be for you at home, these familiar foods that comfort us are simply divine.

We can dine out on exotic fare and hob nob with mates in fancy joints but eventually we like to come home to what we know best. Comfort foods that remind us of our roots are important parts of the puzzle of what it means to be human, in my view. I know that I am most happy chowing down on good food that feeds the soul, as well as my belly. Life is a rich experience for those who remember to honour their origins.