Grub's Ready: Look what the surf washed up

He is young, fun and easy on the eye. Discovered as a contestant during MasterChef Australia season three, the natural good looks and easygoing nature of Sydney surfer Hayden Quinn made him an appealing candidate for a South African show on sustainable food and adventurous travel.

Globally, consumer appetites for food and healthier living are far from sated.

Quinn trained as a marine biologist, making him a good choice for an ambassador of the World Wildlife Federation Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (WWF-Sassi).

Thirteen episodes of Hayden Quinn South Africa kicked off last week at Cape Town's sustainable Oranjezicht Farm urban vegetable garden below Table Mountain. Episode two was shot at a Stellenbosch artisan bakery and tomato farm.

So far, the format has offered an entertaining travel and produce snapshot, but the show is dotted with blatant sponsor plugs.

Next week's episode features Quinn kayaking with Sassi Trailblazer, restaurateur Kobus van der Merwe, near Paternoster and learning about foraging for edible dune seaweeds and wild herbs. Quinn says the beachside seafood cookup reminded him of surf trips in Australia.

"It was real and raw, cooking over a campfire and getting down and dirty. That's my thing," he says. "When we go off with the boys, we cook whatever we can find where we are."

During the show Quinn cooked an ostrich egg omelette in Oudtshoorn, tried free-range lamb potjie in the Northern Cape, learnt sustainability secrets at a KwaZulu-Natal dairy farm, and toured Soweto streets by bike.

''It's quite special when you're seeing produce being grown or reared in the countryside," he says.

Quinn had his first taste of mosbolletjie bread from fermenting grape must in Stellenbosch, and after filming a fireside segment with farmers in Prieska, he notes that Australia's square jaffle and South Africa's braaibroodjie aren't worlds apart.

Outside of filming, Quinn hasn't had the opportunity to explore many Johannesburg or Durban restaurants, but he loved the Durban surf and general temperatures, "and that cool market Indian vibe".

''I think Cape Town is a mix between Sydney, with its beaches, and cosmopolitan Melbourne, with its restaurants and bars. There are eateries and cool delis and cafes and beer gardens popping up all over the place. A lot of hole-in-the-wall places, sometimes grungy, sometimes decadent," he says about our Fairest Cape .

In Australia Quinn has a "full scorecard", including a partnership in a Sydney gym, and a share in the young, entrepreneurial Kooks wine label producing Yarra Valley chardonnay and Barossa shiraz.

He's also filming a new Australian cooking show. The goofy foodie still finds time to surf his home break - Dee Why beach near Manley - on a board made by South African shaper Clayton Nienaber.

Does Quinn plan to slow down?

"We've only just scratched the surface with the show. There's a lot more to do and see in terms of sustainable food," he says. "But I've grabbed every opportunity. We went mountain biking and zorbing [rolling downhill inside an orb] and went into the wave pool at Durban. I just don't do heights."

• Watch 'Hayden Quinn South Africa' on SABC3, channel 193, Mondays at 9.30pm. www.haydenquinnsouthafrica.co.za