Proud and passionate, the Guernsey people have more than a beautiful island to showcase. The ten-day festival in September is one any keen foodie should be heading out to. Nick gets a preview.
I stick some in my pocket to nibble on as I watch the local kestrels hovering effortlessly on the wind, keenly scanning the ground for their own free food to appear.
As the car weaves inland through the narrow lanes on this small island, toward a goat farm I’m off to visit, another form of foraged food reveals itself, the Hedge Veg.
Fresh, pillar-box red tomatoes, vibrant yellow and green French beans, courgettes and lots of other classic vegetables. Whatever, in fact, is in season.
Some are in bags with felt tipped prices, others it’s’take what you want and donate what you think’.
The system is so widespread and accepted that the islanders are savvy hedge shoppers and will go out of their way to buy at the houses where they know the produce is special.
And not just vegetables, there are fresh eggs for sale too, including quail, and even freshly caught crabs, although that box tends to sell out early. The Guernsey people know all about good food and in September they’ll be seriously showing it off to the world at the Guernsey Food Festival.
And it isn’t just food Guernsey is good at, there’s the drink too. Bella Luce, a beautiful small hotel inland, where I ate a well-priced and superb, Michelin-quality meal of Guernsey scallops, pea velouté, tomato and pickled mushrooms, followed by superb local red mullet with some deep-fried samphire and simple, perfect local potato, even has a gin still out back.
His family have been on Guernsey for at least hundred years and Luke uses the local rock samphire (of course), as well as mandarin limes grown in a local glasshouse and other carefully sourced botanicals to create his artisanal, small batch Wheadon’s Gin.
Don’t look for it in your local shops though, you can pretty much only buy it on the island or on the local ferries.’Few hotel guests get to leave without buying a bottle,’ Luke says with a grin.
Far out in the open water a massive cruise ship is moored, its boats are bringing people ashore to the’Seafront Sunday’ market.
Part of the market is selling local souvenirs, but today is also a special food day, a literal taster of what’s to come 16 – 24 September, when a grand festival celebrates the quality and variety of island food with producers and chefs combining forces to showcase the best of Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark’s gastronomy.
It goes well with the oysters that come from Herm island that are being shucked and sold next door from a boat serving as a shop.
Not everyone knows of Herm, one of the smaller Channel Islands, and just a short boat ride from Guernsey. Out there in the nutrient rich waters fed by the Gulf Stream, the oysters grow fast and in profusion.
Next door is beer from the Whiterock Brewery, whose founder and boss Ross Gledhill also doubles as one of the leading lights of Taste Guernsey, the people dedicated to getting Guernsey’s food stories out there. Out on the pier he pulls me sample pints of his brew made with as many local ingredients f as he can source.
Except for’Project-2′, which has been fermented with ginger. I’m not sure I could drink a pint, but it’s an interesting experiment and experimentation is always good.
They don’t make very many bottles a year, but the flavours are remarkable and I recommend the Espresso Vodka to get you up and running. It certainly worked for me.
I sample instead just a bit of Guernsey Bean Jar, a cassoulet kind of creation that was always eaten for breakfast until the 1920s, almost lose my hair trying a range of blistering chilli sauces made with different kinds of local grown chillies and cheerfully eat all kinds of lovely pastries and cakes.
You’d think I couldn’t eat anymore, but the harbour is full of fine seafood restaurants and so I wolf down a massive bowl of pasta, mussels and crabs at The Crows Nest with its panaromic views.
And then, full of bonhmie and great food, I wander off to explore the local streets and shops, the ancient fortifications and simpy just gaze out to sea.
Guernsey is close to France, close to England but remains uniquely Guernsey. Come for the scenery and tranguiity and stay for the food.
We stayed at the wonderful Ziggurat Hotel, with its lovely gardens looking out over St Peter Port harbour and a Moroccan evening menu that makes great use of local produce.
Further details of the ten-day Food Festival programme which includes a cocktail week, live food shows, beer and brewery open days and more can be found at:
http://www.visitguernsey.com/event/2017-guernsey-food-festival and www.guernseyfoodfestival.gg.
Also see Twitter and Instagram. For more information on what to see and do in Guernsey, visit www.visitguernsey.com.
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