A NEW food festival is due to be launched in Jersey in October.
Titled Delicious Jersey Dine-Out, the event will be run by the Jersey Hospitality Association in partnership with AIM, the parent company of the Jersey Evening Post and Bailiwick Express, and will offer Islanders a wide range of specially priced menus and dishes at cafés and restaurants around the Island.
They will all have an emphasis on locally sourced produce and products.
Held from 1 October until mid-November, the festival – which is also being supported by Visit Jersey, design company Midnight Industries and lifestyle app Out and About – aims to encompass the entire Island community with an estimated 150 venues taking part, from high-end restaurants and hotels to beach cafés, kiosks and coffee shops.
Ana and Marcus Calvani, the co-chief executives of the Jersey Hospitality Association, described Delicious Jersey Dine-Out as ‘a local festival created by locals’.
Mr Calvani added: ‘Dine-Out will focus on showcasing and celebrating local food and drink.
‘The festival looks to champion ingredients that are genuinely local, with business owners encouraged to source local and to use our island’s amazing produce in a creative manner, and all while offering great value for diners.’
The Delicious Jersey Dine-Out festival will be held as part of Delicious, a newly launched 12-month Jersey Hospitality Association programme aimed at bringing together local industries – among them agriculture, fisheries and hospitality – in an Islandwide celebration of ‘seasonal food champions’.
In addition, Delicious will aim to educate and inform Islanders about the economic, health and environmental benefits of consuming food and drink that has been caught, grown or produced locally.
‘Dine-Out should make Islanders proud of what we have on this amazing Island,’ said Mr Calvani.
‘It will also enable visitors to Jersey to experience authentic local ingredients and to enjoy a festival that delivers great value and great local food.’
Among those who have been working behind the scenes on the festival is Tony Sargeant, the JHA chair of casual dining and catering and owner of Jersey Kitchen. He said: ‘What excites me most about the Dine-Out festival is that it is designed to include not just hotels and restaurants with set menus but every type of catering outlet.
‘By encouraging smaller independent caterers to take part, we hope to be able to showcase our amazing local produce, whether that be with a simple salad or a seafood extravaganza or a homegrown Jersey burger.
‘Islanders and visitors alike can look forward to some really innovative and exciting dishes served up by Jersey’s incredibly talented chefs, and all safe in the knowledge that they are supporting our local fishermen, growers and farmers.’
James Filleul, chief executive of the JEP and Bailiwick Express, said: ‘Having a wide variety of quality places to go out and eat good food, to suit a range of budgets, is so important to our quality of life in Jersey.
‘That means having a thriving hospitality sector and providing a range of tasty dishes, many of which are made with local ingredients.
‘So far, so obvious – but we’ll only have those places if we actually go to them; that’s why we really wanted to get behind the JHA on this, and use the very considerable reach of Bailiwick Express and the JEP to make sure as many people as possible have the opportunity to learn about what is on offer at their local restaurants, cafés and hotels, and then be inspired to get out and taste it.’
Participation in the Delicious Jersey Dine-Out festival is free for all Jersey Hospitality Association members, with non-members invited to sign up in order to take part in the event.
They can do so at jerseyhospitality.com.
There will be a Delicious Jersey Dine-Out supplement delivered to homes around the Island and given away free with the JEP ahead of the festival.
