Eat the Island launched to celebrate Portsmouth’s ‘incredible foodie vibe’

Eat the Island saw an industry networking event held at the Queens Hotel in Southsea to bring together food and drink producers, independent retailers and hospitality venues in Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and across the south coast region.

Organised by Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire Fare and the hotel, the aim was for businesses to inspire each other, create opportunities to work together and celebrate the area’s vibrant food and drink culture.

In opening the event, Jane Lamer, Head of Economic Development and Skills at Portsmouth City Council, said: ‘This is just the starting point. We want to give a boost to the hospitality industry. We realise times are tough but we want to see how we can support and help you continue to grow.’

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Darren Seward, associate partner with NFU Mutual - which supports Hampshire Fare - said that surveys had shown that when it came to choosing where to eat, consumers were heavily influenced by places which sourced local food and drinks. But he said that he found that many venues did not make a virtue of shouting about this to customers and ensuring they had good relationships with local suppliers and producers.

Simon Harnett, executive chef at the Queens Hotel, said it was certainly something they were proud of. ‘Having relationships with the people we buy from is very important to me. You can be assured of amazing quality and the story behind the produce and the passion of the people you are dealing with. It’s more rewarding - we know we can all prosper together and get more out of it.’

Emma Caulton, from Hampshire Fare, added: ‘There is a power to collaboration - we are much stronger when we are working together. Portsmouth has an incredible foodie vibe and there are so many new opportunities here to continue to work together.’

And Tracy Nash, commercial manager at Hampshire Fare, said: ‘Joining up the foodie dots is what we do best at Hampshire Fare and this is going to be a great example of this. We are delighted to be involved in this event in Portsmouth as we are very excited about the vibrancy of the food and drink sector in this region’.

The event, which built on last year’s successful Southsea Food Festival, showcased a number of local food producers. These included North End-based Yarty Cordials - who recently met King Charles at an event in Germany after their viollet cordial was chosen as a designated drink for the royal palaces - the Barnacle Brothers from the Isle of Wight with their coastal rum, Leanne Phelps who has just set up Let’s Mochi to make and sell the tasty Japanese rice cakes from Drayton and Jack Rose of South Coast Bagel Co.

Jack said: ‘We need events like this to really drive local businesses and expand our horizons.’

Leanne added: ‘This is fantastic for small businesses. I have already learnt from lots of other people here.’