Hook-ing up with Guernsey growers

Wednesday 13 November 2019

A St Peter Port restaurant has launched a campaign in an attempt to use more local produce in its menu.

The Hook would like to build relationships with more Guernsey farmers and is inviting members of the public to get in touch with their suggestions.

"We struggle sometimes to find ingredients locally," explained Owner, Sam Jarrold who came up with the initiative. "I think they're out there and people are growing then, but we don't necessarily have any access because they're not selling through one of the big wholesalers over here.

"There are three or four main wholesalers in Guernsey for the restaurant industry, as well as the supermarkets which we have to use sometimes to meet the shortfall. They will have some of the local products, but it's mainly the dairy-based stuff and a little bit of meat, but not a lot. For local growers, their cost of producing goods might mean it's not that attractive for the wholesalers to buy and mark up to make the money they would by buying something from a mass production-style farming system. But if we had direct links with them, we would be happy to pay the price for quality."

Pictured: The campaign will continue until the end of the year.

As well as being much tastier, Mr Jarrold hopes using fresh, local produce will have a positive impact on the environment.

"The general mass farming of livestock produces a lot of carbon and methane," he said. "Buying local is more sustainable and I think it's nice to have a reflection of food from where we are. Breeds like the Guernsey dairy cattle that are native to the island have a distinct flavour. It's lovely to cook with ingredients when you can really believe in the way they're grown.

"You're always going to have to import food and there's always going to be products that we can't grow. There are flavours and spices that come from all over the world and it's amazing that we access to that, but why buy a broccoli from Kenya when someone has grown a broccoli five miles down the road?"

 The campaign will come to a close in January, when the restaurant will host a local tasting event for the newly-found suppliers as well as the general public.

Pictured: The Hook (image from thehook.gg).

"It's about starting a conversation with people to say, is there more that we could be doing locally? Are the greenhouses empty and wasted? Is there pasture land where people could be rearing livestock?

"It's getting the word out there and hopefully other restaurants will follow suit."

 Members of the public can contact Mr Jarrold with ideas via info@thehook.gg.

Pictured top: Image of restaurant from thehook.gg.