Produce Listings
Shetland at Foodies Festival
"The best food at the show!” was how one lady described her Shetland Hot Smoked Salmon canapé which was tasted as part of the Shetland promotion at the Foodies event held in Edinburgh last weekend.
The event was attended by Economic Development Unit officials as part of joint initiative to promote the Council coordinated Shetland Food Directory and Shetland Food Festival. Foodies is a 3-day annual food and drink event held at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh which pulls together gourmet food producers, top Edinburgh restaurants and Michelin star and top Scottish chefs. Over 18,600 tickets were sold for the event.
Neil Henderson, Principal Officer – Marketing, Shetland Islands Council said:
“The event was an ideal platform for us to promote The Shetland Food Directory along with the Shetland Food Festival as the audience attracted to this event are, first and foremost, actively interested in quality produce. As part of the Shetland promotion, we had samples of fine Shetland produce including scallops, smoked and hot-smoked salmon and lamb which had been crafted into an imaginative canapé selection offered during the day. The feedback was highly positive and clearly highlighted the high quality produce we have here in Shetland.
The presence at the event also works towards improving the visibility of Shetland food and drink in the market place and gave us an opportunity to once again connect with the chefs of some of Edinburgh’s top restaurants such as Tempus, Monteiths and Mother India who had restaurant marquees at the event. As is common with these kind of events, visitors to a Shetland stand regularly have a real fascination for all-things Shetland and discussions about food often lead into enquiries about visiting which resulted in over 600 tourist brochures being taken from the stand as well as promotional DVD’s, booklets and information about living and working in Shetland.
Josie Simpson, Chair of Shetland Islands Council Development Committee said:
“The event has been a very positive once for Shetland and clearly highlights the opportunities that exist for business development in the food and drink sector. Our policies are geared towards improving Shetland’s confidence and reputation as a place that offers excellent quality which meets the needs of consumers and our presence at this event has helped to ensure that we continue to work towards achieving this.”
