Taste of Shetland event features celebrity chefs

Slow food champion and chef-patron Fred Berkmiller from Edinburgh restaurants, l’escargot bleu and l’escargot blanc visited the event last weekend. 

The fourth annual food and drink festival again attracted thousands of visitors to the Clickimin Leisure Centre.

Organised by membership organisation Shetland Food & Drink Ltd, the festival which promotes Shetland produce attracted an array of exhibitors, visitors and top chefs.

Fred Berkmiller was invited by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and visited the islands to learn more about the provenance, sourcing and heritage of Shetland’s food and drink.

He visited sites such as Lerwick Fish Market and he met several producers including Uradale Farm and Anderson Butchers.

Headline attraction at the festival was Scotland’s first ever national chef, Gary Maclean. This year’s line-up also featured chef, TV presenter and author, Manju Malhi. A range of cooking demonstration from chefs and local foodies took place with locally sourced ingredients front and centre.

Jill Franklin, Shetland Food and Drink manager, said that the festival keeps getting bigger and better.

She said: “The festival raises awareness of the wide range of food and drink that's produced across Shetland. People are showing more and more interest in locally produced food and with over 30 live sessions across two stages, the festival provides plenty of cooking inspiration for everyone. We were delighted to welcome Fred Berkmiller to the stage this year and his session attracted lots of interest."

Andrew Gear, account manager in HIE Shetland’s area team, said: “Shetland Food and Drink has made great progress since their inception and we are delighted to support their work. It is great to see so many so many producers getting this opportunity to showcase their produce.

“We were pleased to be able to invite Fred Berkmiller to Shetland so that he could experience the pristine environment in which our food and drink is produced, meet more of our passionate producers and sample the outstanding quality of their produce. I’m hopeful that new business relationships will develop from his visit.”

Photo: Fred Berkmiller is on the left