Island of plenty

From crustaceans, scallops and shellfish to its legendary milk and cream, Guernsey has long been famous for the quality–and abundance– of its produce, reveals Oliver Berry

- Oliver Berry

THANKS to its rich soil and temperate climate, everything grows with abandon on this little garden island, marooned in the English Channel a few miles from the French coastline. Hatched by hedgerows and parcelled up into an orderly patchwork of fields, this is an island where food is more than a staple: it’s a way of life. Many of the island’s farms are centuries old.

‘Guernsey’s history is essentially a tale of farming and fishing,’ explains Sara Lampitt, who works for the National Trust of Guernsey and helps organise the island’s biggest food celebration, Lé Viaër Marchi, held once a year in the parish of Castel. ‘That’s not really surprising—we are an island, after all. Most Guernsey recipes are connected with the land or the sea. And you can’t even begin to discuss the island’s food without starting with bean jar.’

A hearty meat, bean and veg cassoulet, bean jar is the nearest thing Guernsey has to a national dish. Cheap and filling, it’s a classic example of cucina povera (peasant cooking): the ideal fare for working folk to eat after a long day in the fields or on the boats. Customarily, it’s accompanied by a Guernsey biscuit, a flat, yeasty bread roll, ideal for soaking up sauce. The beauty of a one-pot stew such as this, Ms Lampitt explains, is that it could incorporate whatever leftovers people had to hand—from old vegetables to scraps of meat—and it required little time or effort to make.

‘In the old days, when most people didn’t have their own ovens, they would drop their bean jar off at the bakery, where it would cook slowly throughout the day—and they picked it up on the way home from work.’