Skip to main content
Visit Scotland | Alba
Article published 23/09/2022

Sustainability - the main theme for the Arran Festival of Food and Drink

The food and drink industry plays an important role in the visitor experience, allowing visitors to connect with local people, local customs and traditions, and helping to enhance the experience of the destinations they are exploring. Importantly, it can also allow visitors to connect with a destination's natural environment and appreciate how seasonal, local produce goes from farm to plate.

Many of the businesses joining the inaugural Arran Festival of Food and Drink are brilliant examples of how quality food and drink is being served to visitors using local, seasonal produce and operating in a responsible way that benefits their business and the region.

One business who is joining the Festival is Café Thyme which is a local, family run café located within the Old Byre Visitor Centre on the west coast of Arran and accredited through the Taste Our Best scheme.

Run by husband and wife Hamza and Lorna, their unique menu, which brings together Scottish and Turkish cuisines, offers teas, coffees, home baking and delicious lunches cooked in their wood burning oven. Their speciality is flatbreads and pides, a Turkish pizza and fresh salads grown on site. Their ethos is to serve freshly prepared food that is not served everywhere else.

Owner Lorna shares why sustainable and responsible practices are business as usual for the café.

Arran Festival of Food & Drink

The first Arran Festival of Food and Drink ends this weekend on Sunday 25 September. Not only has it has included many different local businesses and partners that demonstrate responsible tourism best practice in action but one of the festival's main themes is sustainability, with events across the festival promoting local produce, showcasing community gardens and foraging season, and engaging with innovative uses for food waste. 

To find out what's still to come on the final weekend of the festival and to find out more about the island's approach to sustainable food and drink, visit the Arran's Food Journey website.

 

Related links