Press release to French media - 4 March 2026
In 2026, Guernsey will inaugurate The Big Eat Guernsey, a new major culinary festival designed to celebrate the gastronomic richness of the archipelago and strengthen its tourist appeal outside the high season. Supported by VisitGuernsey, the event will now take place twice a year, in April and October, with the ambition of establishing the Islands of Guernsey as one of the must-see European destinations for travellers looking for gourmet and authentic experiences.
Designed as a true showcase of the local terroir and the know-how of hotel and restaurant professionals, The Big Eat Guernsey offers a rich and evolving programme of events and menus dedicated to the island's products. More than 50 events and exclusive menus have already been announced, with a particular focus on highlighting local products, including seafood, dairy products and ingredients from island agriculture.
A month of gourmet celebration on the scale of the entire archipelago
The launch of the festival will be marked by the arrival of the Breton Market in St Peter Port over the Easter weekend, kicking off a whole month of celebration around gastronomy and culinary know-how. This event is a continuation of the success of the previous Normandy markets and illustrates Guernsey's desire to cultivate its historical and cultural links with France, while enriching its event offer.
Throughout the month, events will take place throughout the archipelago, inviting visitors and locals to explore the different facets of the archipelago through a programme that combines culinary discoveries, natural landscapes and human encounters. Highlights include the Guernsey Grande Fromage Tour at several iconic locations in St Peter Port, foraging and dining experiences, bike tours and food safaris around local produce stalls, farm-to-fork dinners, and moments of sharing with chefs and food enthusiasts, locals as well as guests.
Two complementary formats for an accessible and immersive experience
The Big Eat Guernsey is built on two main pillars. On the one hand, exclusive menus offered for a month by many participating restaurants and establishments, specially designed for the event and highlighting the best of the archipelago's ingredients. On the other hand, thematic events punctuated by immersive experiences, which combine gastronomy, nature and cultural heritage, in close collaboration with local tourism and restaurant players.
For the April 2026 edition, four main themes will structure the programme and will allow us to approach Guernsey gastronomy from different angles:
Meet the Locals, to meet the producers, fishermen, artisans and chefs who shape the island's culinary identity;
The Great Outdoors, to combine the pleasures of the table and the great outdoors, between wild coasts, coastal paths and green countryside;
Foraging & Fine Dining, to combine exploration of the territory, picking wild ingredients and gastronomic experiences;
French Connections, to celebrate the historical and culinary links between Guernsey and France through inspired menus and events.
A mobilisation of the entire sector and a strong move upmarket
The festival largely brings together the actors of the local gastronomic scene, from producers to restaurateurs, event organisers and tourism professionals. This collective dynamic aims to strengthen the coherence of the offer, to encourage culinary creativity and to offer visitors a clear and attractive reading of the destination through its gastronomy.
The launch of The Big Eat Guernsey comes at a particularly favourable time, as several restaurants in the archipelago are now included in the gastronomic selections of reference, confirming the rise in popularity and the growing recognition of local know-how. The festival thus structures and amplifies this dynamic, by giving increased visibility to the Guernsey culinary scene, both with the local public and international visitors.
A strategic lever for tourist attractiveness
Beyond its festive dimension, The Big Eat Guernsey is part of a tourism development strategy aimed at stimulating attendance during the shoulder seasons, diversifying the destination's image and attracting new profiles of travellers, sensitive to culinary experiences, authenticity and local encounters.
By putting gastronomy at the heart of the destination story, Guernsey offers another way to discover the archipelago: through the taste, through the products, through the women and men who shape them, and through the landscapes that inspire them. The festival intends to become, over the years, a highlight of the island's tourist and cultural calendar, and a strong marker of its identity.
Through The Big Eat Guernsey, the archipelago affirms its desire to offer much more than a simple event: an immersive experience, where the discovery of a territory is as much on the plate as on the ground.
Press contact and more information
GroupExpression press contact: Margaux Gellerstedt & Camille Kratochvila at guernesey@groupexpression.fr
About Guernsey: With its historic fortifications, lush gardens and vibrant festivals, Guernsey is a pearl of the English Channel. This picturesque island is renowned for its natural beauty, historical heritage, and vibrant culture. History buffs can explore Victor Hugo's house and World War II bunkers, while nature lovers can wander the coastal paths and discover a variety of flora and fauna. For fans of itinerant trips, there is nothing like combining several islands and visiting Sark, Hermès, Alderney or Lihou.
See the original release in French here.
