Expat butcher stages British sausage fest
An expat-run small business in the canton of Vaud has come up with a novel way to promote its products. Bangers, a butchery producing British-style sausages, is hoping expats and Swiss alike will follow their noses to the village of Gilly, near Rolle, for the first ever British Food Fair on October 4th.
Designed to be a celebration of British food, the festival will feature stalls selling classic English dishes such as bangers and mash, fish and chips, pies and bacon butties.
Visitors can scoff their British nosh while being entertained by live bands throughout the festival, which starts at midday and runs late into the evening.
Though initially devised by Vevey-based sausage shop Bangers as a way to raise awareness of their fledgling brand, the event will also showcase a number of other local businesses selling British products, including Mama India, Rock n Salt and Le Pie, as well as English beers.
Speaking to The Local, promoter Anne Bucher said: “We realised that if we had pies and fish and chips too, perhaps that would be better, so it became a British Food Fair.”
Ignoring the increasingly respected wineries in the south of England, Bucher added: “The only thing not British or Anglophone will be the wine, as we are in Switzerland!”
Bangers, set up by three entrepreneurs including Englishman Jacob Most, creates British-style sausages, back bacon and pies using locally-sourced Swiss meat.
The sausage range includes popular British classics including Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Pork & Leek.
But at on average 25 francs a kilo, the prices are certainly more Swiss than British.
Initially aimed at expats in the region, the festival will be staged in Gilly due to the village’s location midway between Geneva and Lausanne, home to French-speaking Switzerland's largest concentrations of expats.
However, the team hope that the festival – and the products – will attract Swiss people in the future, too.
“Perhaps not for this first edition because the Swiss can be a bit cautious,” Bucher told The Local, “but it’s open to everyone. It’s not just a thing by expats for expats.”
But whether British-style sausages will attract Swiss customers remains to be seen.
British food “is not popular at all,” added Bucher, saying that the company aims to use that fact to their advantage.
“We are planning do a humorous marketing campaign next year to play on the fact that people think British food is not good,” she said.
“But in fact these are some of the best products of the region.”
The British Food Fair runs from 12pm to late on Saturday October 4th in Gilly.
For tickets and information, visit www.meatpointswitzerland.com
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Designed to be a celebration of British food, the festival will feature stalls selling classic English dishes such as bangers and mash, fish and chips, pies and bacon butties.
Visitors can scoff their British nosh while being entertained by live bands throughout the festival, which starts at midday and runs late into the evening.
Though initially devised by Vevey-based sausage shop Bangers as a way to raise awareness of their fledgling brand, the event will also showcase a number of other local businesses selling British products, including Mama India, Rock n Salt and Le Pie, as well as English beers.
Speaking to The Local, promoter Anne Bucher said: “We realised that if we had pies and fish and chips too, perhaps that would be better, so it became a British Food Fair.”
Ignoring the increasingly respected wineries in the south of England, Bucher added: “The only thing not British or Anglophone will be the wine, as we are in Switzerland!”
Bangers, set up by three entrepreneurs including Englishman Jacob Most, creates British-style sausages, back bacon and pies using locally-sourced Swiss meat.
The sausage range includes popular British classics including Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Pork & Leek.
But at on average 25 francs a kilo, the prices are certainly more Swiss than British.
Initially aimed at expats in the region, the festival will be staged in Gilly due to the village’s location midway between Geneva and Lausanne, home to French-speaking Switzerland's largest concentrations of expats.
However, the team hope that the festival – and the products – will attract Swiss people in the future, too.
“Perhaps not for this first edition because the Swiss can be a bit cautious,” Bucher told The Local, “but it’s open to everyone. It’s not just a thing by expats for expats.”
But whether British-style sausages will attract Swiss customers remains to be seen.
British food “is not popular at all,” added Bucher, saying that the company aims to use that fact to their advantage.
“We are planning do a humorous marketing campaign next year to play on the fact that people think British food is not good,” she said.
“But in fact these are some of the best products of the region.”
The British Food Fair runs from 12pm to late on Saturday October 4th in Gilly.
For tickets and information, visit www.meatpointswitzerland.com
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