Isle of Wight-grown tomatoes featured in the menu of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove in Gloucestershire recently.
The King and Queen had invited acting, fashion and football royalty to the star-studded event to celebrate Italian cuisine and enjoy a feast of healthy and sustainable slow food.
The banquet was designed to mark the forthcoming State Visits to the Republic of Italy and the Holy See.
Big names present at the meal included actors Dame Helen Mirren and Stanley Tucci, designer Donatella Versace and David and Victoria Beckham.
Renowned Italian chef Francesco Mazzei – who combed the length and breadth of the United Kingdom to source fresh ingredients – created the menu.
Mazzei chose tomatoes from Isle of Wight Tomatoes to make the passata, which featured in the first course as a sauce for the ravioli.
The slow food initiative started in Italy in the mid-80s in response to the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in central Rome.
The initiative – championed by King Charles – strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine.
So what, a tomato is a tomato. Does anyone really care who is chomping on them. I bet they didn’t buy them like the rest of us have to either. Freebies for the elites, something is wrong here.
It’s marketing. Good for them that they’re getting a higher profile and people are hearing and reading about it. More people, hopefully, will be buying their tomatoes etc, and people here on the Island will have jobs.
Or, we can just be cynical and run everything down.
Most of the labour at the Tomato farm is from oversees.
Probably cheaper and easier to run, that employ people living on the island.
That is because local Numpty’s are not
Grafters like people from overseas.
That is why the Island needs more persons
from overseas coming to the island, good for
everyone.
The NHS also needs them.
No, same ol’ minimum wage, but better work ethic and they don’t mind 5am starts.