The Eel goes to...Brighton and Hove

Silo, with its locally sourced produce, nose-to-tail dining and zero waste policy, is right up the Eel’s street. We ate here for brunch and particularly enjoyed the seaweed substitute for bacon on their veggie Full English. Other places to dine include Terre à Terre, a long-standing vegetarian local favourite, and Foragers, a Hove gastro-pub committed to responsible sourcing. We finished the day with fish and chips from Bankers in Hove, one of the nine restaurants to sign the Sustainable Fish Cities pledge in Brighton; others include Moshimo for sushi or GB1 Seafood Restaurant and Bar.

Head to the Bison Beer Crafthouse near the beachfront to pick up a range of local craft ales, as well as some sourced from further afield. We bought a couple of bottles of Optimist, made from leftover bagels from local chain Bagelman, for the train journey home. Whilst in town, make sure you head over to the Robin Hood Pub, a fantastic experience, with a great range of ales and profits going to charity - prepare for a hangover with a social conscience.

Check out hiSbe (How It Should Be) supermarket. With their motto of ‘happiness before profits’, they stock all you would need from your weekly shop and erything is organic, Fairtrade or locally sourced. This shop is all about providing consumers with a choice - here you can find everything from locally sourced meat to vegan alternatives. 

If you’re a commuter, there are two Food Assemblies in Brighton and Hove, both open on a Saturday. For a more traditional market experience head to the Brighton Open Market, open all week and full of local food, sustainable produce and artisan crafts.

If you decide to visit Brighton on a weekday, head to the Real Junk Food Project, a pay as you feel, volunteer-led restaurant, which uses surplus food to serve up a treat at different venues during the week. 

Make sure you look up the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership website for food events going on across the city, covering food growing, cooking and innovative work on policy and planning for food. Part of Sustainable Food Cities network, and one of only two areas to receive a Silver award, they work towards finding practical solutions and developing best practice of key food issues across the UK.

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While you’re there…

• Check out the bizarrely fantastic Royal Pavilion
• Get views of The South Downs from the newly opened i360 
• Spend the day browsing the shops in The Lanes. 

Brighton & Hove is a great place to explore on foot, but if you’re heading further afield, you can also hop on a Big Lemon bus, run on waste cooking oil collected from local businesses. They’ve also installed solar panels at their depot.

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This feature first appeared in The Jellied Eel magazine issue 53, January 2017