Throughout the Festival period our Festival food sleuth, Wendy Varley, reports as usual from the site of the Isle of Wight Festival. This page will be updated daily with her latest recommendations... and warnings!

Saturday snippets:

Heading through Newport on Saturday lunchtime it was great to see Festival-goers hanging out in the sunshine at Olivo’s and The Wheatsheaf in St Thomas’s Square, and at The Railway Medina Tavern.

With South Africa on our minds because of the football, and Ian’s fond memories of meaty Cape Town barbecues from when we visited relatives out there, he headed for the South African BBQ (main arena) and ordered the Boerewors roll (£4), described thus on the sign: “Our traditional South African spiced beef sausage is served on a fresh baked roll and smothered in cheesy tomato and onion relish.” “Spattered, more like,” commented Ian. It wasn’t the most photogenic meal, but Ian said the flavour was “decent”. Overall it was “so-so”, as the accompanying “crispy chips” (£1.50) were definitely more chewy than crispy.

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As regular readers will know, Matt and Cat's Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide was a finalist in the prestigious Hantweb Awards 2010.

The competition, in its seventh year, received a record number of nominations, almost 1400 in twelve categories. As well as some excellent nominated websites, the competition also attracted some impressive sponsorship meaning that the winners of each category went home with a Dell laptop... plus a big slice of glory pie!

The nominated websites were whittled down to a shortlist, then a list of finalists. M&C's site was lucky to survive this stringent filtering process, particularly as their category - 'Special Interest Website' - attracted the most nominations, over 200 sites. Also, the 2010 competition had a new category which wasn't in the hands of the judges: the award for the best public voted finalist. This meant that Matt and Cat's followers could make their voices heard through the on-line voting process.

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Visit the website: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebawards.htm

Aren't humans lucky? We somehow find this lovely planet awash with things conveniently at a manageable scale: buttons, houses, cutlery. Also, being omnivores, we can eat pretty much anything. It's as if it was all designed for our use! Imagine how dull life would be if you were a koala. Sure, you'd live in a nice country and look pretty cute, but what good are a pair of unfeasibly fluffy ears if you can't manipulate a mirror to admire them? And who'd want a monovorous diet of eucalyptus leaves? Not Matt and Cat, who are out and proud as omnivores.

Not all people embrace their ability to chew and digest most of what Mother Nature provides for them. Some people live in places where their diet is not always a matter of choice; others have objections to eating animals that others simply think of as food with a face. Some choose to restrict their diet on a whim or principle: as a child, Cat was a very fussy eater and it's a surprise that she grew up at all, living as she did on salad cream sandwiches and milk. Matthew was less discerning; tea time at the vicarage was a meal without waste.

As she got older, Cat's diet broadened and she was a vegetarian for many years. However, eventually the lure of tuna was too much even for her steely will. This Damascene conversion suited Cat well. These days she has a penchant for fillet steak and, of course, bacon - the vegetarian's temptress.

Both Matt and Cat are happy to eat hay for pay, so were delighted and flattered to be invited to The 'V' Word at The Royal Hotel, a vegetarian tasting evening where they could mingle with the Island's eminent vegetarians. Could they spend an entire evening in such august company and not mention bacon? The only thing to do was to brush off the posh togs and find out.

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Not a restaurant review

Matt and Cat are proud to support the Isle of Wight Healthy Eating Awards. The awards are to celebrate best policy and practice in healthy eating in a range of settings across the Island.

Regular readers will know that they don't limit themselves to the healthiest food - but on the other hand Matt and Cat like to know what they are eating and try to commend good practice both in preparing and identifying food when eating out.

Your reviewers were very pleased to be invited to attend this year's Isle of Wight Healthy Eating Awards at the Quay Arts Centre on Friday, 16 January 2009.

There was a good crowd attending, including regional and national guests from the Food Standards Agency and City University, London together with Andrew Turner MP (pictured).

What's more, there was, of course, food on offer! One of the finalists in the awards was also the host for the evening. Finalist and ultimately winner of the IW Primary Care Trust Hospitality Award was the Quay Arts Café. Matt and Cat tucked into the buffet with their normal enthusiasm, and so couldn't resist the opportunity to review the food offered. If you want to know what they thought, read on.

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Visit the website: http://www.iwrcc.org.uk/63/healthy_eating_alliance.aspx