A Tale of Two Champions

Two very different Championships with much in common. The IGCAT European Young Chef 2023 was held last autumn, hosted by European Region of Gastronomy 2023, Hautes-de-France, and the Scottish Bread Championship was held last week, in Fife: the former in a magnificent Hotel School; the latter in a handsome converted barn. It is fair to […]

Scottish Bread Championship 2024 Results

It’s a wrap. The Scottish Bread Championship was held at Bowhouse in Fife, this last weekend in February, during Real Bread week. The one and only of its kind, The Scottish Bread Championship, sponsored by The Edinburgh Bakers Trust Scottish Food Guide and Scotland The Bread brings together Real Bread makers from across the nation. Unique to this Championship, entrants […]

All aboard the MV Hjaltland

Shetland may have the unwelcome distinction of being the archipelago most likely to be parked off Aberdeen on ill-mannered maps but during the year they are the centre of the universe for many, first in Shetland Wool Week, then Taste of Shetland in October. A regular traveller on Northlink, it was with great pleasure we […]

Scottish Bread Championship Update – absolute deadline Feb 12th

The Scottish Bread Championship 2024 will be held at Bowhouse in Fife during Real Bread Week, and is sponsored by The Edinburgh Bakers Trust  Scotland The Bread & Scottish Food Guide RULES & ENTRY FORM ONLINE FROM Monday 8th January 2024 Deadline Monday 12th February 2024 for all entries. Judging will take place on Friday […]

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face…

[Including excerpts from “Meadows: The Swedish Farmer & The Scottish Cook”] Describing certain traditional specialities can be challenging: my Dad once described oatcakes as porridge cookies… but haggis, is an altogether different beastie. When Burns wrote his ‘Address to the Haggis’ in 1786 the deed was done and the rest is history, with Burns suppers celebrating […]

Roll Up Roll Up for the Scottish Bread Championship & Scottish Festival of Real Bread

Happy New Year to you all. It’s time to consider your entries for the Scottish Bread Championship – you knead to complete your entry forms by Monday 12th February. The Scottish Bread Championship will be held at Bowhouse and, building on last year’s event, we have fine-tuned and developed aspects of both the Championship and the Festival […]

Do it buy the Book!

When we flitted from Edinburgh and renovated our wee seaside retreat for full time living, our architect had a specific brief to follow: an antique butter churn, a Victorian knife cleaner, a larger-than-life dinner bell and 300 books had to be accommodated. Amazingly he achieved it in our tiny house although there was a moment […]

The Staff of Life

As the seasons unfold, different delicacies take to the fore: artisan cheese after summer grazing; new season’s crab; North Ronaldsay sheep come new year and strawberries in June. For now, it’s the turn of grains and breads to do a desk takeover chez nous as Andrew Whitley and I plan next February’s Scottish Bread Championship […]

Where have all the flowers gone…When will they ever learn?

Written in 1955 by Pete Seager with a little help from a traditional Cossack folk song and an Irish melody, this famous song was listed in the 2010 Top 20 Political Songs and bears as much relevance today.  Polarised social media, where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, takes a lot of weeding these […]

Texan food memories, harvests & foraging

September marks a turn of the seasons and bountiful harvests: feasts for the table and surplus for preserving to savour over the winter months. Our forefathers knew how to make the most of our natural wealth and there is a welcome resurgence with an increasing number of chefs and enthusiasts salting and pickling, jam-ing and […]

This little piggy went to market

The world food system is not in good shape. Where there’s determination and a driving force, it can be repaired and there are many who give me hope, not least the fabulous Scottish Food Guide members, but there is much needing done. Free Trade in food can create nightmare scenarios, for example the Irish potato […]

Romans, Roving & Rare Breeds

Since last I wrote, I’ve presented in a zoom lecture followed by a live event at Hadrian’s Wall on Roman Influence on British Cuisine – A Culinary Journey. Bosse and I really enjoyed undertaking the considerable in depth research and hopefully there will be future opportunities to give an action replay. For now, there is […]

Travels to Kos & News from SFG HQ

Food tourism is nothing new: the Grand Tour on the canals of Venice or the sparkling Côte d’Azure, experiencing fritto misto di mare and salade Niçoise along the way, returning with paintings, textiles, ceramics, recipes and a desire to embrace cultures new. We can see this today in Scotland as we meet travellers from across […]

Twitterati & Highland Show Tributes

In Scotland the gorse is blooming adding scents of coconut to the air, birds are nesting and ramsons are flourishing. On a gloriously sunny – if slightly nippy – day, let’s take a deep breath and forget for a moment about the energy bills and other frustrations in life…well it was worth a try! If […]

Rocky road & ruchie rolls

Loving families exist in all shapes and sizes, whether perfect circles or rickety rhomboids. Some are tiny like my ‘side’ of the family, others extended and exuberant. Some are successfully fashioned from lifelong friendship bonds (like those lovely ‘aunties’ that aren’t really aunts) and some even through business links. I certainly consider Scottish Food Guide […]

A New Year: A New World?

This week we were invited to the tenth birthday celebration of Nourish where we met old friends and new, with the conversation (rising above some fabulous ceilidh music) as engaging and eclectic as the guests. One discussion led to vegetable boxes: the optimum size and correlation with the health of Scotland. When is a box […]

Scottish Bread Championship: New Date & New Fife Venue

The Scottish Bread Championship 2023 has moved and will be held at Bowhouse in the East Neuk of Fife during Real Bread Week (18th to 26th February 2023).  Bowhouse near St Monans is a well known Food Hub for small food businesses and producers to collaborate, and as such is the ideal location for such a Championship. […]

Yours Aye – Our Hogmanay Round Up 2022

Another year whizzes by with still little sign of stability in the economy however I hope you and your loved ones are in good health and I really appreciate the support and collaboration we all give each other in these challenging times. Scottish Food Guide is one of a kind and seen increasingly by an […]

From little acorns…

Sometimes we wonder why we do what we do, particularly in this challenging world we live in, yet from little acorns grow mighty oaks and that’s why we keep going and sometimes, just sometimes, it all works out for the best. Today, Slow Food’s International Terra Madre Day, is a good time for reflection, amidst […]

Scottish Food Guide attends Salone del Gusto Terra Madre

Many years ago at a formal meeting a Scottish official, who should have known better, said to me, We’re not all red-haired in tartan like a shortbread tin. I doubt his comment went on record nor whether he remembers but I shall never forget. In those days I was too naïve to retort but nowadays […]

Happy Birthday Scottish Food Guide & a Norwegian Adventure with IGCAT

2022. Scottish Food Guide & Scottish Cheese Trail celebrate 20 years. It seems only yesterday I started with a blank sheet of paper and the first website. With significant remodelling over the years it has never changed its mission: to celebrate and collaborate with the best places to eat and finest produce in Scotland; to […]

Royal Highland & Royal Banquets

Well the Royal Highland Show is a wrap for another year and I for one am delighted we didn’t have this sweltering heat! It was marvellous to meet and greet everyone again; to watch those stunning horses parade the ring, to inspect the shampoo’d sheep and compare cattle in the Highland Hall. This year was […]

Midsummer tidings to you all

It’s been a while…too long… since our last newsletter but we have certainly not been idle and have news to share. There have been three cheese workshops, one a full day experience with expert Kathy Biss and a vat of Kedar’s delicious milk to make into cheese. The participants have been fabulous and engaged with […]

Fact or fiction? The truth behind the story  

Having recently returned from the Slow Food Scotland AGM, hosted at Errichel, home to SF Cooks Alliance member Paul Newman, his wife Becky, and the new Ark of Taste Orchard, there was much interesting debate as ever and it was warming to see Slow Food exemplified at Errichel, where native Ark of Taste breeds are […]

Mull it Over – It’s well worth the trip!

Mull is certainly a mighty isle. With its mountainous landscape, high cliffs and wide valleys it’s no wonder it is popular with tourers and wildlife enthusiasts, thrill-seekers and campers. Indeed we got the last place on the ferry when we visited at the tail end of last year – it was almost winter! I have […]

Positive vibes for 2022

As we commence 2022 I expect you, like me, are onto your new diary whether it be digital or old school, filled with good intentions to be organised and productive, successful and sustainable. Perhaps some of you, like me, glanced back at January 2020 when our diaries were bursting with no hint of what was […]

Wishing You Good Health & Happiness

In the words of the song, All I Want for Christmas is…. what? Probably an end to this perpetual pandemic would be top of all our lists but then perhaps we diverge and our priorities differ. Good health and positivity are certainly the next two on our wish-list and our hearts go out to friends […]

Food Sovereignty

There is much talk of food sovereignty, shortages, poverty, power and progress…or the lack of it. Which direction will it take? Well that depends on who you listen to! There are so many mixed messages out there. Climate & COP26 Scientists are at odds with each other over carbon emissions and climate forecasts. There are […]

Scottish Food News

It’s been a busy spell at Scottish Food Guide HQ and we’re itching to visit places again although also aware many establishments need to take advantage of every staycationer wallet in the meantime so we shall hold off a little longer whilst the English schools are still on vacation and re-start visits in the quieter […]

Balancing the Beef

Beef, climate and COP26 are fast becoming the talk o’ the steamie [the Scottish communal wash-houses, steamies, had a well-founded reputation as hotbeds of blether]. Already a defining news feature of the decade the topic is heating up as the temperature rises… but along the way so many nuances are lost. Headlines grab generic sweeping statements, advocating rewilding or […]

Crusty Sourdoughs & Seasonal Conversations

Last week the Scottish Bread Championship was held in the new Members’ Pavilion at Ingliston. For as long as I can remember, June is synonymous with the Royal Highland Show and for over twenty years I’ve been involved in their Cookery Theatre. When teaching, I even had it put in my contract that I was […]

From Island to Plate: North Ronaldsay Mutton, Scotland’s First Presidium

Never was there a hardier wee breed than the North Ronaldsay sheep! One of the oldest sheep breeds in Northern Europe and among the most rare in the world, this iconic flock thrives on the island shoreline, hence their sobriquet ‘seaweed sheep.’  According to a Danish investigation of old bones on Orkney, their DNA is […]

Tales from the Seashore

As we emerge from lockdown we shall be able to travel the highways and byways again, visiting fabulous members, friends and family…making up for lost time. But I think all of us, to some extent, have made discoveries over this past year: our resilience and what we hold dear; maybe reading books or learning a […]

Scottish Food Guide Charter goes Live!

To see Scottish Food Guide Charter please click here With a career in food and food tourism spanning over thirty years, certain things really stick in my craw! One such morsel is the ubiquitous use of ‘local’ food when there is no reference to quality. A laudable adjective hijacked, tagged to all and sundry and […]

Shopping: A Breath of Fresh Air & the Whiff of the Food!

We grow vegetables in our little kitchen garden but we are also most definitely thankful for our local farm shops! Currently our lives consist of collecting a dairy order and vegetables, our freezer keeping our spirits up with a good supply of meats direct from farms. Chatting over the brassicas, as you do, it was […]

Shipping, Shopping & Spoots!

This morning brings a new layer of chaos as we approach Christmas. What will historians write in years to come? What will I be writing in weeks to come? I am going to stick with food systems and families today. Don’t get me wrong: I am delighted to buy an Amalfi lemon or Västerbotten cheese, […]

Local, Local, Local!

When seeking property, location location location is drilled into us. Now, in our new world, it is local being similarly touted. Of course there are those of us who have followed this mantra all their lives but we also know it is not that simple. What about nearby logistic hubs some businesses dare to count as ‘local […]

Re-launched website for Scottish Food Guide & Women in Tourism Award

Women in Tourism Award I was absolutely delighted to receive some super news this week – the results of a public campaign to find the Top 100 Women In Tourism were published and I’m thrilled to share that along with another 99 lassies I am one of the 2020 award winners including SFG members Carina Contini  […]

Open All Hours!

We emerge, traveling hopefully, optimistically; realistically acknowledging the world is different but forging on. Such is the hospitality industry. Right? Many of our friends have worked harder than they ever thought possible and my respect runs forever deep. Many have changed their modus operandi: adapting, transforming, resolutely re-emerging and I salute them. Some have had […]

Lead the way…and learn lessons for Mother Earth

I could rant about the recent litter-strewn beaches and countryside, the unmentionable trash and the resulting injured animals, or nurse my wrath at the handful of vandals who have even invaded kitchen gardens this week…but I won’t. It is a new dawn, a new day, a new week and Scotland, fingers crossed, is taking careful […]

Food Politics

Food has never been more political. Well, perhaps an exaggeration when I think of the Irish potato famine and the French revolution…but nevertheless food is definitely headlining right now. Brexit (remember that?) has raised its head with the Agriculture Bill and its amendment to ban imports of low standard food defeated. A blow below the belt […]

Moose, Marmalade and other Musings….

Week 4 of #lockdown and where are we now? Some rushed off their feet through rapidly changing circumstances; others in impossible situations and trying to remain sane. We all have our different coping mechanisms: diving into activities or deep cleaning, gardening or baking…and of course many of you are home schooling too. Thankfully that is […]

Let’s Stay in Touch

Dear friends, fellow foodies and all those in hospitality business, an extended and diverse family indeed. Words cannot express the situation that most of us are in right now – at least not repeatable words! And whilst we are naturally worried for friends and family, personal health and harsh economics, we are also overwhelmed by […]

Looking back, and forward to 2020

Some of us are fortunate to take a wee pause just now, gather our thoughts and reflect with friends and family. Others are still on a rollercoaster of guests and hospitality, food orders, even milking! Our thoughts are with you all: those pausing now will no doubt be manic later and those in festive maelstrom? […]

New Seasonal Offers Page on Scottish Food Guide & Slow Food in the UK Awards

Our latest addition to Scottish Food Guide is the Seasonal Offers link. Many Members offer wonderful seasonal offers and after Members’ feedback we thought what better way to highlight their seasonal news than on a home page link, refreshed weekly so always up to the minute to enjoy! https://scottishfoodguide.com/latest-offers/ Check out festive dining, gift inspirations and, […]

Edible Scotland with Slow Food Scania

When asked to organise food travel for a group of Slow Food Swedes the challenge is always to compress the exceptional into a manageable and affordable format: a task we enjoy as we love sharing Scotland’s finest with folk who appreciate it. So with every train, boat and plane timetable checked and costed; menus discussed, […]

Goodfoodology!

I count myself lucky indeed that the interests and pursuits I am most passionate about happen also to be how I earn my living: Good food, where to find it and what to do with it is my stock in trade. When this involves enthusing folk in the most essential of life skills, eating well, […]

Happy Memories from Royal Highland Show 2019

Thanks to one and all! Hard to believe it’s over for another year and what an amazing time we had – thanks to chefs, cooks, students and RHASS…plus a fabulous spouse or two lending a hand and of course all our wonderful audiences! This year, had RHS still been travelling our Nation as in the […]

This Week is Showtime! See you there!

…with Scotland’s Royal Highland Show starting on Thursday. 190K visitors can’t be wrong! For months June has been marked on calendars on fridge doors and desktops: cheesemakers and gelateria honing their skills for their Dairy Championships and bakers nurturing sourdough starters for the Scottish Bread Championships whilst elsewhere in the showground beekeepers polish their honey […]

Bread & Cheese – where would we be without them!

The yellowhammer has a characteristic song with an “A little bit of bread and no cheese” rhythm. I remain to be convinced however I am certain the world would be a poorer place without bread and cheese! We hosted another of our popular Cheese Lovers courses at Scottish Food Studio the other day and had a […]

Westering Home…and eating like Kings!

Home for us is Fife however in my line of work exploring Scotland is both a joy and a privilege. I am fortunate to be able to combine my love of geography, food and culture to explore our country’s nooks and crannies. And so it was we headed for Islay, known across the world for […]

What a Week it Was! Holyrood Insights.

When given the opportunity to have a Member Sponsored Exhibition, thanks to the support of Annabelle Ewing MSP, I enthusiastically accepted then the planning commenced! The Heritage Foods of Alba Exhibition at The Scottish Parliament ran from March 5th– 7thin the Members’ Lobby, the perfect place to be. This was to be the ideal opportunity to showcase Scotland’s rare […]

Tattie Time Today!

In a world of international cuisine, noodles and nachos, rice and cornmeal, it is refreshing to see a celebration of potatoes! Travel to Germany and their food markets have stalls solely specialising in potatoes. Switzerland and the Nordic countries also appreciate their tubers – indeed many of their seed potatoes originate from Scotland, such is […]

Heritage Foods of Alba

Wendy Barrie, Scottish Food Guide, will be presenting The Heritage Foods of Alba Exhibition at The Scottish Parliament on March 5th– 7th inclusive. This Member Sponsored Exhibition is thanks to the support of AnnabelleEwing MSP and will take place in the Members’ Lobby this week. Scotland is blessed with a unique range of amazing and rare foods […]

The Sap is Rising!

After last year’s beast from the east one can never be sure, but our crocus bulbs think spring is near and among Perthshire’s birch trees the sap will surely rise soon.  Taking a walk through beautiful woodland is one of the joys in life – and most definitely hygge. There are birch, oak, ash and pine […]

Goodfoodology – Our Learning Zone

I am a firm believer in you are what you eat: the importance of sustainable healthy food and the enjoyment of cooking. I have long been a supporter of education, education, education. Whether it is cooking in schools or adult learning, the reality is that every day’s a school day! An increasing number of Scottish Food Guide […]

London Calling

Personally speaking, my travels to London are sufficiently infrequent to still be fun! My earliest memory is of going to ‘see the sights’ in the 60’s (when still in early primary years I hasten to add!) with my parents driving down in a lemon coloured mini. I believe we ‘did’ Tussauds et al but my […]

From Offaly Good Pud in Scotland to Cracking Kidneys in Berlin!!

Black pudding has long been a staple of the full Scottish breakfast but did you know how it began? Back in the days before trains, cattle were brought from the hills down to market in Central Scotland, even as far as London, on the hoof. Those who guided the cattle en route were Drovers, many […]

Delightful Dumfries & Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is a stunning part of Scotland and oft overlooked in favour of Nessie or Glen Coe. Yet for those in the know it has scenery, history, nature and great food in spades! The remarkably mild climate and moist breezes have created a landscape famous for its beef and dairy cattle, creating lush […]

Wendy Barrie wins Thistle Regional Ambassador Award, Central, Fife & Tayside 2018/19

The Scottish Thistle Awards Regional Finals for the Central, Fife  & Tayside, and Lothian & Borders took place at Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh on Thursday. These are recognised as Scotland’s top awards for the tourism industry and offer the opportunity to recognise those people who have made valuable contributions to the sector across the country. […]

A Vote for Good Food!

Food is emotive. Food is political. Food is convivial. Food brings back fond memories of holidays, family, celebrations. Yet sadly food can also have negative connotations: horsemeat scandal, factory chickens, intensively reared pigs, cattle feedlots and a general malaise in terms of a fractured food system. As folk become increasingly distanced from the rural economy, […]

The Wonders of Shetland

It was a pleasure and delight to visit Shetland again for their Taste of Shetland celebrations. OK so you need sea legs or a flight to get there but what an adventure and a warm welcome awaits you. Our journey was compliments of Northlink http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk for which we thank them most sincerely. The service aboard was […]

Taste of Shetland

Whether it is its proximity to Scandinavia or the friendly folk; the breathtaking views or the abundance of amazing produce, both Orkney and Shetland are fantastic places to visit and now our sights turn to Shetland as it is time for Taste of Shetland, the annual celebration of their produce. Not that one needs an excuse […]

Orkney Adventures – Part 2

The Lynnfield Hotel is a wonderful place for foodies to hang their hat whilst visiting all these fabulous islands and produce. Not many folks can boast a distillery for a neighbour but The Lynnfield can with Highland Park on its doorstep! Elements of distilling, Orkney craftsmanship and heritage food production are reflected in the dining room […]