Monday 17 May 2021
A few years ago, as I sat overlooking the harbour in Sydney – I was living there and working at Time Out – an Italian chef, upon clocking my Glaswegian accent, looked at me and said, ‘Scotland? Great produce! But you don’t know what to do with it.’ This, I realised, feeling suddenly pale in the Australian sun, is the global reputation of Scottish cooking. Sure, our produce is world-renowned – salmon, shellfish, whisky – but there is little faith that we, as Scots, know what to do with our own bounty.
Ethical Shellfish Company boat
It is, of course, nonsense. The people have known how to cook with their country’s wares for millennia – culinary craft has been honed throughout historic invasions, waves of immigration and the spice laden kists of imperialism – but somehow so-called Scottish cuisine has left us with haggis and tatties, deep-fried fish (we don’t talk about the other deep-fried thing) and chicken Balmoral. Glasgow chef Grant Reek
GLASGOW will find itself at the forefront of conversations about the environment and sustainability next year as the city hosts the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, in November as governments gather for a “global stock-take” on greenhouse gas emissions and other key challenges for the planet. An event of this scale will put a spotlight on attitudes to recycling, the environmental impact of tourism and themes around the modern economy. Heather Suttie is a committed environmental campaigner and a creative director at media agency Hollicom. She is currently studying sustainability at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership in Business.