Food and Drink
A serious business
Generating 48,000 jobs and around £42 billion pounds in turnover, food and drink mean much more than just a good night out in Scotland these days – they're part of the very lifeblood of our culture and economy.
Scottish food is now world renowned: from our seafood – langoustines, lobsters and oysters from the Gulf-stream warmed waters of the west coast – to our beef and venison, such is the demand for our natural produce that Scotland's food exports now top the half billion pound mark.
Have lobster, will travel . . .
When you order lobster in New York these days, it's as likely to have come from Skye as it is from Maine. Indeed Scotland's shellfish is of such renown that there is even a multi-million pound export trade to such crustacean strongholds as France and Spain, and seafood now accounts for almost 50% of Scotland's food export revenue.
Moving inland there's a huge market for our venison (with the rich flavour of Highland deer among the most revered in the world) and lamb, with exotic varieties like kelp-fed lamb from North Ronaldsay being particularly prized by top chefs. And when it comes to dairy produce, Scotland is beginning to be recognised as one of the world's most exciting cheese producers: from Brodick Blue cheese from the Isle of Arran, through to more exotic cheeses like Strathkiness, the Scottish equivalent of Gruyere, which requires 50 gallons of milk to make one cheese, there's so much to choose from.
Small, but perfectly formed
Many of the companies contributing to this renaissance are not huge multinationals, but small local producers who are supplying excellence into specific niche markets. Loch Fyne Oyster Bar began as a small restaurant on the banks of the loch. It now has branches all over the UK and supplies seafood all over the world. When celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver cook with wild trout and salmon their fish will, more than likely, have come from the banks of the Tay or the Tweed. Similarly, when you say beef, most Michelin-starred chefs automatically put the words 'Aberdeen' and 'Angus' together.
Whisky galore
Today there are over a hundred distilleries in Scotland, most offering tours and tastings. From SPEYSIDE to the HIGHLANDS and the ISLANDS of the west coast the range and variety of whiskies on offer is simply astonishing; the tiny island of Islay, for example, has eight distilleries alone, including BRUICHLADDICH, which still makes its malt using the same Victorian process it did over a century ago.
A good place for the novice to start is with The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Established in the mid 1970's and based in Edinburgh – although with branches all over the world, from Tokyo to New York – the Society offers a one-day crash course in whisky tasting, guiding the novice through the complex business of savouring and evaluating the untold varieties of malt whisky Scotland has to offer.
August 2006
Linked by Water In this feature we look at William Burton and Thomas Blake Glover – just some of the great Scots who made their fortunes with water.
March 2006
For all the whisky in China After air and water, tea is one of the most consumed products. We look at the Scots and Chinese appreciation of each others’ national drinks.
May 2005