Scottish cuisine

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Scottish cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but shares much with wider European cuisine as a result of foreign and local influences both ancient and modern. Traditional Scottish dishes exist alongside international foodstuffs brought about by migration.

Scotland's natural larder of game, dairy, fish, fruit, and vegetables is the integral factor in traditional Scots cooking, with a high reliance on simplicity and a lack of spices from abroad, which were often very expensive. While many inveterate dishes such as Scotch broth are considered healthy, many common dishes are rich in fat, and may contribute to the high rates of heart disease and obesity in the country. In recent times greater importance has been placed on the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, but many Scots, particularly those of low incomes, continue to have poor diets, which contributes to Scotland's relatively high mortality rate from coronary heart disease.^[1]

Scottish cuisine is enjoying a renaissance. As of 2009, fourteen restaurants with Michelin stars served traditional or fusion cuisine made with local ingredients (15 Michelin stars in total)^{[citation needed]}. In most towns, Chinese and Indian take-away restaurants exist along with traditional fish and chip shops. Larger towns and cities offer cuisine ranging from Thai and Japanese to Mexican, Pakistani, Polish and Turkish.

History

Scotland, with its temperate climate and abundance of indigenous game species, has provided a cornucopia of food for its inhabitants for millennia. The wealth of seafood available on and off the coasts provided the earliest settlers with their sustenance. Agriculture was introduced, with primitive oats quickly becoming the staple.

In common with many mediæval European neighbours, Scotland was a feudal state for a greater part of the second millennium. This put certain restrictions on what one was allowed to hunt, therefore to eat. In the halls of the great men of the realm, one could expect venison, boar, various fowl and songbirds, expensive spices (pepper, cloves, cinnamon, etc.), as well as the meats of domesticated species. From the journeyman down to the lowest cottar, meat was an expensive commodity, and would be consumed rarely. For the lower echelons of Mediæval Scots, it was the products of their animals rather than the beasts themselves which provided nourishment. This is evident today in traditional Scots fare, with its emphasis on dairy produce. It would appear that the average meal would consist of a pottage of herbs and roots (and when available some meat or stock for flavouring), with bread and cheese when possible.

Before Sir Walter Raleigh's introduction of the potato to the British Isles, the Scots' main source of carbohydrate was bread made from oats or barley. Wheat was generally difficult to grow because of the damp climate. Food thrift was evident from the earliest times, with excavated middens displaying little evidence of anything but the toughest bones. All parts of an animal were used.

The mobile nature of Scots society in the past required food that should not spoil quickly. It was common to carry a small bag of oatmeal that could be transformed into a basic porridge or oatcakes using a girdle (griddle). It is thought that Scotland's national dish, haggis, originated in a similar way: A small amount of offal or low-quality meat, carried in the most inexpensive bag available, a sheep or pig's stomach. It has also been suggested that this dish was introduced by Norse invaders who were attempting to preserve their food during the long journey from Scandinavia.^[2]

French Influence

During the Late Middle Ages and early modern era, French cuisine played a role in Scottish cookery due to cultural exchanges brought about by the "Auld Alliance",^[3] especially during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary, on her return to Scotland, brought an entourage of French staff who are considered responsible for revolutionising Scots cooking and for some of Scotland's unique food terminology.

French derived cooking terms

"Ashet", Assiette-a large platter.^[4]

"Cannel", Cannelle-Cinnamon

"Collop", from Escalope

"Gigot" ( /ˈdʒɪɡət/) Leg of Mutton - Gigot.^[4]

"Howtowdie", Hétoudeau-a boiling fowl (Old French).^[4]

With the growth of sporting estates and the advent of land enclosure in the 18th century, harvesting Scotland's larder became an industry. The railways further expanded the scope of the market, with Scots grouse at a premium (as today) on English menus shortly after the 12th of August.

20th and 21st centuries

Haggis, neeps and tatties

See also: Rationing in the United Kingdom

Scotland, in common with the other parts of the United Kingdom, suffered during the 20th century. Rationing during the two World Wars, as well as large scale industrial agriculture, limited the diversity of food available to the public. Imports from the British Empire and beyond did, however, introduce new foods to the Scottish public. But processed foods have become more and more popular, particularly among the youth. The schoolchildren of Glasgow, for example, have been reported as consuming a large amount of processed foods.^[5]

During the 19th and 20th centuries there was large scale immigration to Scotland from Italy, and later from the Middle East, Pakistan and India. These cultures have influenced Scots cooking dramatically. The Italians reintroduced the standard of fresh produce, and the later comers introduced spice. With the enlargement of the European Union in the early years of the 21st century, there has been an increase in the population of Eastern European descent, from Poland in particular. A number of speciality restaurants and delicatessens catering for the various new immigrants have opened in the larger towns and cities.

Scottish foods

These foods are tradional to or originate in Scotland.

Soups Cullen Skink Baud bree Cock-a-leekie soup Game soup Hairst Bree (or Hotch potch) Partan bree Scotch broth Fish and Seafood Arbroath smokies Cabbie claw (Cabelew) Ceann Cropaig Crappit heid Cullen skink Eyemouth pales Finnan haddie Kippers Kedgeree Rollmops Smoked salmon Tatties and Herring Meat, Poultry and Game Ayrshire bacon Black pudding, Red pudding and White pudding Boiled Gigot of Mutton or Lamb Forfar Bridie Chicken tikka masala Collops Haggis Howtowdie with Drappit eggs Kilmeny Kail Mince and tatties Mutton ham Pottit heid (head cheese) Potted hough Roast Aberdeen Angus beef Roast Haunch of Venison Roast Grouse Roast Woodcock/Snipe Solan goose Scotch pie Square sausage Stovies Vegetables Clapshot Curly Kail Neeps and tatties (swede turnip) and potatoes) Rumbledethumps Tattie scone (potato scone) Fruits Blaeberries Raspberries Slaes Strawberries Tayberries

Cereals Porridge Sowans Skirlie Dairy and Cheese Bishop Kennedy Carola Criffel Crowdie Dunlop cheese Gigha Lanark Blue Caboc Dunsyre Blue Puddings and Desserts Burnt Cream Apple Frushie Blaeberry pie Carrageen Moss Clootie Dumpling Cranachan Hatted Kit Marmalade pudding Stapag Tipsy Laird Cakes, Breads and Confectioneries Abernethy biscuits Bannock Berwick cockles Black bun Butteries Caramel shortbread Drop-scones Dundee cake Edinburgh rock Fatty Cutties Festy cock Granny sookers Hawick balls Jethart Snails Lucky tatties Moffat toffee Oatcakes Pan drops Pan loaf Petticoat tails Plain loaf Puff Candy Scones Scots Crumpets Selkirk Bannock, variations include Yetholm Bannock Shortbread Soor plooms Tablet Condiments Dundee Marmalade Rowan jelly Spiced plums

Scottish beverages

Alcoholic

See also: Scottish beer

90 shilling ale 80 shilling ale 70 shilling ale India Pale ale Atholl Brose Drambuie

Ginger wine Het pint Heather ale Scotch ale and beer Scotch mist- a cocktail containing mainly whisky Whisky

Non Alcoholic

Irn Bru

Red Kola

Sugarellie

Fast food

Scotland's reputation for coronary and related diet-based diseases is a result of the wide consumption of fast food since the latter part of the twentieth century. Fish and chip shops remain extremely popular, and indeed the battered and fried haggis supper remains a favourite. These have been joined in more recent years by outlets selling pizzas, kebabs, pakoras and other convenience foodstuffs. The west coast in particular is notorious for the amount of deep-fried food consumed, and for being the home of such dishes as the deep-fried pizza and deep fried Mars bar. Deep fried döner kebabs have also become notorious in Glasgow. An extreme example of this style of food is the Munchy box.^[6]

In addition to independent fast-food outlets, in the sixties American-style burger bars and other restaurants such as Wimpy were introduced, and in the eighties, McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken appeared in Scotland.

Notes and references

1. ^ David Eyre. "Scotland: Heart of the matter", BBC News Online, 2004-04-30
2. ^ "Haggis History". MacSweens of Edinburgh. http://www.macsween.co.uk/haggis_history.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2006. 
3. ^ Gail Kilgore. "The Auld Alliance and its Influence on Scottish Cuisine". http://www.historichighlanders.com/auldfood.htm. Retrieved 29 July 2006. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Brown, Catherine (1989). Chapter 9: "Culinary Interchange". In: Scottish Cookery. Glasgow: Richard Drew Publishing. ISBN 0-86267-248-1.
5. ^ Scottish executive publications-What Children eat. "Baseline research of implementation of recommendations of expert panel on school meals: hungry for success: baseline report". The Scottish Government. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/13110440/4. Retrieved September 3, 2010. 
6. ^ "What is a Munchy Box?"". 23x.net. http://blog.23x.net/5/what-is-a-munchy-box.html. Retrieved 27 October 2009. 

External links

• Food Stories — Explore a century of revolutionary change in UK food culture on the British Library's Food Stories website
• Scottish Food Glossary — A glossary of food and cooking terms specific to Scottish cuisine.
• Scottish Food — Scottish Food & Drink