Gastronomic students to get a taste of Scotland

Gastronomic sciences students discover Scotland's culinary delights - 10th - 21st July 2006

Scotland's food culture will come under the spotlight next week as a group of discerning international students from the world's first University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy -  founded by the Slow Food movement in 2003 - embark on a learning journey to discover the country's traditional food culture and the people striving to keep it alive.

Any pre-conceptions about the Scottish diet - much-maligned over the years - will be firmly knocked on the head as the students are introduced to an incredible range of indigenous products of exceptional quality. The students, as ambassadors of the Slow Food movement, will return to Italy and their native countries with a fresh perspective on artisanal Scottish food culture, be in a stronger position to promote it to the wider world, and to understand it in the context of global trends in food production, persistently under threat from mass-production, standardisation and loss of taste.

The two-week trip (known as a stage) will begin on the Isle of Skye, with a welcome supper by Lady Claire Macdonald at Kinloch Lodge.  At the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Gaelic college,  the students will be introduced to the history, geography, culture and environment of the Scottish Highlands and will take a study walk to see a deserted Highland village and a native forest regeneration project in Sleat.  Lectures on Scottish crofting will be accompanied by visits to a range of working crofts on Skye, showing both traditional and more contemporary approaches to producing food from crofts: sheep for meat and wool; spinning and knitting; poultry rearing; organic salad production; strawberry and mushroom growing and pork and venison curing.  By way of contrast, the students will also visit the secluded crofting community of Glenelg in Wester Ross.  A day on traditional fishing will include a talk on sustainable fishing practices from a marine ecologist, visits to creel fishermen and hand-dived scallop fishermen, a wildlife cruise in a glass-bottomed boat and a seafood barbecue on the beach with the Slow Food  Skye and Lochalsh convivium.

The students will also meet hospitality and catering students who are training through the workplace on Skye,  and home economics teachers from schools on the island who are keen to educate a new generation to appreciate good locally-produced food. They will sample local produce at several other restaurants, including Hotel Eilean Iarmain, Toravaig House Hotel, Glenelg Inn and Plockton Hotel.  A 'Taste of Skye' lunch at the famous Three Chimneys restaurant, which has done much to raise the reputation of Scottish cooking, followed by a talk on local producers by founder and award-winning chef, Shirley Spear, promises to be another highlight.

Subsequent days see the students in Sutherland where they will have a talk by Aquascot about organic fish farming whilst enjoying a breakfast of salmon and beremeal bannocks, before visiting Golspie Mill, a restored watermill that produces oatmeal and rare beremeal (an ancient barley from the North Highlands, Orkney and Shetland, currently protected under Slow Food's Ark of Taste ). The day on traditional Scottish cereals will continue with visits to Sutor Creek community restaurant in Cromarty with its wood-fired oven, the Black Isle organic micro-brewery and family-owned Ben Romach single-malt whisky distillery in Moray. Two days in Aberdeenshire, as guests of the Aberdeenshire Slow Food convivium, include visits to Crannach artisan bakery; tutored tastings of Aberdeen Angus beef and hand-made organic cheese;  a visit to a small family farm with pigs and geese;  a talk on salmon fishery from a gillie on the River Dee; a Doric poetry recital in celebration of tatties and a ceilidh with local traditional musicians.  The stage concludes in and around the capital Edinburgh, where the group will see first-hand from Joe Findlay of Portobello how Scotland's famous dish, haggis, is made; followed by a haggis supper and talk on Robert Burns. In the Borders, Fiona Houston, food historian, will give the students a guided tour of 'The Guid Scots Diet' exhibition, which vividly reconstructs how the Scottish people have fed themselves from pre-historic times to the present day.

The inspiration for the trip came from none other than Carlo Petrini, founder and president of the Slow Food movement, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Petrini was so impressed by the country's gastronomy during the Slow Food UK Founding Congress on the Isle of Skye in August 2005 that he declared that a stage must be held in Scotland in 2006. Indeed this will be the very first stage to take place in the UK, but future years will see groups of students exploring other parts of the UK as well as returning to Scotland.

Pam Rodway, a director of Slow Food UK and leader of the Slow Food Highlands and Moray convivium, who organised the trip, said:

"It has been a real pleasure to put together a programme of lectures, producer visits, tutored tastings and delicious menus which highlight the exceptional quality and generosity of Scotland's food culture at its best - illustrating both its rich heritage and its ability to respond to the new interest in real local food. This is what Slow Food aims to celebrate in all countries of the world.  It is a privilege to welcome these young international ambassadors of the new eco-gastronomy to taste and see what we do here in Scotland."

The trip will be a perfect precursor to the highlights of the Slow Food calendar this year: The  Salone del Gusto  international fair for quality artisan food and the Terra Madre Meeting of World Food Communities, both of which will be held on 26th - 30th October in Turin and in which Scotland plays a prominent role.

At the Salone del Gusto, a Scottish Island of Taste will feature Belhaven beer and the products of Quality Meat Scotland. A selection of native Scottish meat will also be tasted during The Scottish Meat Renaissance workshop, including Aberdeen-Angus, Highland cattle and Galloway beef, Scottish Blackface, North Country Cheviot and Orkney lamb.

Whisky will feature in two taste workshops: as an accompaniment to sushi, smoked salmon, Stilton, chocolate and cigars in the Maledetto Toscano and Whisky workshop and, in the Whisky Matches tasting, the Single Malt Club of Scotland will present a selection of six single malt whiskies from different Scottish regions.

At Terra Madre, chefs and food producers featured in the stage will join delegates from around the world,  representing food communities from all areas of Scotland.

The trip has been made possible through funding from - Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skye and Wester Ross Enterprise, VisitScotland, Aberdeenshire Council, the Crofters' Commission and Aquascot.