Scottish food reputation

[PapofGlencoe]

Just spent a week on the continent being constantly told how shite our food is by various (well meaning but utterly irritating) locals.  Im fairly laid back and dont' easily get annoyed at folk..i'll even allow the odd "In England.." error without much fuss..but this happened so many times it's hit home how bad an image problem we have..

For a country that produces Oysters, Langoustine, Angus beef, Salmon, Rasberries, Venison of the finest quality we need to do a better job exporting the market.

We have a diet problem in this country, ready meals are far too heavily used but we have some fine produce.  We need to start eating better and taxing kepabs out of the cities..  we have better and it should be encouraged..

I'm bored out of my tits with patter about deep fried mars bars...Anyone else feel we kind of revel in this for comedic affect a bit?  

And by the way, nice as it is, a pizza is just a bit of bread with some tomotoes and cheese with something else on top.  It's hardly a masterpiece of gourmet cuisine

I think a homemade stew is far better than a ####in piece of melon and some ham that i've been served up as a Spanish delicacy.

It's hard to say what every day "Scottish" food is because we're far more adventurous and don't just eat the food from our own culture..  not because our own stuff is disgusting rubbish.  MInce and tatties is bloody good stuff!  

Our great Whisky industry, is a double edged sword.. we revel in being a pished up nation..it's funny for a bit and then it's reckless.

Am I being oversensitive  ??

 

[weekevie04]

Were they referring to the processed shite we lap up and our poor diet in general? Or the actual good food we produce like you mentioned in the second paragraph?

Who actually eats deep-fried mars bars? I've heard this a few times as well, it was a huge publicity stunt at the time for chipper, and it seems to have traveled -although didn't realise abroad - mostly English/Irish who mocked me/us about this.

We are part of Britain and they are well-mocked for their diet/food by mainland Europeans, most people just lump us altogether as England/Britain.

 

[aaid]

3 minutes ago, weekevie04 said:

Were they referring to the processed shite we lap up and our poor diet in general? Or the actual good food we produce like you mentioned in the second paragraph?

Who actually eats deep-fried mars bars? I've heard this a few times as well, it was a huge publicity stunt at the time for chipper, and it seems to have traveled -although didn't realise abroad - mostly English/Irish who mocked me/us about this.

We are part of Britain and they are well-mocked for their diet/food by mainland Europeans, most people just lump us altogether as England/Britain.

 

I've never felt the urge to have a deep fried mars bar and majority of people I've met who've had one are tourists and they generally only have them once.  I've hardly ever met anyone who lives in Scotland who's had one and even then it was only to try it.  I've never met anyone who regularly - or at least will admit to - eating them regularly. 

 

[Duncan Blackheart]

I had one once. Don't generally eat stuff like that but thought I'd live a little and see what the fuss was about.

anyway, I remember talking to a girl who worked in tourism Scotland (or whatever it's called) and she reckoned that the food had a good rep amongst the higher end tourists from France/ Germany/ USA. They love the fish/ game stuff and pay a lot for it - kinda goes with the whisky/ kilts/ shortbread type image that we use to get them in.

That said, I'm off to la Laterna near Glasgow central tonight, so don't know what that says about Scottish food!

[euan2020]

1 hour ago, PapofGlencoe said:

Just spent a week on the continent being constantly told how shite our food is by various (well meaning but utterly irritating) locals.  Im fairly laid back and dont' easily get annoyed at folk..i'll even allow the odd "In England.." error without much fuss..but this happened so many times it's hit home how bad an image problem we have..

For a country that produces Oysters, Langoustine, Angus beef, Salmon, Rasberries, Venison of the finest quality we need to do a better job exporting the market.

We have a diet problem in this country, ready meals are far too heavily used but we have some fine produce.  We need to start eating better and taxing kepabs out of the cities..  we have better and it should be encouraged..

I'm bored out of my tits with patter about deep fried mars bars...Anyone else feel we kind of revel in this for comedic affect a bit?  

And by the way, nice as it is, a pizza is just a bit of bread with some tomotoes and cheese with something else on top.  It's hardly a masterpiece of gourmet cuisine

I think a homemade stew is far better than a ####in piece of melon and some ham that i've been served up as a Spanish delicacy.

It's hard to say what every day "Scottish" food is because we're far more adventurous and don't just eat the food from our own culture..  not because our own stuff is disgusting rubbish.  MInce and tatties is bloody good stuff!  

Our great Whisky industry, is a double edged sword.. we revel in being a pished up nation..it's funny for a bit and then it's reckless.

Am I being oversensitive  ??

 

we do a good job exporting it - maybe just struggle to cook it well

eating out is expensive in Uk though - I can get a 300/350 gram Fillet Steak in Restaurant for 8 pounds in cape town  

[scotlad]

32 minutes ago, weekevie04 said:

Were they referring to the processed shite we lap up and our poor diet in general? Or the actual good food we produce like you mentioned in the second paragraph?

Who actually eats deep-fried mars bars? I've heard this a few times as well, it was a huge publicity stunt at the time for chipper, and it seems to have traveled -although didn't realise abroad - mostly English/Irish who mocked me/us about this.

We are part of Britain and they are well-mocked for their diet/food by mainland Europeans, most people just lump us altogether as England/Britain.

 

If they were referring to the former then they are bang on the money (and by the way, I completely agree with the OP about kebab shops).  If it is the latter then they are talking mince (mmmm, mince).  Our salmon and strawberries are as good if not better as any I've tasted from elsewhere in the world.

Apparently Glasgow now has more types of restaurant then any other British city (bar London, probably).  Many are chains, so perhaps the cooking isn't always top notch, but I don't think I've ever been abroad and thought to myself that the cooking was much better than at home.  I even had a tremendous meal at a Scottish restaurant in the Merchant City a year or two ago.

[PapofGlencoe]

1 hour ago, weekevie04 said:

Were they referring to the processed shite we lap up and our poor diet in general? Or the actual good food we produce like you mentioned in the second paragraph

They were referring to what "you do not have" in Scotland...or "we have"...

I took plenty until I was told "we have Sea Salt here, which you don't have in Scotland..."  at this point I politely said we do have sea salt and our sea shore is larger than theirs.  My mother has been using sea salt in her cooking for her entire life and wouldn't use anything else.  

"we have smoked meat here...

We have fresh herbs here..

"you don't have many fruits because of the cold..

The idea we could have some of the best Rasberries/Strawberries in the world was just baffling to them.

The implication was we, as in us Scots, do not have these things..it wasn't just them saying their own thing.  it was a passive, "look at these things you can't get in your country"  Done in a nice enough way but totally irritating after the 6th Italian tells you about how they couldn't get good meat in Scotland/UK..or they didn't like the food.  It's ####in cured meat, our honey roast ham is as good.

1 hour ago, Duncan Blackheart said:

anyway, I remember talking to a girl who worked in tourism Scotland (or whatever it's called) and she reckoned that the food had a good rep amongst the higher end tourists from France/ Germany/ USA. They love the fish/ game stuff and pay a lot for it - kinda goes with the whisky/ kilts/ shortbread type image that we use to get them in.

It's not true.  I'm sorry, maybe for the US but it's not true of the rest of Europe.  I believed this story we tell ourselves but it's not.  We're seen as having crap food. Sorry.  Maybe the very select few that take an interest but not in the general populace, rich or not.  

We have one of the biggest fish ports in Europe and most of our own Central belt have no clue about it.  The good stuff goes to the Ritz and we're told by the Europeans we have no good food.  

i'm totally ranting here  but it's annoyed me.

The question you're asked is "What is the food like in Scotland"..  and the truth is it's a difficult question to answer.  We don't eat a haggis every day like the italians' eat pasta/pizza.  Our palate comes from everywhere.  

The next time i'm asked this question, i'll probably say "we usually eat pizza, curry or macaroni cheese; as Scottish food is far too good/expensive to be eaten every day".

I am friends with all these foreigners and love them to bits but after a while some of their preconceptions are totally wearing.  Thank you TAMB for allowing me to vent 

[PapofGlencoe]

Next up on my rants will be the new one I encountered (during all of the above)..

"but..you don't have mountains in Scotland.."

I know it's no the Alps but ffs.

[Duncan Blackheart]

I'm not fussed! Just reporting what she said their market research showed. 

i should also say that my experience of French food when I have gone there is that it is mostly utter dogschit unless you are paying through le nez. Germany, on the other hand, is wunderbar.

[Scunnered]

If there's one thing us Scots love, it's heart disease. 

[deecie]

10 minutes ago, Scunnered said:

If there's one thing us Scots love, it's heart disease. 

And if there's one thing we hate, it's everything.

[scottincarlisle]

19 minutes ago, Duncan Blackheart said:

. Germany, on the other hand, is wunderbar.

Agreed 

[Return of Yermaw]

25 minutes ago, Scunnered said:

If there's one thing us Scots love, it's heart disease. 

and stereotypes (see the West Coast/East Coast thread). Get annoyed at others applying stereotypes to us and then perpetuate them in the next breath/action.  

[buckielugger]

think its correct that Scottish food exports have grown a lot lately.

also i think there's a lot of really lovely food in Scotland.

great fish and chip restaurant in Oban for example. they do really beautiful fish there.

 

[thewelk]

The seafood thing is weird. For an island nation the knowledge that Scots have of sea food is a f#cking disgrace. Where does that ignorance come from? I vaguely remember that where I was from fish eating was considered a bit posh. Is it because we're all peasants?

This is made all the more mental if you consider that we produce some of the finest sea food in europe. Then send it all to France and Italy. If the salmon is écossais or scozzese it's costs a few euros more because it's premium.

I didn't eat a prawn (a real prawn, not prawn cocktail crisps) until the age of 24 and that was in France. My first seafood soup was at the age of 26. I had this ingrained aversion to seafood without really knowing why. Now I can't get enough of the stuff.

[hampden_loon2878]

As a fish rich country we dont eat enough of it,, people need to see beyond "fish and chip" and try a bit of different,,, Last week i picked up some squid and gave that a go, very easy to clean and cook.It made a pleasant change from the usual haddock and lemons,,, i was at the world sea food exhibition in boston a few years back,, we could sure learn a lot from how the handle their fish,, 

Edited August 11, 2016 by hampden_loon2878

[scottincarlisle]

The ingredients are out there, people just can't cook anymore.

[Ormond]

27 minutes ago, scottincarlisle said:

The ingredients are out there, people just can't cook anymore.

The breakdown of the family has a lot to do with that. 

[the_burger]

I think a lot of it has to do with what's on offer in supermarkets. Go anywhere in Europe and the food on display looks far superior to ours, regardless of where it is from 

[deecie]

41 minutes ago, Ormond said:

The breakdown of the family has a lot to do with that. 

I blame the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

[Ormond]

1 minute ago, deecie said:

I blame the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

I see what you are trying to do here.

[Huddersfield]

I've travelled a fair bit around Scotland; from the borders to Unst & all points in between, That includes inner cities & assorted backwaters, not just tourist spots. FWIW, my take on this is that crap food is no more or less available in Scotland than it is in England. Conversely, you never have to travel far to find something good quality &/or healthy. I've only ever come across a handful of places selling deep fried chocolate, but these days you can buy it a couple of places in Huddersfield; it's basically just a gimmick. When my daughter lived in Scotland she'd take visitors to get one, pretty much for a laugh...you'd have to be a halfwit to think that's  a standard diet even in the poorest places.

Far more pernicious is mainstream takeaways & frozen crap. Obviously the issues around diet & health in poorer areas is well known & documented but that's nowt to do with food being crap, but individual choice & education. In fairness though, I can't think of a single part of Scotland where I've not been able to find good food if I wanted it.

 

[Hertsscot]

I totally agree with the opening post. What I find sad is how we aren't massively proud of the food and drink we produce, I think it's another aspect of the Scottish cringe.  When I've taken our kids on holiday I've found that there has been some excellent food but I've also been in a few establishments that maybe didn't  have a lot of competition and seriously needed to up their game.  Some of the latter were in more touristy areas and if a Coach load of tourists found themselves in some of those places I'd think the impression they left with would be less than positive.

[Toepoke]

1 hour ago, the_burger said:

I think a lot of it has to do with what's on offer in supermarkets. Go anywhere in Europe and the food on display looks far superior to ours, regardless of where it is from 

Lot of truth in that.

I don't know if it was down to austerity but being raised by parents who lived through rationing the mindset seemed to be that any old keech on your plate should be welcomed....

[wheres the pies]

in terms of our seafood I think there's something like 80% of it gets exported to France Spain which is a shame we as a country have some of the best produce in the world