Scottish celebrity chef Nick Nairn dislikes being characterised as "a tub-thumping patriot", but as he prepares to launch his first, avowedly regional, range of chilled foods including a whole Haggis Nairn complains that his homeland is "still woefully under-represented south of the border".
"Supermarkets like Tesco have had tremendous success with their regional experimentation, and I wouldn't dream of decrying it, but I see a great opportunity for more local producers to take England by storm and to use the undoubted appeal of fresh, modern Scottish provenance to spread the word," he says.
Nairn believes that the regional food revolution has a long way to go before supermarkets can really claim to represent the best of British cuisine particularly Scottish fare.
"We've spent an awful lot of time talking about our fine food heritage, but we still haven't demonstrated to other parts of the UK just how good Scottish food tastes, nor how simple it is to produce fantastic meals from the best Scottish ingredients."
The only way to get Scotland's speciality food accepted is to arrange tastings and samplings up and down the country, believes Nairn, who says that customers , once thay have tasted Scottish food, will always want more. He sees promoting Scottish food, particularly that of the smaller suppliers, as his next challenge, having spent the past three years developing the new chilled range.
"Recently, I tasted a fantastic Scottish yoghurt from a tiny firm not yet ready to even think about a full-scale supermarket listing, but which needs help and advice in getting to the next stage. "I hope to use my reputation to create a hub for small Scottish producers who deserve a break."
Focus On Scotland
"Supermarkets like Tesco have had tremendous success with their regional experimentation, and I wouldn't dream of decrying it, but I see a great opportunity for more local producers to take England by storm and to use the undoubted appeal of fresh, modern Scottish provenance to spread the word," he says.
Nairn believes that the regional food revolution has a long way to go before supermarkets can really claim to represent the best of British cuisine particularly Scottish fare.
"We've spent an awful lot of time talking about our fine food heritage, but we still haven't demonstrated to other parts of the UK just how good Scottish food tastes, nor how simple it is to produce fantastic meals from the best Scottish ingredients."
The only way to get Scotland's speciality food accepted is to arrange tastings and samplings up and down the country, believes Nairn, who says that customers , once thay have tasted Scottish food, will always want more. He sees promoting Scottish food, particularly that of the smaller suppliers, as his next challenge, having spent the past three years developing the new chilled range.
"Recently, I tasted a fantastic Scottish yoghurt from a tiny firm not yet ready to even think about a full-scale supermarket listing, but which needs help and advice in getting to the next stage. "I hope to use my reputation to create a hub for small Scottish producers who deserve a break."
Focus On Scotland
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