Savour Scotland

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have noticed that I’ve recently been up to Edinburgh for a few days. I cherry-picked my way to some wonderful performances and presentations at the Book Festival, the International Festival and of course, the Fringe. I bought ‘The Scotsman’ most days – always good for the latest reviews – and was interested to read about a forthcoming event on the city’s constantly busy conference circuit, the 2018 Food & Drink Conference. I always think of Edinburgh as a local retail hub – some fabulous cafés, bars and restaurants – but less so of Scotland as a world renowned producer and exporter of food and drink. Apparently it’s Scotland’s fastest growing economic sector worth over £15 billion. For products, producers and worldwide reputation, Scotland is following hot on the heels of Ireland and New Zealand, concentrating on meat and seafood, whisky, gin, craft beers and dairies. But now of course, Brexit is causing consternation in the market with almost 70% of Scottish food and drink exports heading to the EU. In its own right, Scotch Whisky accounts for 70% of all Scottish food and drink exports but looks to be in a strong position because although 30% of exports go to Europe, the industry is very experienced and successful in markets such as India, China, America, Japan and Africa – it is well positioned to weather out the storm.  Scottish salmon and Scotch red meat are also major exports though salmon producers particularly work in international markets beyond Europe.  The worry for them, especially for their premium, fresh product reputation, is any delays to storage and shipping, threatened to be caused by bureaucracy and border checks if new agreements and procedures aren’t agreed in good time. So think on Scotland next time you’re food (and drink) shopping – we can savour the quality and flavours of our near neighbours’ produce and be grateful for their continued passion and investment in these uncertain times…….