This Sunday I had a fairly long day at Newton Garden. Things that were planted two, four and six weeks ago are now growing well and quite fast. Putting a cosy blanket of thermacrop fleece over all the planters has helped to keep them warm and has kept the birds away. You might remember the picture I shared in a previous newsletter where the mustard leaves looked like skeletons? The protective covering was a good investment that is paying off already.

“I'm sure if you're reading this newsletter you're familiar with the solace that good food can bring, not least in the last year: some uplift and distraction from sadness, boredom, frustration, loneliness. We search a menu seeking something not just to fill us but to fulfil us, to soothe, to satisfy at a level beyond the tastebuds. It's a reminder of the power of food: something that's greater than the sum of its constituent ingredients, or nutrients, or calories. Good food (like Fred's) is more powerful still.” Donald Reid has been Food & Drink Editor at The List for the last 20 years and is also part of the team running the Masters programme in Gastronomy at Queen Margaret University.

I believe food culture and education starts at an early age. I am young (7? or 5? or 9?) and I am on holiday at La Bernerie en Retz with Mamisson, my grand-mother. We are on the beach at low tide and she is bending down with a wooden basket in her left hand and a rake in her right. We are raking for palourde clams. They jump in the basket, and after two handfuls we move over to the rocks further down the beach. My grand-mother Mamisson is very gently lifting the seaweed in the pools of water between the rocks to reveal green crabs as they skuttle away to hide. She pops one in the basket, then another and within half an hour we have successfully picked a good two dozen; worth their weight in gold.

“I have a guilty secret: my mother was a terrible cook. Not just challenged, but a walking bomb scare with the capacity to produce memorably ghoulish creations. Her spam surprise was, well, a surprise to everyone, no matter how many times you were exposed to it. She made curry without spice. And the things she did to roast beef should be illegal. Salt and pepper were strangers to our house.” Richard Bath is the editor of Scottish Field magazine, and former restaurant critic for Scotland on Sunday.

These animals are (almost) wild, living on the tiny island of North Ronaldsay in the Orkney Isles. They have to work hard to survive, feeding themselves mainly on seaweed on the shore, and grass when the tides are high. They are very limited in number, nearly washed off the map but fortunately they survived extinction. Listed on Slow Food’s Ark of Taste register, it wasn’t possible to get hold of them for the last few years, as in order to preserve their status they had to be slaughtered on Orkney, and the main Orkney abattoir closed many months ago.

“We recently joined the Pasture For Life association as a way of showing our commitment to support farmers breeding and growing in the best ways possible for animal welfare.” A few words from Johnnie Balfour 

Our menu will be on the blackboard ‘bistro-style’ featuring our classics dishes, and the restaurant will be set to make people feel safe, as it was last autumn, with hand sanitizer on every table. Please be aware of a few rules when joining us, like wearing a mask when moving around, and temperature checks when you arrive.

“Local food-lovers celebrate spring as a time when the first green shoots of a new season appear in woodland, hedgerow, garden and, if we’re lucky, on our plates. It’s well accepted that the more diverse our diet is the better it supports good health, both mental and physical. But what about our bread?” Andrew Whitley writes about re-building a healthy, local grain and bread supply.

You might remember a few blogs back that I mentioned Le Nemrod restaurant and talked a bit about my experiences there. There’s no doubt that I learned a lot, good and bad. The latter is always a good lesson to help inform your own behaviors and choices. That’s why I suggest people have the odd meal at McDonalds, but that’s for another blog.

“Food and drink have always been an important part of my life. I grew up abroad in Dubai and Singapore in the ex-pat movement of the late 70s and 80s. I had an early love of the fish and spice markets and loved all the different cuisines available at that time and the ambiances of all the different restaurants. I loved it!” Emma Bouglet of Fidra Gin writes…