More nutritious

“Two-thirds of Scottish adults are overweight according to a recent study,” writes a Craigie regular. “Little progress has been made in improving Scots’ diet over the past 15 years despite millions of pounds being spent on public health programmes. Researchers found no increase in the Scots’ consumption of fruit and vegetables and of oily fish over the period.

“It’s a difficult problem to solve. My father ran a grocer’s shop from the early 1930s to the late 1960s. Many of his customers were factory workers and the women, also workers, used to rush home from work at lunchtime and make and consume a hasty meal.

“They popped in to buy bread, rolls and tins of food. Tinned soup was a favourite. Dad used to tell them how to make it themselves the day before from a range of vegetables and a ham shank – much cheaper and much healthier and more nutritious than canned soup.

“Pies and bridies were also favourites with his customers. Vegetables, apart from potatoes for making chips, were generally a no-no.

“Dad reckoned that, apart from a shortage of time and energy for cooking, the women jute workers had often lost the healthy cooking habits of their grandmothers who had come in from the country for work in the 19th Century. Their ancestors had a far healthier lifestyle – fresh air, fresh food, plenty of vegetables, oatmeal rather than wheat and an inherited knowledge of cooking.”