Stephen Jardine celebrates the demise of ‘rubber chicken’

The good food revolution has spread all over Scotland, writes Stephen Jardine

When it was built in 1909 – complete with a grand façade featuring Doric-style columns – Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange was home to slaughterhouses and agricultural markets.

So it was perhaps the perfect venue for the firstever Scotsman Food & Drink Awards earlier this week, an event developed to recognise companies and individuals offering something over and above the competition. Winners ranged from a healthy, delicious chocolate bar to a street food collective from Glasgow and an iconic Edinburgh pub dating back to the 1970s.

As one of the six judges, what was evident to me was the public enthusiasm for what is now on offer in Scotland. Nominations flooded in from people eager to endorse great food and drink.

Tripadvisor can be challenging for the hospitality sector, but it has produced a generation of consumers who believe good eating or drinking is something that deserves to be shared with others.

And if you are staging a food and drink awards ceremony, you need to get the catering right. Instead of rubber chicken of dubious origin, guests enjoyed a street food menu reflecting some of the exciting developments taking place around food on the go. From salmon tacos to haggis pakora and brisket wraps, the meal was a vibrant celebration of the way great Scottish ingredients can be adapted to work withother cultural influences. Everything, including gins, beers and soft drinks, was Scottish and artisan, rather than mass produced. Even a decade ago, that would have been impossible to deliver.

At one point, Scotland’s food-and-drink revolution was just an Edinburgh thing. The Scottish capital had more Michelin-starred restaurants than any city outside London, and that attracted a foodie audience motivated to support a strong farmers market and a range of great shops. Then it moved to other cities, with Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen all developing vibrant food scenes.

That has proved to be infectious. The inaugural Scotsman awards demonstrated beyond all doubt the extent of the change that has taken place. From Galashiels-based Tempest beer to the Ardross Farm Shop in the East Neuk of Fife, the range of rural winners showed the radical improvement in what we eat and drink has reached all parts of Scotland. The ultimate proof came with the last award of the night, which was decided by Scotsman readers. You might have expected the winner of the Hidden Gem category to be a speakeasy cocktail bar in back lane in Leith or a pop-up restaurant serving only kale a stone’s throw from Finnieston in Glasgow. Instead it went to the Locharthur Camphill Community in the tiny village of Beeswing in Dumfries and Galloway.

This social enterprise charity provides accommodation and employment for a range of people with learning disabilities. It is also home to a brilliant café and farm shop staffed by members of the community.

For them and all the other winners, these awards were not just a fun night off. They represent a validation of all the passion and hard work that has made Scotland’s food and drink something we can all be proud of.