University’s eateries now showcasing local produce
A MUSSELBURGH man is focusing on East Lothian produce and small Scottish entrepreneurs in all of Queen Margaret University’s catering outlets.
Stuart Aitken, culinary lead for BaxterStorey, has been collaborating with head chef Allan Scott at the Musselburgh-based university on the development of new menus.
The company, which has just had its catering contract renewed with the university, said that it was keen to “support and promote” East Lothian-produced food and drink, and that of small local Scottish entrepreneurs.
Mr Aitken, who is originally from Fife and now lives near Musselburgh Racecourse, has worked with BaxterStorey for 15 years and made Musselburgh his home 20 years ago.
He has been taking his staff on tours around the county’s food businesses to strengthen their knowledge of local ingredients and build relationships with county producers.
He said: “Supporting local and championing regional heroes has always been a core value for BaxterStorey.
“We operate a decentralised supply chain which gives autonomy to the chefs at Queen Margaret University in terms of which suppliers they use in their kitchen.
“This freedom allows us to connect more with the community as we encourage them to visit farmers, breweries and producers in East Lothian and beyond to fully understand the farm-to-fork journey.
“The student population at Queen Margaret University is very aware of sustainability and rightly demand more from the food offer.
“They want visibility of where their food comes from and a hospitality experience that offers them food choices that not only taste good but does good for the planet.
“Mossgiel Milk, actually from Ayrshire, is a great example of this, where it has removed all single-use plastic from its production.
“Personalised nutrition is growing in popularity and is something we have responded to.
“Queen Margaret University has a strong background in food, nutrition, dietetics and food science, so we have made sure we reflect that strong focus in healthy, nutritional foods within our offering to staff, students and visitors.
“We have refreshed our salad bars to focus more on seasonality and more variety, so people can build a dish that is tailored to their nutritional needs and tastes.
“For example, instead of your usual tomatoes and cucumbers, we’ve introduced chickpea salads and beetroot hummus, using local produce direct from the farmers’ fields.
“We are also making hand-rolled pizza using East Lothian’s Mungoswells flour, from down the road – they are so popular, we’re rolling out around 100 a day!
“It’s not enough to simply support initiatives and commit to any pledge that tick the sustainability box. Our focus is on genuine engagement with the community, rather than just running campaigns or creating eye-catching food, so we’re purposeful in working with suppliers that align with our food values.”
QMU boasts several eateries which are open to the public: Maggie’s, the Students’ Union cafe bar, already a favourite meeting place for local people; Guthrie’s, a newly installed food court in the academic building, named after one of the university’s trailblazing female founders, Guthrie Wright; and The Nook, a coffee shop and catering outlet in the main building selling a new brand of coffee developed by a QMU gastronomy graduate, also serving food.
Sarah Whigham, head of commercial services at QMU, said: “Students and staff have a growing interest in the provenance of the food they eat and, as a university in East Lothian, we want to ensure we do what we can to support our local businesses throughout the country and across Scotland.
“We are delighted that BaxterStorey’s focus on the use of local ingredients and their interest in regional producers aligns with the university’s work in food and drink, and in our support of small and medium enterprises. We now have an interesting selection of new food offerings across our newly revamped catering outlets in the main academic building on campus.
She added: “Since the pandemic, we have been delighted to see so many local people using Maggie’s Café Bar.
“However, our new food court, Guthrie’s, and our self-service Starbucks cafe in the main academic building, are also open to visitors from across East Lothian.”