The Herald - The Herald Magazine
A taste of town’s depth of character
Have an appetite for Scottish history? Then a wonderful new tour exploring Irvine’s food and drink legacy is guaranteed to hit the spot, writes
AYRSHIRE has a glowing reputation for the quality of its fresh produce but its significance as a centre for food and drink has a longer history than many may realise. Irvine, in fact, was once one of the most significant ports in Scotland, with around 200 Carters taking imports of tea, spices, and exotic fruits all over the west coast and up to Glasgow.
To celebrate this long history, a special tour is being co-hosted by the Scottish Maritime Museum from its base in the town.
It will take place on May 7 as part of a Tastes of Ayrshire Food event, a celebration of the finest food and drink in Ayrshire.
Visitors to the event hosted at the Scottish Maritime Museum will be able to sample some of Ayrshire finest produce, meet the producers and learn from some of Ayrshire’s finest chefs at the demonstration kitchen, where local chef Mark Hunter will be rustling up some tasty dishes use only the best produce Ayrshire has to offer.
Visitors will be able to visit the museum for free and there take the tour to learn about Irvine’s rich history with food.
The new tour, Carters and Coastal Culture – Ayrshire’s Food Journey, will take place at 11am and again at 3pm.
Tour participants will walk alongside an “Ayrshire Carter” in period costume from Tasting History Scotland and will pass the Ship Inn, the oldest pub in Irvine, and where Captain Brown famously suggested Robert Burns go to Jamaica to seek his fortune. It will conclude at the Scottish Maritime Museum where local food and drink producers will have stalls to showcase their produce.
Visitors can then explore Scotland’s “Cathedral of Engineering” and learn more about Scotland’s importance to maritime history and the people that built and sailed Scottish ships around the world.
Many of those ships were built on Clydeside but before the dredging of the river to allow easy access to Glasgow, Irvine’s harbour functioned as the chief port for the city from around the 16th century until the early 18th century, when Port Glasgow developed. A century later the Clyde was deepened to take ships directly to Glasgow.
“At one point it was thought there were around 200 carters in the area transporting foodstuffs by taking them from the harbour along the vennel, one of the oldest streets in Irvine and going on to Glasgow,” said Janet Martin of That.Co, who is organising the tour.
The Irvine Carters were constituted in 1753 to protect their livelihoods, with the profession passing down through families.
“The men and horses worked as one and the men were registered as official carters so no one could jump in and take their income,” Ms Martin explained. Tea from India was the biggest commodity but later on more unusual items were brought in and gradually introduced to Scotland such as coconuts and other exotic fruits like mangoes.
Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg were popular too, while non foodstuffs such as cotton and hemp were taken to the mills along the River Irvine.
Some imports were bought by the people of the town as there were plenty of wealthy residents in Irvine at the time.
“It would have been a culinary hotspot with plenty of public houses that would have served fresh food,” said Ms Martin.
The port at Irvine also exported Ayrshire tatties while butter was brought in from Ireland and was much sought after. “Fish, potatoes, butter, sugar, spices and tea were all being traded up and down the coast,” said Ms Martin.
“Probably even a lot of local people aren’t aware of the amount of trade that happened here so the day will celebrate that history as well as promote Ayrshire’s food and drink.”