If you managed to brave the sheer elemental force of Siberian weather conditions that have been recently blasting Edinburgh and made it down to the Assembly Rooms for the first weekend of December, you would have been treated with a jamboree of food and drink courtesy of Foodies Magazine.
Normally specialising in outdoor summer food fetes around the UK, including an August weekend in Holyrood Park, this one-off event saw Foodies bring some seasonal cheer.
The Foodies Christmas Festival was sorely needed as the snow and ice piled up and temperatures remained close to freezing outside. But on entering the Assembly Rooms, even Ebenezer Scrooge might have had his heart and cockles warmed. Choirs regaled us with festive carols and a bountifully decorated Christmas tree dominated the upstairs landing, leading into the Christmas markets.
Enthusiastic customers thronged around an excellent selection of stalls and exhibitors ranging from small artisan food producers to local restaurants and several Scottish ale and whisky manufacturers. It was hard not to get swept up in the jovial bonhomie generated by the affair. A couple of nips of delicious Edinburgh Gin got me in appropriate spirits and I wandered freely sampling from the likes of Ssantissima’s excellent Italian cheeses and recently re-opened Turkish restaurant Nargile’s pitta and humus.
There was plenty of food on offer to buy for on-site grazing also. The Canonmills-based Spanish restaurant Dionika had a nice selection of tapas, perfectly formed small tasting plates with the Paella Valenciana being a particular winner (nothing will lure in the punters more than the appearance of a traditional huge paella pot), and Italian pasta dishes were supplied by Antigua Street’s Massimo.
Christmas Foodies wasn’t just about buying and selling, no matter how important that is in the food chain. There were also food masterclasses, courtesy of the likes of Caledonian Oysters and Puddledub Sausages, and drink masterclasses, including wine and gin tastings as well as a whisky lounge devoted to the finest whiskies from around the world.
Possibly best of all for the discerning foodie over the three days was a packed timetable of highly respected chefs from around Scotland providing cookery demonstrations. While the appalling weather conditions meant the odd local hero had to cancel, including Jean Michel Gauffre of Gordon Ramsay-endorsed La Garrigue as well as Cucina at Hottel Missoni’s Mattia Camorani remaining stranded in Italy, the smooth flow and organisation of the event covered any potential gaps.
Jacqueline O’Donnell, head chef from Glasgow’s The Sisters, made for a naturally entertaining host throughout the demos, as well as dishing up her own typically Scottish fare such as cullen skink and pigeon breast with black pudding. Edinburgh food icon Mary Contini swiftly conjured up a simple pasta dish with polpettine, small veal meatballs, which displayed Valvona & Crolla’s abiding knowledge on keeping Italian food simple with vibrant flavours.
We also got to see Geoffrey Smeddle of the newly michelin-starred Peat Inn of Fife create a delicate Veal Carpaccio and Fred Berkmiller of L’Escargot Bleu, part of Edinburgh’s emerging restaurant “French quarter”, espousing the use of treated sea water in cooking and applying the technique to cuts of pork and salmon. All through these demonstrations the most enticing of cooking smells wafted from the stage, setting the audience’s taste buds trembling. When at each sessions end the finished dish was presented for us to taste, we’d grab our plastic forks and scrabble around it like ravenous wolves.
Never was this truer than with the dish produced by Paul Tamburrini of One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow. A poached chicken breast with caramelised shallots and seared foie gras, it looked and smelled sensational and the audience set about it with great gusto and greed. Apologies to my co-food pickers, I really didn’t intend to get such a large lump of foie gras on my fork but can comfortably confirm it was easily one of the nicest things I have ever had in my mouth.
All washed down with the Christmas Foodies ale of choice, Innis & Gunn’s Winter Beer (marvellously malty, although at 8.5% one had to take care), this was an excellent weekend showcase of great Scottish culinary produce and certainly left me with a warm hearty glow inside as I left to brave the wintry conditions once more.
See also Foodies at the Edinburgh Festival