Students from three rural colleges will go head-to-head in a competition to showcase the best of Scottish wild food and game meat.
The Scotland’s Natural Larder Field to Fork 2017 competition was launched at Borders College.
Teams of gamekeeping and hospitality students from Borders College, SRUC Elmwood and North Highland College will take part.
One of last year’s finalists from SRUC Elmwood cooked his pheasant dish at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival in front of celebrity chefs including Gary Mclean, Nick Nairn and Tony Singh.
BASC Scotland’s Nicolle Hamilton, who is one of the judges, said: “Two key elements of the competition are best practice and innovation. We want to see the students sharing skills and knowledge to ensure that game is produced and served at its best. This involves animal husbandry, game handling, primary processing, butchery and cookery skills. Throughout the competition we have seen exceptional entries and we don’t expect this year to be any different.”
Pete Moore, from SNH, said: “The collaboration and sharing of skills between the ‘keepers and the hospitality students is an important part of this; we want to make sure that the chefs and hospitality students know where their game and venison produce comes from and equally, the keepering students have to understand the responsibilities they have when supplying produce into the food chain.”
The winners will be announced at a Celebration of Game Dinner on 21st November. It will be hosted by Borders College where dishes from the finalists of each of the three colleges will be showcased.
Scotland’s Natural Larder is a partnership project between BASC Scotland and SNH which is aimed at reconnecting people with food that has been harvested or hunted.
ENDS