After many a year of obsessing over all things food
related and being inspired by a recent trip I had to Italy (leaving my taste
buds tingling) I came to realise that great food experiences need to be shared
and talked about. So with that in mind, I knew it was time for me to attempt to
share my own food joys with people who love and appreciate good food as much as
I do.
After all, my theory is, (as I’m sure it is for most
foodies) we all need to eat food to survive, so why not take pleasure in
everything we eat?
Hence the reason for my made up word for the title
“The Gluttonomist” the definition meaning: A glutton for all things food.
Ever since I can remember I’ve had, perhaps some
might say an unhealthy fascination with food. I probably got this from my
Mothers love of cooking and baking, which was a constant source of happiness
for me and my siblings growing up. In my eyes she is still the greatest home
cook of all time and I can only hope that one day I will be as good a cook as
her.
My earliest memories of growing up in the Highlands
of Scotland were an invaluable start to my love of gastronomy. My family lived
in a small croft house in the middle of nowhere and my father, being a Ghillie working
for the local estate at the time gave us the accessibility to eat all of the
finest foods that the Highlands had to offer. Most of my childhood was spent
eating the freshest brown trout and salmon caught that day, spring lamb, mutton,
freshly picked cockles and mussels. One of the things we ate the most of though
was venison, which was eaten in abundance most of the year round; so much so that
my parents would have to disguise the flavor of the meat in stews and sausages just
because we ate so much of it. I have many a strange memory of dead stags laying
in the bathtub and my parents carving up huge hunks of meat on the kitchen
table ready to chop, mince and freeze. Our cats had a field day and were always
close by ready to pounce on any scraps of meat that may fall on to the floor.
Ahh, how times have changed, what I would give to have some leftover venison
now!
Moving away to England for university made me realise
just how good we ate compared to most and I’ll always remember to never get
complaisant about how lucky me and my family were to have such abundance of
fresh great quality food. I was very lucky indeed.
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