Grab your rolling pins – the World Buttery Championship is back!
Five years on from the first – and so far only – championships, the tournament will make its long-delayed, post-pandemic return later this year.
Organisers hope the best buttery bakers on the planet will take centre stage at Aberdeen’s Nescol on Saturday June 24.
And expectations are high the competition will produce some world-class rowies, especially as only traditional recipes are allowed.
Which means all your well-known supermarket brands will miss out because they use palm oil instead of lard and butter.
“More and more people don’t know what a real buttery tastes like any more,” says Martin Gillespie, a member of Slow Food Aberdeen, which has been behind the World Buttery Championships since it started in 2018.
Martin hopes the tournament can help reinstall traditional butteries as the preferred choice in the north-east.
And kick supermarket brands and their palm-oil butteries out.
“Most of the producers produce a poor imitation,” Martin says. “But if people don’t have the real thing, they don’t know it’s a poor imitation.”
A reboot for Slow Food Aberdeen
The date and venue for the championship have just been confirmed.
However, organisers want YOUR help in making sure the event continues to spread its buttery message.
Slow Food Aberdeen is holding an open meeting about its future direction at 210 Bistro on South Market Street on Thursday March 16.
Tickets are free and guests will get to sample some butteries made fresh by 2018 champion – and current title holder – Mark Barnett.
Visitors will also get the chance to shape the future of the World Buttery Championship and Slow Food Aberdeen.
The group is part of a global network that works to build a more sustainable food system by working with local producers and making healthy food more accessible.
However, post-pandemic numbers have dwindled and leaders are looking for a reboot.
“We need more people,” Martin says. “That’s why the relaunch event is going to be so important.”
Bringing fresh blood into butteries
One topic of discussion at the meeting will be whether to open up the World Buttery Championships to amateur bakers by holding a second tournament alongside the professional event.
Martin says home bakers spiked in number during the lockdown, and buttery standards from self-taught chefs are at an all-time high.
Meanwhile, a new-found interest in baking among youngsters is bringing much-needed fresh blood into the buttery realm.
“People are trying these things at home, and anything that could encourage the younger generation to have a go would be great,” says Martin.
“At the last World Buttery Championships, there was nobody that we would call young involved.
“It would be good to get new bakers to come along. Anyone that is looking to set up their own bakery and sell butteries commercially.”
The World Buttery Championship is one of a number of competitions in the north-east that celebrate the region’s traditional food.
This month, the Cullen Skink World Championships announced its return after a three-year hiatus.
Slow Food Aberdeen’s Reboot event is at 210 Bistro at 7pm on Thursday March 16. Tickets are free and can be booked here.
Conversation