Jane Cumming enjoys a culinary adventure on Edinburgh’s Food Heritage Trail
Sometimes only pudding will do. Cake can be good too, when you are up to your oxters in hassle at work or the family are getting on your nerves and you just need to escape and get some sweet therapy.
I thought this was a 21st century problem, brought on by being constantly available via email and shackled to our mobile phones.
The sort of modern day pressures which have led to the creation of high street coffee houses selling 1000 calories of sugar, cream and caffeine to overworked office staff and harassed shoppers.
But no. The desire to get away from the pressure of the workplace for a moment of sweet repose has apparently been with us for centuries. Or so I learned when I took the Edinburgh Heritage Food Trail a few weeks ago.
I thought I knew Edinburgh well having lived there for some years but this fantastic self-guided walking tour opened my eyes to a few surprises in our capital city. Admittedly, we cheated slightly as we had an excellent guide with us from Edinburgh World Heritage.
It was when we visited Queen Mary’s Bath House, a curious looking building at the foot of the Royal Mile, that the need for sweet treats to escape from the pressures of a busy work schedule were explained. This small freestanding building, right on the edge of Holyrood Palace’s gardens looked like something out of a Grimm’s fairy tale. It was so quirky and odd I couldn’t believe I had walked past it hundreds of times without paying much attention.
Apparently, in the late middle ages, Royalty always ate in public. While they were having their dinner it was customary for their subjects to be able to petition them. But when this got too much for the harassed monarch they would leave the dining table and sneak off to a private place with their closest confidants, often to enjoy a few sweets and puddings. So having “deserted” the dining table they were said to be enjoying their “dessert.” What a wonderful idea. So the next time I sneak away from my desk for a large macchiato with cream and caramel accompanied by a large slice of pecan pie I am simply following a long established tradition.
But that was only one of the things I learned following the trail. I never knew oysters were the snack food of the common man and I certainly never appreciated the creative way they incorporated the discarded shells into the fabric of the city. And I certainly never understood that the architecture of both Edinburgh’s old and new towns owed a lot to way our ancestors ate.
Walk from Cannon Ball House near the Castle (see if you can spot the cannon ball), past Gladstone’s Land down to Holyrood you will pass the city’s first water systems. And who would have guessed that one of Europe’s first cookery schools was located close to where St Giles Cathedral now sits. This historic street was at the heart of consumption, home to the city’s early breweries, bakeries and sugar refineries.
Cross to the New Town and learn how dining changed from being a very public activity to being something to be done behind genteel doors. But as you go don’t forget to try the food – it is a food trail after all.
We’d started our culinary adventure at the fabulous Edinburgh Farmer’s Market on Castle Terrace, but now it was time for lunch. Ondine was the perfect choice to finish our journey with its fantastic views down Victoria Street and across George IV Bridge. This is a modern restaurant which prides itself on offering the very best seafood in a relaxed setting.
A wonderful display of oysters in their shells greets you at the door and it was tempting simply to settle on a stool at the central bar area and order a half dozen or so with a glass of something white and cold. But we decided to be a little more formal and sat in one of the window tables. My Cullen Skink was fantastic and my partner’s treacle cured salmon equally impressive. The roast cod wrapped in pancetta was cooked to perfection as were the mussels in a curry Marsala sauce. This busy city centre eatery does not compromise on quality and richly deserves the reputation it enjoys amongst the city’s most discerning diners.
It would be fair to say neither of us felt particularly harassed or pressured, quite the opposite. But we felt we should pay homage to our forebears, so while we didn’t desert the table, we did enjoy our desserts. Possibly more so now we understood the term.
The Edinburgh Food Heritage Trail offers a self-guided tour of the city’s World Heritage Site. More information at www.ewht.org.uk/visit/
edinburghfoodheritagetrail.
A seafood restaurant in the heart of the city, Ondine specialises in the freshest sustainable fish and shellfish. Lunch and pre-theatre menu is £21.95 for two courses, £25.95 for three courses. More information from www.ondinerestaurant.co.uk