Big it up for our scampi!

Scotland’s unsung ‘scampi’ will be the toast of the Glasgow Science Festival this year as we celebrate this delicious indigenous seafood and ask why more people on the continent buy Scottish langoustine than here at home.

As part of Creel to Meal, which is supported as part of Year of Food and Drink Scotland 2015, delivered by VisitScotland and EventScotland, marine biology researchers from the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation will serve up a feast of langoustines, or Nephrops norvegicus, at two exciting pop-up restaurants to encourage more people to seek out, eat and enjoy Scottish seafood.

The curated dinners will take place at the city’s most experimental venues, Stravaigin (Thursday 4^th June) and the Drygate Brewery (Thursday 11^th June).

At Stravaigin, guests will tuck into four course seafood-themed spectacle of langoustines and the delicious ‘bycatch’ hauled up in the creels - crabs and squat lobsters.

At Drygate, it’ll be ‘posh scampi’ and chips all round with a flight of beers created in the micro-brewery to get the taste buds tingling.

Through the events, project partners Glasgow Science Festival, the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federationwill share the fascinating journey of this sustainable food source and how these giant shrimp get from West of Scotland waters to our table.

As well as raising awareness of the provenance and value of Scottish langoustine, which was regarded at by-catch forty years ago and is now seen as world-class seafood, the partners will share their latest research developing best practice environmentally sensitive creel fishing methods to help protect this industry into the future.

Creel to Meal builds on a wider, decade long research programme by the University of Glasgow and partners looking into the potential of langoustines to sustain the Scottish fishing industry in the face of dwindling white fish stock.

Liz Buchanan, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director, says:

“Scotland boasts some of the most wonderful produce in the world and our seafood is definitely one of the finest riches of our country’s outstanding natural larder. Throughout this Year of Food & Drink we have a fantastic opportunity to promote the quality and provenance of the harvests of Scotland’s lands and seas. It’s all about celebrating our fresh local produce and helping all of our markets – whether local or international - to understand and value the unique stories of our indigenous foods.

“Research tells us that visitors will pay up to 15% more for fresh local produce, so our natural larder has a huge role to play in growing our economy. It is great that so many local businesses are now embracing that and have a real appetite for making the most of the business opportunities presented by the very strong position we are in.”

Dr Deborah McNeill, Festival Director, Project Leader and Marine Biologist adds:

“Scotland has the world’s largest share of langoustines. They account for 15% of our seafood landings (valued at £64.6million*) however it’s widely agreed that langoustines are underappreciated in the home market.

“People have a growing interest in where their food comes from but, for some reason, they’re more keen to understand the provenance of the poultry, red meat and even eggs on their plate, than seafood (**).

“We have some of the world’s finest seafood. If we want to eat and sustain this delicious, high quality food into the future then we need to buy Scottish langoustines, celebrate them and promote them internationally.”

Alistair Sinclair, National Co-ordinator, the Scottish Creel Fishermen Federation, concludes:

“Scotland produces some of the finest shellfish in the world.  Through this initiative we hope that we can encourage consumers in Scotland to enjoy the succulent delights of products caught sustainably by our inshore creel fishermen.  We would like to thank our partners , in particular Dr Debbie McNeill of Glasgow University, for her vision in promoting our method and also supporting the creel fishermen and their communities.”

Creel to Meal will also be a highlight of the Festival’s popular Science Sunday drop in open day, which will be held on campus at the University of Glasgow Hunter Halls and Hunterian Museum on Sunday 14^th June. Science Sunday regularly attracts over 7,000 participants.

Creel to Meal is one of a number of food and drink events in this year’s Tasty Science strand, which celebrates the science of food, drink, flavour and innovation.

The events, which are designed to engage the dining audience with aspects of sustainability, ecology and the future of the food and drink sector in Scotland, include two looking at the chemistry of botanicals and gin-making.

Molecular level canapés and delicious cocktails will be the order of the day at Gin-o-Mics with Glasgow Polyomics and Scottish craft producers at The Griffin on Thursday 4^th June.

Glasgow Distillery and Glasgow Science Festival will lead a lip-smacking tasting experience at Gin and Botanicals at Siempre Bicycle Café on Friday 5^th June.

A picnic in a summer meadow or fish and chips by the seaside? What makes the perfect meal? After working with cutting edge chefs Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria, psychologist Professor Charles Spence will dish up the latest on the emerging field of gastrophysics at the University of Glasgow on Sunday 7^th June.

For further information about Glasgow Science Festival, visit www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk

* Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics, 2013: Scottish Government.

** YouGov Sixth Sense report on Food Provenance published 2013: 12% consumers rated the provenance of their shellfish and 15% their fish as ‘very important’ after 19% eggs, 20% red meat and 22% poultry.

Issued on behalf of Glasgow Science Festival by Joanna Harrison, mobile: 07884 187404