| A celebration of venison |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
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Posted: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 10:13 am
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After a successful launch last year, the 4th September will once again commemorate 'Eat Scottish Venison Day', and many UK restaurants and suppliers are marking the occasion with promotions, events, signature dishes, cooking schools and special menus.
Venison is fast becoming the food of the moment, with chefs everywhere extolling the virtues of this tasty, healthy, versatile meat, and thanks to a successful campaign, most quality restaurants now include at least one venison dish on their menus, with television cookery programmes featuring it regularly.
Scottish venison is sold throughout the UK and Europe, and Scotland’s deer management industry including venison is worth £105m to the Scottish economy annually and accounts for over 2500 jobs.
A campaign, by the Scottish Venison Working Group, to raise awareness of Scottish venison among consumers, restaurants and the catering trade, was launched last year with a handful of supporters on the website.
Among the many activities planned to mark the 4th September are: venison specials on the menu of Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Glasgow; Scottish venison at the Ivy in London, and at Rivington Grill, Shoreditch; a venison cookery course hosted by award-winning chef Tom Lewis at his restaurant Monachyle Mhor; the National Trust for Scotland serving venison at several of its properties; and two UK national pub/restaurant groups featuring Scottish venison in over 600 of their outlets. In addition, The Blackface Meat Company is e-mailing its members with venison recipes; Great Glen Game is tweeting about the launch of its new venison salamis and chorizos; a new venison haggis burger is being launched by West Highland Hunting; Simple Simon's Honey Venison Collops Pie will be on sale in Waitrose regional stores; and Highland Game venison will feature in Maxine Clark's cookery demonstrations at the Dundee Food and Flower Festival.
And Scottish Venison day kicks off early with venison and whisky tasting and cookery demonstrations at the Glengoyne Distillery, Dumgoyne, near Glasgow on Thursday 2 September with chef Tom Lewis from Monachyle Mhor, Balquhidder.
Chairman of the Scottish Venison Working Group, Stephen Gibbs, said: "Venison isn't a new food, we have been eating it for hundreds of years - longer than we have been eating beef as we know it. But now Scottish venison is really taking off as availability grows and butchers and supermarkets are stocking it all year round. It is one of the best foods to come out of Scotland and we should all be singing its praises." |
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