the inclusion of the humble Musselburgh leek in the ever-expanding international cargo of the Ark of Taste is surely a thing to be celebrated, for now it's got a fighting chance of survival against the rising tide of commercially-grown foreign varieties in supermarkets.

I love the idea of this metaphorical ark travelling the world and collecting endangered or forgotten heritage fruits, vegetables, food products and livestock breeds at risk of disappearance, together with the traditions and knowledge inextricably linked to them.

It's run by - who else? - Slow Food International, the organisation founded in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini as a response to the opening of a McDonald's in Rome, with the aim of drawing attention to the risk of their extinction due to industrial farming, climate change and global food markets.

Members of Slow Food can nominate an item for rescue, though it must be important to the history and culture of a specific area, to the memory and identity of a group and to local traditions; have a distinctive quality in terms of taste; and be produced in limited quantities, besides being at risk of extinction.

Consumers can help by buying and eating them, telling their story and supporting their producers and, in the case of endangered wild species, eating less or none of them in order to preserve them and help their reproduction. Members of the Slow Food UK Chef Alliance - there are 23 in Scotland - further help by using the listed ingredients on their menus. "Eat it to save it" is one mantra that springs to mind.

There are now 1675 items on the ark, sourced from all around the world. These include Canadian herring spawn on kelp, broad leaf sea kelp with a covering of naturally spawned herring eggs; the grey Ukrainian cow; and German Hori peninsula onions.

I've complained in the past that of the 73 UK products on board, only a handful are produced in Scotland in spite of our ancient culinary heritage. They include red grouse from the Outer Hebrides, Orkney beremeal, Shetland cabbage - a distinctive form of kale unique to the islands - and Shetland black potatoes. I had the feeling that not enough of us cared sufficiently to think about which items to nominate, or perhaps simply didn't know how to. Now, however, with a restructuring of the Slow Food movement in Scotland to streamline the various convivia into just three - Aberdeen, Edinburgh and west of Scotland - things appear to be more pro-active and focused.

Scottish products that have leapt on board the ark in the last three years include peasemeal from Golspie Mill, whose production by water-powered stone milling is acknowledged as a dying art; reestit mutton from Shetland, dried the traditional way above a peat fire and soaked in brine, as it's been done since the early 1900s; North Ronaldsay mutton, a breed thought to be 5000 years old; and Shetland Kye cattle, 3000 years old. All very notable achievements.

But the inclusion of the Musselburgh leek is all the more remarkable for being the first Lowland product. Introduced in 1834, it's still grown in central and eastern Scotland. It has a shorter, thicker white stem and a longer green flag than the more popular French varieties, and is more robust and better suited to the harsher Scottish climate. It is, though, relatively unknown.

Market gardens in Musselburgh used to supply vegetables to towns and cities in Scotland, and leeks from this area were considered superior to other varieties from around Scotland. Nowadays, the Musselburgh leek isn't sold commercially as a vegetable, only in seed or plant form, and therefore very few people are aware of it and there has been very little demand for it and its special growing and taste characteristics.

The Musselburgh leek has boarded the Ark of Taste thanks to the efforts of Erica Randall, former head gardener at the Scottish Kitchen Garden in Lasswade, which grows the leeks and other produce for the Scottish Cafe and Ristorante Contini in Edinburgh, run by Carina Contini and head chef Suzanne O'Connor.

Contini says: "This incredibly hardy heritage variety was first cultivated in 1834 by James Hardcastle in the east coast town they're named after. Its origins are in the lily family, and they are well suited to our soil.

"They can be picked young, when they are sweet and tender, or harvested all the way through to the early spring, while they mature in flavour and intensity."

So, well done to all involved. But surely there must be others, perhaps from the west coast, that would fit the criteria for nomination? James Grieves apples, Isle of Mull scallops, east coast lobsters, Aberdeen butteries, Crowdie, Strathspey chanterelles and tayberries have already been mooted. Do you have other ideas? If so, get in touch.