The humble shortbread, the homely tattie scone and teeth-shattering tablet may not rank high in the pantheon of great cuisine but the principles and traditions of Scottish baking continue to shape food around the world.
According to food writer Sue Lawrence, the homespun puddings and baked treats carried to the four corners of the Earth by emigrant Scots not only sustained the foundation of the British Empire but also established a culinary legacy.
Scotland's contribution is one built around simplicity, comfort and old fashioned hospitality - the original comfort food, in other words.
"In many ways, bannocks built the British Empire. They are the comforting treats that emigrants prepared to remind them of home, and the people they shared them with adopted them as their own," said Lawrence, speaking to the Sunday Herald ahead of her appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday.
Around the former Empire, traditional Scots recipes took on a new colonial flavour using locally available replacement ingredients. In Canada they have the Homestead Pie, like Ecclefechan Tart, except with pecans in place of walnuts. South Africans bake a clootie dumpling - Cape Brandy Pudding - made with dates, while on Grenada and St Lucia they have used coconut to give the tablet a Caribbean twist.
"A huge part of the success of Scots baking is that it's so simple. You don't need much - just the most basic ingredients - to create homely, deeply satisfying cakes and puddings," Lawrence said.
The origins often lie at the foot of noble medieval tables, when the peasant classes made palatable the lordly off cuts available to them. It is in these humble beginnings that Lawrence believes we can find another compelling explanation for Scottish baking's appeal.
"It is food that poor people can afford. That's why it emerged from Scotland and is certainly a big part of why it has been adopted throughout the world," she said.
"Our dependency on the griddle means that to this day we have a plethora of oatcakes and scones and pancakes baked upon what was once one of the only pieces of equipment in a rural Scottish kitchen."
According to Lawrence, however, the culinary cultural exchange has continually flowed in both directions, with Scotland's international connections providing a bridge for new traditions to enter its cookery canon.
Traditional dishes such as haggis are finding their way into curries, pizzas and pakora.
"Food is very much a living art, and I would expect Scottish cooking and baking to continue to evolve as it encounters new flavours and cultural influences." Sue Lawrence was speaking about her book - Scottish Baking - at the Edinburgh International Book Festival as part of the Empire Cafe series of events.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article