NOSHTALGIA, or eating food that recalls the past, has been a modern culinary trend for some time.
But now Scotland's youngest Michelin-starred chef Tom Kitchin, famed for his inventive use of "forgotten" ingredients, is set to make culinary history by becoming the first to devise a heritage menu for a UK department store chain.
From Monday for one month, customers at John Lewis Edinburgh's in-store restaurant will be offered Sheep's Heid Scotch Broth, Stargazy fish pie and Scottish Strawberry Fool devised by Mr Kitchin. The three dishes draw on old menus and recipes found in the archives of the National Library of Scotland and date back to the 1860s, when John Lewis first opened its doors.
Mr Kitchin has been personally training the John Lewis chefs on how to perfect his recipes, which combine history and local heritage with a sprinkling of Michelin-star magic.
The owner of The Kitchin and Castle Terrace restaurant and the Scran and Scallie gastro-pub in Edinburgh said: "I also had the opportunity to look through the recipe book of Beatrice Lewis, the wife of the founder of the John Lewis Partnership.
"Her recipes included gooseberry fool, roast mutton, pea soup and grouse - all fantastic dishes that I regularly cook myself today. It seems that the more modern we become, the more we want to feel connected to our roots, and to eat food that recalls childhood memories. Bone marrow, pigs' trotters, mutton and even lobster and turbot were being used in the 19th century just as I'm doing today.
"Reworking old-fashioned ingredients gives people a little bit of comfort in these changing times, and creates a conversation round the table. The future of cooking definitely lies in the past."
The initiative is the opposite of science-based molecular gastronomy and is particularly interesting given that online shopping is growing in popularity every day.
Maggie Porteous, director of selling at John Lewis, said: "Click and collect is a big part of the retail experience now, but customers now also want an interactive experience. Great food is a fantastic way of reconnecting people."
If the venture is successful, John Lewis says it will consider rolling out a series of pop-up noshtalgia restaurants with guest chefs in its other Scottish stores.
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