This article appears as part of the Editor's Pick newsletter.
In a week that has seen me vow to stop snacking, drink more water, and quit my long-term love affair with fruit gums, today I am focusing on The Herald’s food-related content as I offer up a menu of tasty editor’s picks.
First up, a long-standing staple with Herald food fans is our weekly restaurant review from Ron Mackenna. One of the finest critics in the country, I love the immediacy of his writing; the feeling the reader is dining with him in real time. It is fast-paced, detailed, exciting, and always funny.
On his latest outing, he headed to the wrong place, ending up – eventually – at the right place, where he sampled the ‘best kebab in Scotland’. But was it? I won’t spoil the outcome for you, but if you are looking for soggy and salty, this may be a table reservation you need to make.
Mackenna’s reviews are consistent performers for us, with our data showing high engagement and popularity with readers. It is no surprise to me, of course, as I believe they too enjoy the energy of his pieces, while valuing his culinary recommendations.
And so, with a clear appetite among our audience for food and drink content, during the summer we decided to offer more, introducing Sarah Campbell to the team, a specialist writer, to add to our content. Campbell offers a rich mix of food and drink news, interviews, and industry insight and I am excited about the impact she is having so far.
On Monday, breaking away from her usual specialist writing, she crossed into human interest news, reporting that shoppers in Glasgow had been queuing for more than 18 hours to be among the first in the new Popeyes restaurant.
Famous for its Louisiana Chicken Sandwich, the US fast-food giant, which launched in 1972, opened its doors at Barrhead Retail Park. And the crowds went wild, queuing from 4.30pm the day before to secure a spot (and a chicken sandwich).
Of course, many readers were left bemused and had a lot to say about this story. But in a week that has been dominated by hard news, lighter discussions over the merits of fast food, and indeed queuing many hours for it, were clearly welcomed as a distraction by some.
My last culinary related pick comes from writer Kevin McKenna, who travelled to Stranrear with photographer Colin Mearns to experience the town’s well-known Oyster Festival.
Read more:
Editor's Pick | Catherine Salmond: Personal writing is the perfect antidote to an overwhelming life
A colourful, in-depth piece, I loved the detail and energy McKenna provided, capturing the feel of the event and what it means to the people in that part of Scotland. And I feel educated in all things oyster too, including the challenges facing this part of the fishing industry.
Sign up to Food Matters, our weekly newsletter, and Ron McKenna’s review, here.
If you have any suggestions for food and drink content you would like to see covered in The Herald, please email Sarah Campbell.
Wherever you are dining this weekend, be it for a kebab, a chicken sandwich or some oysters, enjoy – and thank you for your support.
Catherine Salmond
Editor
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 here