All for the love of food in Shetland

Places like Shetland move your soul.  On a recent trip to Shetland, I found myself immersed in all things that make the place great – the people, the food, and the awe inspiring feeling remote islands evoke in me.  If you were ever in need of rejuvenation, Shetland would be the place to bask in the world’s wild glory. While I can’t guarantee it, a visit to Shetland may potentially result in a new appreciation for life you weren’t aware you needed.

As luck would have it, I met a group of foodies earlier this year from Taste of Shetland – the area’s regional food and drink organization. If you can imagine a group of foodies laughing and giggling over food, that was us. Since then, I have been planning a trip to Shetland to visit this unsung food destination to coincide with their annual Taste of Shetland Food and Drink Festival (held this year on October 22 – 23, 2022). Through the Food & Drink Festival, I reconnected with my friends and made new ones who also love food in Shetland! We spent countless hours talking (and eating) none other than Shetland’s finest produce.

L: Shetland food festival 2022 groupies, plus Chef Nick Nairn;
R: the placemat at No. 88 in Lerwick, showing the best example of proximity of suppliers I’ve ever witnessed.

During most of my stay in Shetland, I was volunteering at the festival, meaning that I only managed to nip away to try a few restaurants while there. In reality, that’s ok – because the food experience in Shetland is not limited to restaurants. Food culture is everywhere!

Outside the festival, the warmth of Shetland hospitality was never far from food (or family at that). Whether it was homemade dinners with Mary and her visiting family at Hayhoull Bed and Breakfast in Bigton, or chatting with Marian Armitage in Scatness over toasty beremeal bannocks fresh oot the oven with rhubarb jam, homemade food was always front and center, along with that jovial warmth Shetlanders seem to exude.

Before I continue, allow me to wax poetic about food tourism for a minute. You all may know that I enjoy experiencing a place through its food traditions. Oftentimes one of the first thing I do when visiting a new place, is go on a food tour. In other food tours I’ve taken, you bounce around a place eating from restaurants, hearing stories of the place and its food, and (maybe) visiting a food producer or a producer’s shop (like a cheesemaker or a cheese shop), sampling foods along the way. While there are no food tours in Shetland, this Scotland foodie was determined to experience Shetland with food at its forefront.

The World Food Travel Association defines food tourism as,

“the act of traveling for a taste of place in order to get a sense of place.”

And that’s exactly what I was looking for in Shetland.

Below is a short collection of 4 peerie (little) stories, each about a person in Shetland who have a direct impact on Shetland food, and have influenced my perception of food culture.

1. Respect and affection for the food

During the Taste of Shetland Food and Drink Festival, I was fortunate to attend a “lamb boning” Masterclass with Lauraine Manson from Shetland’s abbatoir (or slaughterhouse). While it was called lamb boning, what it really showcased was how to utilize a single lamb to feed a village.

Lauraine is tall and dressed in all black, besides the pop of color of her red fedora. We were in a red colored room, so actually, she matches the decor. She walked in with a lamb shaped cloth sack slung over her shoulder. As she took us through her life’s experience, Lauraine made thoughtful incisions and intentional cuts to the carcass. Each cut is done with care and respect for the animal whose body she works on.

She speaks a lot about her respect for the animals. You’ll probably never find her with a cleaver hacking away at anything. It’s disrespectful, she reminds us. Those animals gave their lives for your meal – we need to respect that.

Following the deboning, the shape of the carcass no longer resembles an animal, now closer to the meat we are used to handling.

With the meat carefully splayed over the table, Shetland-native and food writer Marian Armitage steps up. Armed with a simple concoction of couscous, breadcrumbs, apricots and parsley, Marian spreads the stuffing over the lamb. “There’s no accurate quantity [for the stuffing],” Marian says, and Lauraine agrees that there’s no need for that. But don’t forget a twist of the pepper grinder, some of Shetland’s very own sea salt, and maybe some extra cumin for good measure. With a ball of twine, Lauraine and Marian come together to tightly roll the lamb and tie it, ready to roast.

Lamb would have been prepared that way for large family gatherings or village weddings. Done this way, everyone would get a bit of meat, and the stuffing (infused with all the flavors from the lamb) would take care of the rest.

Unfortunately, they didn’t cook the lamb at the food and drink festival. Earlier in the year, Lauraine and Marian did the demonstration (and cooked the lamb) for the 2022 Royal Highland Show. And I bet it smelled and tasted like no other!

2. Food tourism in Shetland – a visit to Garths Croft Bressay

Through my research on food tourism in Shetland, I found Garth’s Croft – a sustainable agricultural holding, run by Chris Dyer, focusing on traditional and different heritage breeds of sheep, pigs and poultry. Shortlisted for the 2022 Highlands and Islands Tourism Award for Food Tourism, Chris offers tours of his croft and around local Bressay. He also offers a variety of bespoke tours focusing on history and heritage of the surrounding areas.

Bressay is located a quick 7 minute ferry from the Lerwick pier on Mainland Shetland.

Most of the visitors to Garth’s Croft are “fiber community” enthusiasts – people who love wool and knitting.  Thanks to the internet, the undyed fleeces from his heritage Shetland sheep are sent from one far corner of the world to another.  The magic of the internet also gives Chris an avenue to offer Zoom tours of the croft.  It seems to work well, considering Shetland’s remote location and the effort involved in visiting.

I don’t think Chris sees himself as being part of “food tourism”. I can see the direct connection funnily enough, but as a trained archaeologist and historian who runs a sustainable agricultural holding… he needs a little convincing. I think that’s part of his humility though, for being recognized and nominated in a tourism category he never saw himself as part of.

Food tourism, agritourism, ecotourism – call it what you want. At the end of the day, my experience with Chris from Garth’s Croft is hands down one of the best tourism experiences I’ve ever had.

– Lannie, extremely opinionated travel extraordinaire

Croft is not a word that gets used often outside of Scotland, and to be fair, I wasn’t entirely sure about the nuances of what a croft includes. A “croft” is defined by the Oxford dictionary as:

• a small rented farm, especially one in Scotland,
• comprising a plot of arable land attached to a house (the croft house), and
• with a right of pasturage held in common with other such farms.

Traditionally, crofting brings us back to subsistence farming – raising livestock and growing crops intended to feed you and your family, normally without surplus. Nowadays, most crofters aren’t practicing subsistence farming only. That being said, Chris only raises enough livestock that he himself can manage. Turns out it’s a lot, but still.

The sheep interrupt us to grab a cuddle from Chris, or so it seems. In actuality, Dinky is coming around to eat some of the feed Chris has in his hands. Dinky, who was the runt of the litter, is “special”, Chris says, originally needing to be bottle fed at birth. It’s amusing watching the colorful sheep playfully vying for his attention. I watch in silence, smiling at the incredible detail I just witnessed – Chris giving Dinky a little affectionate scratch on the head, as Dinky eagerly eats everything out of his other hand.

When Chris began crofting, his motivation had less to do with raising sheep to feed and clothe the masses and more with bringing the heritage of the area back to the forefront. To explain, what drives Chris is that deep connection to the land. For the archaeologist and historian, it’s less about what breeds can maximize your yields at the sheep sales, but more – what breeds are traditional to this land? What breeds can we bring back to this land?

And so he set out repurposing his croft, as a tribute to the old ways, while blending it with new, sustainable practices. Building the first drystone square enclosure on Shetland in 1,000 years, Chris sectioned off a “plantiecrub” or a traditional kale yard next to the croft house. Yes, Chris is actually one of very few drystone masons on Shetland as well, mending the walls that snake around Bressay, neighboring Noss, and mainland Shetland.

(This is a great croft tour video on YouTube that Chris made.
Let’s just blame Shetland’s weather for me not taking as many photos or videos that day I was in Bressay.)

Back to the kale yard.  Historically, that’s what it did – it grew kale, potatoes (taaties / tatties), and other root vegetables.  Kale has been in Shetland since, at least, the 17^th century.  The drystone walls provide some cover to Shetland’s harsh weathers – but that’s ok, kale seems to thrive in the tumultuous weather. Back in the day, the kale would be in the enclosure with the family’s own “hoose taaties”.  Hoose taaties are… potatoes for the “hoose” (house).

Chris is proud that the croft can thrive with zero artificial fertilizer, preferring to use a variety of heritage pigs to naturally plow and fertizile plots of land to render it arable. To supplement the kale yard and to provide weather cover for other crops, there is the polycrub greenhouse – made from recycled salmon cages.  Inside, the polycrub houses the croft’s singular apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, along with other greens and produce hidden away from Shetland’s harsh weather. I say singular fruit trees, because that’s part of Chris’ mentality, isn’t it?  He doesn’t need an orchard full of apple trees, the one is enough to feed him and his family, with some left for the Bressay community.

Garth’s Croft is an exciting blend of old and new, going back to the days before globalization and mass production, using the land to feed and clothe your family unit.  For us travelers and dreamers, a visit to Garth’s Croft makes us ponder our own life and its excesses. While few of us will do what Chris did, and move to a remote corner of the world to live off the land, there is a genuine admiration and awe of those who do.  But to be able to not only live, but thrive in such an environment – it’s an extraordinary thing and takes an extraordinary person to do so.

To bring it back to food and food tourism and Garth’s Croft…  While I haven’t outright said just yet, you as my reader must know that all the livestock in the world will end up on someone’s table at some point in time. This is true in both mass production and small scale subsistence farming. And while we are looking at beautiful heritage sheep with colorful wool or pigs happily burrowing for worms, their purpose in the end is to feed us.

Although I never tasted any of the various meat products or fresh produce from Garth’s Croft, I have a feeling that all the thoughtful care and attention Chris pays would certainly resonate in the end-product. Have you heard the myth of Kobe beef in Japan? With its world famous, gorgeously marbled meats, true or not, the cows are said to regularly listen to Mozart and given massages. While the sheep from Garth’s Croft don’t listen to Mozart (that I know of!) and unfortunately get subjected to somewhat miserable Shetland weather, they appear to have an extremely fun-loving and sustainable environment to live in. 

The Shetland agricultural community thrives on sheep. Whether that’s for Shetland’s thick “ganseys” (sweaters or jumpers for the non-Shetland speakers), to sell to mainland farmers, or for purchase and slaughter in Shetland, the agricultural community resolves around sheep and their sales. Lamb, born in the spring, take about 6 months to grow and mature, and are ready by the fall.

The sheep sales in Shetland run between August to November, from 2-3 times a week. 3-4,000 sheep are sold each time, with Chris and Lauraine being critical components to and daily fixtures at the sales. The sheep sales are the lifeblood of the agricultural community in Shetland. Chris invited me to one of the sales, and I would have loved to attend if I weren’t so busy with the festival. But, always save something for next time!

People like Lauraine and Chris are critical contributions to the sheep industry on Shetland. Their humane and respectful treatment of animals and committment to sustainable farming practices must have a direct impact on the taste of the food – it’s inevitable.  The excitement of honest, humane food practices and the emphasis on traditional values brought me to Shetland to experience the taste of Shetland in person.

It was this complex, yet simple sustainable crofting approach to life and food production that I sought out in my travels to Shetland. And from that search, I found Garth’s Croft on Bressay.

* Other Heritage Tours with Garth’s Croft

Normally, visits to Garth’s Croft are combined with a trip to the Bressay Heritage Centre and Speldiburn Cafe, but alas – it was the dreaded Monday in off-season Scotland, where almost everything is closed. But don’t let that stop you – it didn’t hinder my experience with Chris that day. Following the morning at the croft, in the most torrential weather conditions, we set out in Bressay to explore croft ruins and an Iron Age broch.

Later on in the week, I spent a second day with Chris, almost entirely unrelated to food.  We went up through mainland Shetland to Yell (via another ferry) and onto Unst (via ferry), to the UK’s most northern part – basking in its rugged beauty and history dotting the land. 

From the remains of Viking longhouses in Sandwick to the construction site of its new space port (space port?  I know, right?!!), Chris’ enthusiasm for the land and its history was infectious.  Because you can only plan so much with island life, a serendipitous missing of a ferry led us to exploring the spectacular Breckon Sands beach in Yell. 

• ❤️ Shout out to these good folks on Unst: Final Checkout Café for the delightful white coffee and Skibhoul Bakery for your wonderful baked goods for our picnic.

Even though Viking or military history isn’t my strong suit, there are so many memorable things about that day.  I don’t know if it was the wild remoteness that hypnotized me, the picnic inside a (replica) Viking longhouse (I love a good picnic), or the fact that we were the two most northern people in all of the UK that day… it was windy and rainy at parts, but overall, filled with wonder and amazement.

More to come on this later!

3. Hospitality and Food in Shetland

During my time in Shetland, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time with people and their families – a far cry from your average tourist experience. I wanted to share some of the warm memories centered around food that my hosts and their families left with me.

* With Mary in Bigton

There’s nothing like a freak internet and mobile blackout to bring people together.  The morning that I arrived on Shetland, unbeknownst to me, there was a blackout of all internet and cell services.  Everything (digital) came to a halt.  Luckily, people in the villages of rural Scotland are used to walking over to their neighbors for a blether. And in the village of Bigton, there was a lot of folks popping into Hayhoull Bed & Breakfast every so often to say hi to Mary (my hostess) and have a blether about the blackout. 

Through the course of the week on Shetland, I met and chatted and dined with Mary’s: daughter, granddaughter, niece, sisters, and other relatives that I met in a blur.  It was so fun hear them spiritedly catch up with each other, in the Shetland dialect, translated at times for my benefit.  And as someone who works abroad for most of the year, it tugged at my heart strings for the family not near me. 

What lovely family moments, chatting away over a roasting peat fire, often talking and laughing well into the night. 

Before I ran off to the ferry, I sat down for one last meal with Mary, her daughter, and granddaughter.  A simple vegetable soup with lamb.  As Mary’s daughter explained to her daughter, “Granny’s mum made this soup for me and now granny is now making this soup for you.”  And just like that, I was brought into the fold of Mary’s mothers’ vegetable soup with lamb, keeping me warm as I left Shetland.

* Scatness with Marian

If ever there were any singular person who is Shetland food’s greatest ambassador and quintessential expert, that would be Marian Armitage. 

Marian, a local Shetlander who now splits her time between London and Shetland, dreamt of being a cookery school teacher at age 12. Now, with two books out, she is the go-to-resource on Shetland’s food and traditional recipes.

I spent my last morning in Shetland in the village of Scatness with Marian.  When I walked into her kitchen, a charming throwback to country kitchens, it felt cozy, adorable, and oddly familiar. A quick glance to the stack of cooking books on the table revealed Marian’s first book – Shetland Food and Cooking – with her iconic kitchen immortalized on the cover.

That morning, Marian was expecting her old neighbors from Lerwick to stop by, and set about to bake some fresh beremeal bannocks for her guests. By the time I arrived, they were just coming out of the oven. Perfect timing, I love a freshly baked good.

There’s something about the smells of a kitchen that’s just baked something fresh, isn’t there?

She instinctively grabs a bannock, slathers some Shetland butter on it, and asks me to taste it. “Is it done?” she asks. Of course the bannocks are done, and absolutely perfect from my perspective. Warm and thick, with deliciously melted butter dripping off the edges. “We’ll have it with some rhubarb jam in a minute.” (homemade, obviously)

As we walk into the conservatory overlooking the wild sea, we reminisce about Orkney and our visit to Barony Mill, where the beremeal flour she’s using was milled. Bere is an ancient barley, which dates back to the 8th century. A darker grain, and slightly bitter – making the bannocks a hearty affair. Like Shetland, I suppose.

Marian and I spoke at length about her love of Shetland and its food traditions, and the deep drive she has to share it with people. I didn’t realize the depths of that passion at the time, but I do now. I get it. As she so beautifully describes in her first book:

“What is special about Shetland is the people who live there and their relationship and interaction with the surrounding sea and land. They are interesting, interested, unique, skilled and outward thinking. They are influenced by the past and in many instances the old ways.”

– Marian Armitage, from Shetland Food and Cooking.

But it’s the strength of the relationships that Shetlanders have with each other too, that enhances the experience with food. And in all honesty, the bannocks and rhubarb jam tasted better with the company of Marian, Marian’s husband, James, her old neighbor from Lerwick, and his friend.

And once again, the familiar embrace of Shetland warmth and hospitality and food.

4. Parting Thoughts

I’m sure you all can see, this was a very moving trip for me. The connection between the food, the land, the people, the sea, and the animals is so thoughtful and vibrant, and really, such an exciting thing to experience. I really wasn’t prepared for all the ways that Shetland’s food opened my eyes into their world. Aside from the taste of the food itself, no regional cuisine has given me so much to think about.

But isn’t that what travel is supposed to do for us? Give us a moment to pause, reflect, and consider a different way of life? I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that with globalization and mass production, it’s simply easier (and unfortunately cheaper) to just go to the grocery store to buy your clementines from Spain or your pears from Chile. Many people don’t have easy access to farm-to-table or local produce options.

But that being said, this is a food and travel blog. I write this in hopes of influencing conscious decisions about food choices when you travel:

• Intentional support of local businesses.
• Seeking out ethical and sustainable businesses.
• Finding experiences that go beyond the norm.
• Meeting and embracing the local community.

Those are the things that fill your heart with memories after you return.

I’m reminded of an Anthony Bourdain quote,

“Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.“

And with that, I sincerely thank Shetland for the perfect meal it served me.

5. Shetland Post Resources

• Chris from Garth’s Croft on Bressay – the reluctant food tourism hero of Bressay, promoting heritage and sustainable agriculture in Shetland;

• Link
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Mail

• Where I stayed in Shetland: Hayhoull Bed & Breakfast in Bigton – 25 minutes drive from Lerwick and right next to St. Ninian’s Isle. I think you know I had an absolutely wonderful stay here!

• Link
• Facebook
• Mail

• Marian Armitage’s Shetland books – Food Made in Shetland (just released in 2022!) and Shetland Food and Cooking. If you’re wanting to learn more about the food, these books from Marian are essential for any foodie and home cook! They’re filled with traditional Shetland recipes and great photos to salivate over.

• Link
• Instagram
• Amazon

Getting to Shetland by Air

There are regular direct flights to Sumburgh Airport on Loganair from:

• Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Kirkwall (Orkney) in Scotland;
• London City and Manchester in England;
• Bergen, Norway, in the summer.

Getting to Shetland by Ferry

Take the 12-14 hour overnight ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick. On M, W, F, the ferry also stops in Orkney, so there’s an extra 2 hours for all the Orkney passengers and goods to join / disembark.

Most Shetlanders think the “pods” on the ship are miserable for such a long sailing. Though pricey, getting a room is highly recommended!

For those who get sea sick… off season North Sea overnight ferries are not your friend!

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Lannie

Lannie is a perpetual wanderer and loves to share her travel adventures and the food she eats along the way with everyone.  She works during the day while bouncing around the world and dreams about new places and faces at night!  She has a home on the magical Isle of Islay in Scotland, where the whisky flows freely and happily.

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