Scottish cuisine has a lot of unique recipes and ingredients but a lot of Scottish cuisine is also influenced by cuisine from other parts of the UK and around the world. Scottish cuisine also has some quite close connections with certain types of French cuisine.
Important parts of good Scottish cooking are quality basic ingredients, such as quality fresh fruit, vegetables, meats and poultry.
Whilst there are many healthy options available on the Scottish menu, there are also many popular, often cheaper dishes, which aren’t so healthy. These are often seen on the tables of lower income families. Such dishes, whilst quite tasty, are very basic and use cheaper ingredients (fatty meats) and often contain little in the way of vegetables.
More and more Scotts are now becoming more health conscious with their diets and are opting for healthier dishes with better quality ingredients.
Scottish cuisine has enjoyed some limelight recently, with at least ten restaurants having been awarded with what is recognised as being the highest award in culinary excellence – the Michelin star. The Michelin star system is used to rank prestigious, haute cuisine restaurants.
As with many other people, the Scotts are becoming more and more adventurous with their diets. Indian dishes, such as tikka massala, and other spicy dishes are already very popular with the Scotts, as are other types of Asian foods. Some fine Scottish restaurants have picked up on this and have created fusion cuisine, blending these fiery dishes with more traditional Scottish ingredients.