The end of November is the traditional start of Winter north of the border and the first of three landmark days in Scottish culture – St Andrews Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night. As with many patron saints, St Andrew’s association with Scotland – a land he never visited – is shrouded in folklore, poetic licence […]

Do you remember harvest festivals when you were at school? No doubt many of you recall bringing in tinned goods that had sat at the back of your parents’ cupboards for decades (obviously there were no best before dates back then!). Harvesting has, of course, been around for a long, long time! Once mankind stopped […]

We don’t know about you, but here in the SK kitchen we can’t get past 12.25pm without a childhood memory returning. That’s when the school bell would ring for the end of morning lessons and the lunchbreak began. Fabulous, a chance to stop looking for x in a never ending algebra rabbit hole and instead […]

We are entering that time of year where outdoor fire becomes central to community celebration. And where you have fire, food often follows either cooked on the flames or in the good old fashioned kitchen. Though Bonfire Night might be the most famous of those events in this part of the world, fire customs date […]

As the nights become darker and winter closes in there’s a natural inclination to gather round fires, share food and tell tales of the strange and spooky. The oldest of winter festivals still celebrated today is Halloween the roots of which can be found in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain which marked the end […]

Ever wondered what the most popular cuisine in the world is? How does the classic bangers and mash compare with Coq au vin? In the world food league does a Thai curry come higher than a chili con carne and is a paella top banana or relegation fodder? Well, thankfully, the argument has been settled. […]

We all like to get value for money and that certainly applies to food . So making the most out of the weekly shop – rather than throwing some of it away – makes perfect sense. After all, who doesn’t want to save money and reduce food waste? One of the aims of The United […]

Imagine as a child if you failed to do the washing up and then tried to give the excuse that the dirty dishes were in fact part of an important historical record. I suspect most parents would give short shrift to such notions  however it’s thanks to such foresight/laziness that we know the origins of […]

There’s no doubt that plant-based diets are on the rise and with 1st October marking World Vegetarian Day, it seems there’s a variety to suit every taste. Broadly speaking, vegetarianism is an abstinence from meat and by-products of animal slaughter. Veganism extends this to all animal products including eggs and dairy. In between there are […]