Scottish chefs and cooks share their New Year 2022 food resolutions

It seems that next year, they’ll be focusing on sustainability, discovering new ingredients, foraging and investing in hens

Our own New Year’s resolutions are pretty basic, and usually involve cutting down on cake or doing a Dry January. However, these chefs and food lovers are already making way more constructive and worthy plans for 2022.

Mary Contini of Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh, www.valvonacrolla.co.uk

“My New Year’s food resolution is to eat my next seafood risotto in the Trattoria Al Gatto Nero on the Venetian island of Burano, and then to travel South through Italy to eat in all my favourite cities. As soon as they say I can go, I’m off! This is one resolution I will keep”.

Mary Contini

Lea Harris, first person from Scotland to be on The Great British Bake Off, Twitter @BakersBunny

"I’m hopefully getting chickens sometime next year. Just four and I’ve already got names. I did think, initially, to name them after cakes – Opera, Sachertorte, Madeleine, Eclair, but decided on Henrietta, Amelia, Beatrice and Sharon”.

Ronan Shaftoe, head chef of Bar Brett, Glasgow, www.barbrett.co.uk

“I’ll be continuing to discover more about Scottish produce. Since moving to Scotland less than a year ago, I still have a lot to learn. I’m also planning to start learning about beekeeping”.

Peter McKenna

Robbie Meldrum, head chef of Harvey Nichols Forth Floor Restaurant, Edinburgh, www.harveynichols.com

“My food resolutions are focused on sustainability and the environment, with both animal welfare and food provenance being very important to me. I’m making changes at home and will be pushing to do better professionally as well”.

Ross Trail, head chef at The Crusoe, Lower Largo, www.thecrusoe.com

“We recently hosted a Portuguese food and wine pairing and had lots of fun in the kitchen creating traditional Portuguese dishes using Scottish produce – it has most certainly made me want to discover more about cuisines from around the world. Next year, we’ll also be focusing on zero tolerance around waste in the kitchen and using the whole animal when creating nibbles, starters and mains. We’re already extremely passionate about sourcing food both ethically and responsibly”.

Robbie Meldrum

Amy Elles, chef patron at The Harbour Cafe, Elie, www.theharbourcafe.co.uk

“Because we live on the beach, I’ll carry on my seaweed exploration to find new species and experiment with them both at home and in the restaurant. I’m going to embrace the seasons to make the most of it all, so I’ll enjoy both the darker mornings in January and look forward to Spring. I expect in January I’ll be cooking a lot of Alpine food to keep us feeling cosy and happy”.

Chris Niven, head chef at The Lawn, North Berwick, www.marineandlawn.com

“I would like to try my hand at more foraging locally around East Lothian, especially along the shoreline to see what flavours I can bring from there into my dishes, whether it is seaweed or sea buckthorn”.

Larah Bross

Peter McKenna, chef and director of The Gannet, Glasgow and Edinburgh, www.thegannetgla.com

“I’m not one for resolutions, I like to do what feels right when it feels right. Each and every year we try and elevate what we do at The Gannet, always aiming to better what's been done before both in customer experience and kitchen management”.

Larah Bross, owner of Bross Bagels, www.brossbagels.com

“I’m also going back to some nostalgic cooking. As we get set to open our new deli at St James Quarter next year, I’m revisiting, adapting and enjoying some of the Jewish dishes I grew up with, which you can expect to see on the menu when we open the doors”.

Tracy Griffen, personal trainer and author, www.griffenfitness.com

"To publish the Griffen Fitness cookbook. Its been in the pipeline for two years and is nearly finished. Oh, and to grow and eat more gourmet micro leaves”.

Giovanna Eusebi of Eusebi, Glasgow, www.eusebideli.com

“Sourcing sustainably and locally will take even greater relevance for us in 2022. We can all do better and the small changes are the big changes. At the top of my wish list, I would love to see more urban growing in our cities. It has to be inclusive and bring the public and private sectors together. It takes a unique approach and bold policy makers to spur it but pays huge dividends for local communities and the wider environment”.

Dan Ashmore, executive chef at Bread Street Kitchen, Edinburgh, www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com

My food resolution for 2022 is to learn more about food from other cultures. I’m lucky enough to have friends all over the world - Korea, Japan, Europe, America and Africa -so I’d like to broaden my knowledge and try a few of their recipes next year.

Mateusz Majeur, head chef of The Ship Inn, Elie, www.shipinn.scot

“To use as many local sustainable food suppliers that we have on our doorstep”.

Nick Sinclair of Edinburgh Butter Co, www.theedinburghbutterco.co.uk

"We will continue to buy closer and buy better. We put a huge emphasis in our house on buying as local as possible, as seasonal as possible, and as high quality as possible. From our perspective, this is not only how you support great businesses, generally who are independent, but also how you make the biggest impact possible from an environmental and animal welfare perspective. So much of making a difference is about us as consumers really understanding the food chain and where what we eat comes from”.

Rosie Jack, markets and events manager at Bowhouse, Fife, www.bowhousefife.com

“I will continue to support as many local producers in my area as possible as well as eat the seasons. Shopping from local butchers or veg growers, I quickly learned that reverting back to supermarket produce is just not the same in quality and freshness. At our Bowhouse Market Weekends and through our Bowhouse Link online delivery service, I’ve come into contact with so many local producers and the knowledge and pride they take in their work is mind blowing”.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.