Kirsty Gunn: A kind of quiet foodie revolution has been going on up in the north

I said a few weeks ago in this column that I was planning to do some investigating around the local food and drink scene here where I am in Sutherland. For sure there's a great turn in Scotland generally towards establishing, in our attitude to what we eat and drink, what the French would describe as 'terroir' '“ that focus on producing food for our tables and restaurants according to locality and season and preparation, not fashion.

David Gladwin, co-founder if the Black Isle Brewery, where not just beer but fab food can be found

It’s been an obvious shift in our cities and larger towns – just think how long the wonderful David Ramsden has been doing his thing in restaurants in Edinburgh over the years – and there have always been destination restaurants in further flung locations that highlight local produce, but it’s been exciting for me to witness a kind of quiet foodie revolution going on up in the north where we’re far away from the bustle of big kitchens and waiting lists.

Banging up and down on the A9 between Inverness and Rogart my eye is drawn by a number of attractive looking signs – the Crab Shack at Tain, The Dornoch Farm Shop, The Eating Plaice and Sandwich Shop near Alness – including one for The Black Isle Brewery where, the other day, I pulled in to be met by a gang of tall Californian men who were making a documentary about – guess what? Food and drink in the Highlands. It seemed spooky, almost – me thinking about all this and then finding myself in deep conversation about it on a remote farm surrounded by pastures dotted with happily munching Hebridean Black sheep with a group of men who’d crossed the Atlantic with all their film production kit to chart exactly the same kind of thing.

“We’re having a great time here, wild camping, checking out the amazing scenery and having these guys” – production company head Vern Moen gestured to the two local chefs Andy Waugh and Ruaridh Emslie who were travelling with them – “show us around the place. Show us what’s good to eat, to prepare and cook… What a country!” Vern made a big Californian gesture, that seemed to take in the whole of the Highlands, the sheer darn loveliness of it, and introduced me to his “intentionally rough” documentary film company, Gentlemen of the North: Martin Vielma, Steve Ryan and Ryan Ford – all of whom I’ve invited up for afternoon tea this week when their itinerary brings them to the North East. “We’re interested in great content,” said Martin, “more than fancy production values. We’re more real.”

The Black Isle Brewery’s Michael Gladwin, who, along with his brother David masterminded the whole set-up there – a craft brewery with a shop attached that sells beautifully-packaged beers and gorgeous black woolly jumpers, along with a cafe that does organic pizzas and an associated restaurant in Inverness, The Black Isle Bar – had told me they were to be featured in an American documentary when we’d been chatting about food and drink in the Highlands earlier.

“On a wave” was the term he used, being a bit Californian himself, describing the way using local organic produce had given the Black Isle company a boost in the market, making their remote position an advantage and giving the brewery a specialist edge. With beers with names like Yellowhammer and Goldfinch and pizzas topped with produce grown in their own gardens and, for those who are meat eaters, organic very happy Black Hebridean sheep … Well, how can any of this not be 100 per cent yum?

Andy Waugh, who chefs and sources here but also runs Mac and Wild, his restaurant in London – sporting the fabulous strapline “From gun to plate” – had nothing but praise for the venture and agreed the food and drink scene in this part of Scotland is on the rise.

“There’s more experimentation going on,” agrees The Store House of Foulis’s Michelle Stevens. “People are growing more interesting things, doing interesting things with it. We’ve got local producers making jams and chutneys now branching out into pesto sauces made with local herbs, and specialist dressings and drinks and marinades. I know of a family over in Beauly who have started their own tea plantation,” she went on, and told me that, yes, in the food and drink community way of it she knew Andy, too, supplying all the free range eggs for his restaurant before they started selling out in the shop, where all the produce is top notch and varied and seasonal and organic to the hilt.

A look through my own fridge is delicious confirmation: hunks of maple cured hot smoked salmon from Wester Ross, local rapeseed oil pesto made in the Black Isle, piles of redcurrants and raspberries from down the road here in Sutherland and a brie-style cheese from Ardersier.

“Wherever possible it’s all local,” Michelle went on, referring both to what’s on sale in the food shop and in the crowd-drawing restaurant and cafe next door. I’d told her that my husband reported that he had just had the most delicious haggis of his life on the sleeper to London and had found out it was from a producer in Dornoch. Michelle marched me straight over to the fridge compartment and there it was. “See what I mean?” she said. “We supply all the food for the Sleeper now and it’s all really, really good…”

On up the road on my way to my sister’s in Caithness the deliciousness continues – by way the newly opened River Bothy Cafe at Berriedale. Tucked away into the Braes next to Patricia Nieman’s jeweller’s studio and run by the super efficient power-baker Fiona Polson –“I’m up around 3:30am to start making the cakes” – it is a haven of good taste and tastiness between Helmsdale – with its own terrific waterfront cafe as part of the TimeSpan Centre there – and the east coast-hugging villages of Dunbeath and Lybster and on up to Wick.

The River Bothy is another sign of the times they are a changin’. Where once a cafe would have had nothing more than a pale scone or two, and something fake full of additives bought in from miles away, now it’s lemon and lime polenta cake, open-topped salad sandwiches and Cullen Skink, and, for breakfast, goodies like ham hock and cornbread served with homemade chutney.

“We do everything ourselves and most of our ingredients from around here – a fabulous butcher in Latheronwheel, the Caithness smokehouse for all our salmon and duck and Wilsons of Westray cheeses from Orkney…” More please!

Because, really, I haven’t even got started. No mention yet of all the new distilleries – we sampled the fabulous Balblair recently and our local Clynelish has had something of a makeover – not to mention the splash of designer gin coming from all over Scotland, and neither have I written about our tried and tested eateries that have been here for years but keep getting better and better.

My girls can’t go past the “amazing” hot chocolates in Poppy’s in Golspie and later this afternoon, after one of our all-weather swims on the beach there, Katherine and I will be piling into the award-winning Trawler for one of their formidable fish teas by way of a reward. If I have any room left – watch this space!