No-one would argue that traditional Scottish cooking has produced one of the great cuisines of the world. For such a northerly country, most of whose population lived on the land until a little more than 150 years ago, this is hardly surprising - although  it wasn't that traditional Scottish fare lacked the raw materials to lift it above the bland or boring.

Quality ingredients
Far from it, because then as now, the quality of the ingredients was excellent: the world's finest seafood including shellfish, lobster and crabs, and varieties of fish too numerous to mention; succulent lamb and beef; soft fruit including raspberries, strawberries, tayberries and brambles (blackberries); game such as venison, grouse, pheasant, partridge and wood pidgeon, and a host of locally produced cheeses, including cheddars from Ayrshire and Galloway.

Straightforward preparations
Sadly, through circumstance, location and disinclination, such ingredients were rarely combined imaginatively. Recipes tended to be simple and straightforward to prepare: hearty soups, simple meats, and smoked fish in various guises. There was also of course, the haggis, the national dish, which together with the likes of black (i.e. blood) pudding, are testimony to the Scots' unwillingness to waste any part of a slaughtered animal.

Homely fare
If such traditional Scottish fare seems 'homely' then this is precisely because until the late 1960s and '70s, most Scots did actually take all their meals at home, rather than eat out. This inhibited the growth of restaurants and meant that housewives rather than chefs dominated in the Scottish kitchen; it also meant that the need to satisfy hungry workers rather than discerning diners was the overriding concern when preparing food.

Great bakers
An exception to this plain fare were the cakes. Scots acquired an enviable reputation for their baking skills, with the likes of dumplings, pastries and small 'fancies' that filled the tearooms which proliferated in the cities from the late 19th century onwards. This is undoubtedly where the Scots get their infamous collective sweet tooth!