JULY DIARY

It was the toughest challenge in our year of eating Scottish. Forget the endless supplies of winter kale and cabbage, the summer delivered the biggest obstacle of the project so far. Having made it from Burns Night to Mid Summer Day, what on earth were we going to do during a two weekly holiday in Canada ?. The rules of the engagement agreed with my wife Sheila and son Jack at the start of this experiment were quite clear- the requirment to eat Scottish stopped the moment we left these shores. After all, taking food supplies abroad is a bit mad when half the joy of a holiday is discovering and enjoying new tastes. On top of that, smuggling a black pudding and arbroath smokie onto an aircraft probably earns you about five years eating porridge in Guantanamo now. Yet having come this far, it seemed a bit lame just to put our commitment to Scottish food in the deep freeze for a fortnight. So we agreed a compromise. We would enjoy the fruits of Canada as long as they too were seasonal and local. By local, we meant British Columbia where we would be based. Like Scotland, it has long, dark winters that are good for depression but not much help when it comes to cultivation. Fortunately, we arrived as the fruits of summer were in abundance. In scorching sunshine, we drove to our friends house outside Vancouver through fields filled with blueberries and bee hives. That night we had local beef tenderloin cooked on the barbeque and served with potatoes and salad from their garden and wine from inland near Lake Okanagan. The next morning I woke to a hangover and the job of shifting the broodie hens in the barn to collect the ingredients for breakfast scrambled eggs. Every day we ate locally because like many others in Canada, our friends have been gripped by a desire to end the madness of importing food from far away when the same or better is available right on their doorstep. In a part of the world famed for its natural beauty and clean environment, it really seems to have caught the mood of the nation. While I've been eating Scottish, two Vancouver journalists have spent a year consuming only food grown and produced within a 100-mil radius of the city. Their book of the project is a national bestseller and has been called, "one of the most important ways we can save ourselves and the planet". A bit of north American hyperbole perhaps but it shows they are preaching to the converted.

The proof of that was everywhere- from the roadside fruit stands to BC salmon burgers on the menu at a beachside takeaway and the numerous good food stores marketing and celebrating local produce. The whole trip proved to me what a long was we still have to go as a nation in terms of our attitude to food. A conviction only reinforced by the sight of a branch of Greggs the Bakers in Glasgow Airport on our return to Scotland. What kind of message does that send out ?. Welcome to Scotland- land of opportunity..... as long as you are partial to a pizza baguette and sausage and bean pastry bake. Back along the M8 the post holiday blues were lifted a little by the sight of the garden vegetable patch. Obviously it had been well watered by the great Scottish summer because the potatoes, carrots, onions and lettuces had all doubled in size in the fortnight we'd been away. Having never grown anything except a rather pathetic beard before, I was really proud of my efforts. Over the next few weeks, the pickings should help form the basis of more Scottish meals. As in Canada, it is prime produce season here. The strawberries and raspberries are now in abundance and even the most recalcitrant supermarkets are starting to feature Scottish lettuce and other salad crops. I even picked up some Scottish tomatoes this week from the Co Op who actually do better than other bigger and noisier major retailers when it comes to supporting Scottish food. We're enjoing the fruits of summer while they last. But having endured the dark days of Februrary and with our experiment due to last to st Andrews Day, I'm also planning some churneys and fruit pickles to keep the tastes of a Scottish summer alive as long as I possibly can

My experiment eating only Scottish food for the best part of a year will end on St Andrews Day and I want to do it in style. I'm calling on the Government to make St Andrews Day Eating For Scotland Day when we can unite as a nation and show our patriotism and love of Scotland by eating great local food and supporting Scottish businesses. It's a simple way to get involved and for just 24 hours, everyone can do it. If you support the idea, let me know through the website.

We're just back from two weeks holiday in Canada. Under the rules we agreed as a family at the start of this project, that allowed us a break from Scottish produce. But after all the hard work and commitment it felt a bit like cheating so we substituted local here for local there and only ate produce from British Columbia where we were staying. During our visit, I discovered two Vancouver journalists have been pursuing a similar experiment and it has attracted huge interest in Canada. take a look at their website www.100milediet.org.