2016 in Food and Drink: The Year So Far

Street Food Gets Organised

Here's a slightly philosophical question: when does street food stop being street food? Is the definition down to place and continuity, or is it just a distinction that means 'food you don't need to sit down for'? 'Food that's probably in a box'?

A string of locations in Edinburgh and Glasgow left us with cause to ponder in 2016, from The Pitt street food market in Edinburgh with its regular crop of traders to the Gordon Lane Laneways project in Glasgow with its semi-permanent spaces. Taste Buchanan's takeover of the Buchanan Galleries food court pushes the phrase to near-breaking point – it isn't even on a street – so it could be time for a new bit of terminology. 

Healthy Eating Takes The Cake

The raw cake is here, everyone! At a host of vegan, gluten-free and generally super-healthy spots across Edinburgh and Glasgow, the mantle of cake fiend has been taken up by the health-conscious with some interesting results. In Glasgow you can find protein waffles at KCal Kitchen and cheeseless cheesecakes at Primal Roast, while Edinburgh has Raw Snickers and a whole host of other raw delights courtesy of Grams, as well as Pumpkin Brown's 'bliss balls'. Okay, some of the names need a bit of work, but we're getting there.

Pizzas Are The New Burgers

For a while it didn't look likely, but it seems the red meat tide may be turning. A host of the archetypes of the gourmet burger trend have gone, leaving things on Scotland's food scene looking slightly less chargrilled, and it seems that the next big trend on deck is the artisanal pizza. Wildmanwood in Edinburgh has followed the lead of Paesano through in Glasgow, with low-cost high-quality Neapolitan-style pizzas in stripped-back, trendy environs, with a host of food vans and other outfits also getting in on the act. Pizza: it's so hot right now.

'Really cheap but still dead good' pizza pioneers Franco Manca are reportedly on the way to both Glasgow and Edinburgh shortly, and more will doubtless follow, but the telltale signs of a full-flight trend can be found in the new openings touting their 'artisan pizza' like they've just CTRL+F'd to the words 'dirty burger' and done a wee copy-and-paste. Expect to be chewing on £7 pizzas for the foreseeable; not a bad spot to find yourselves in, to be honest.