Founded by Abundant Borders, and now presented and produced by Charlotte Maberly, the foodscape podcast explores how food shapes lives and landscapes in The Scottish Borders. Follow on https://www.facebook.com/FoodScapePodcast
The first season was funded by Abundant Borders, with support from Scottish Borders Council and Scottish Communities Climate Action Network. We are proud to have developed this innovative project and delighted that it continues to grow into a record of Borders Lives and Food Culture.
An interview with Karen Birch, Chief Officer of Abundant Borders
Abundant Borders believes that everyone, regardless of personal circumstances, should have access to healthy, nutritious food. They have set up seven community gardens across the Borders, and offer training in gardening and cooking.
We visit the Kelso Community Garden and discuss the history of the commons, the transformative nature of growing your own, and how gardening can be a form of revolution.
Episode 2 – Surprising stories from a giant celebration of the humble tattie
Every year, a thousand or so potato-philes travel to the Kelso Showgrounds to source the varieties they love best. Forget your Maris Pipers, BOG Potato Day has almost 100 varieties – each one with a unique history, flavour and character.
Sheep are one of the most common sights in the Scottish Borders farming landscape, but with the exception of Easter weekend, we hardly eat their meat at all.
This episode explores our relationship with sheep from field to plate, and includes conversations with farmers, a trader and a local butcher, discussing the joys, challenges, flavours and future of bringing lamb to the table, and hearing from Bairnkine organic farm and the lambing shed at Spital Tower Farm, gaining insight into how lambs get from farm to market with Farmstock, and learning how to prepare the juiciest roast from an enterprising butcher in Jedburgh.
Episode 4 – Resilient Restaurants
How would the foodscape of a rural region like the Scottish Borders be effected if we saw more hospitality closures? Would we really miss our restaurants and cafes?
This episode hears from 3 business owners who have remained resilient despite difficult times for the industry. They share their experiences, reflections and hopes for the future of their trade.
Throughout history, people across the Borders would have expected to go hungry at this time of year. The time between March and May was known as the hungry gap, when larders were emptied after the winter, and the garden and farm hadn’t yet started producing. This period of scarcity was part of the seasonal cycle, forcing people to rely on an essential and common knowledge of wild foods to keep themselves going.
Nowadays, the average supermarket creates a convincing illusion of limitless abundance all year round, encouraging us to waste food and imagine that hunger is a thing of the past. But right now 1 in 6 people across Scotland are experiencing food insecurity, and many more of us may experience food shortages as extreme weather and high fuel costs become more regular. We need to consider how we address hunger, and how we can learn to treat food as the precious resource that it is.
Why is it so difficult, in an agricultural region, to get a good variety of local vegetables?
Is it just because our soil won’t produce them? Because we’d rather produce livestock? Or are we reluctant to grow and sell them? One way or another, shorter supply chains increases food security, local economic activity, and of course, the freshness of the food. And like many parts of the country, people in the Scottish Borders would like to be able to buy more locally produced vegetables.
Episode 7 – To Market, to market
It’s loud, it’s fast, and when the auctioneer begins his call you’ve got to have your wits about you! We experience the raw energy of the mart, discuss the importance of traditional breeds and animal welfare, and why these are vital in creating the tastiest steak.
How we produce food around the world in the 21st century, is widely accused of being one of the main causes of climate change. Agriculture and nature are now seen as being at odds, and in the UK our government is putting pressure on farmers to change the way they operate and be more nature friendly. In some cases, this means ceasing to produce all together, planting trees or re-wilding previously productive land.
Do we have to make a choice between nature or food production?
