SIDE DISHES News to nibble on
The List has just published the latest in its series of free regional food guides to Scotland, with
the Lanarkshire Larder covering all the best food and drink in North and South Lanarkshire, including Clyde Valley Tomatoes, Lanark Blue cheese and Soave’s ice-cream. There’s also comprehensive listings of our recommended places to buy and eat food locally. For more, see food.list. co.uk Could a city feed 5000 folk for free just using food that would otherwise be thrown away? As part of the Edible Edinburgh project, community and campaign groups are holding a lunchtime event at Bristo Square on Sat 5 Oct called Feeding the 5000. Edinburgh Council, EUSA, Nourish, Soil Association Scotland, Slow Food and local chefs are involved – and anyone can turn up for a feed.
FOOD & DRINK NEWS & REVIEWS
PHILOSOPHY CAFÉ Malcolm Jack muses on a thought-provoking venue that’s breathing new life into a dining-out dead-zone in Glasgow’s east end
T his Duke Street site just off the High Street was originally taken over by former GSA student Dan Taylor as a design studio, until spiralling costs necessitated a radical business rethink. When a friend suggested opening a café, of which experience Taylor had ‘absolutely none’, he switched art for artisan bread with help from more foodie-minded cohorts Mhairi Nelis and Angharad Burney.
Drawing on his fascination with the Scottish Enlightenment, Taylor named his enterprise after Dr James McCune Smith, a 19th century African- American intellectual and abolitionist who studied in Glasgow after being refused entry to institutions at home on racial grounds. His name is invoked to reflect the way the city’s reputation as a hotbed for new ways of philosophical thinking in the 18th and 19th centuries awkwardly juxtaposed its commercial complicity in the transatlantic slave trade. In essence, it’s a café where you can eat a wholesome breakfast or lunch, served with a side of lesser-acknowledged Scottish history and culture. Olive green Harris tweed barrel lampshades are the standout features of a stylish, minimalist aesthetic with a strong Scottish flavour. The café’s handsome retro-classical black façade wouldn’t have looked out of place on Glasgow’s High Street
MCCUNE SMITH CAFÉ
a hundred or more years ago.
Sandwiches (tenuously) represent the historical figures after whom they’re titled: a New York deli classic for Big Apple-native McCune Smith, for instance, or Mediterranean-themed feta and olives for neoclassical architect Robert Adam, or hot smoked salmon for David Hume because, well, oily fish is good for the brain. Simple but sophisticated, served on thick slices of soft, fresh artisan bread and loaded with fillings, they’re about as good as the humble Scots piece gets. Breakfast options range from rolls with Ramsay’s of Carluke bacon or pork and leek sausage to porridge pots with various healthy toppings, while sweets all baked in-house include chunky rocky road made with Tunnock’s Teacake. Considering McCune Smith’s unique positioning at a crossroads where food, design, history and much more meet, and its owner’s proven adventurousness (events- based late openings are just one idea being mooted), this very welcome new addition to Glasgow’s café scene could go any number of interesting ways in years to come.
+ Enlighteningly good pieces - More hot food wouldn’t go amiss
35 Duke Street, East End, Glasgow G4 0UL, 0141 548 1114, mccunesmith.co.uk Food served: Mon–Fri 8am–4pm; Sat 9am-4pm. Closed Sun. Ave. price lunch: £7
34 THE LIST 19 Sep–17 Oct 2013