Top chef forages in fields to feed 800 at Scotland’s food Oscars

A team at Scotland’s most prestigious food awards wowed guests with a meal featuring ingredients hand-foraged by one of the nations’s top chefs.

More than 800 attendees at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards were in the dark about the carte du jour until the last possible moment, when the 120-strong team from Sodexo Prestige unveiled their elaborate menu.

Their menu featured white crab from Eyemouth, Stornoway black pudding purée, new season Perthshire strawberries and fresh Scottish asparagus, available for just three weeks of the year.

It also incorporated both wild garlic and elderflower hand-foraged by dedicated chef Tom Beauchamp.

Despite having to serve more than 800 diners in an incredibly tight time frame, the Sodexo Prestige team were hailed for not only pulling it off – but doing so with invention and panache.

Sophie Fraser, Communications & Marketing Manager at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “The final menu was beautiful – not just in taste but also in the way it was presented.

“The dishes were very striking with lots of seasonal flavours and played on what is tasty at this time of year – the strawberries and light sauces in particular give it a lovely, summery feel.”