Scottish Food News – August 2017

This month's food news focuses on Glasgow, with drinks festivals, vegan celebrations and tasty gins to try

Preview by Peter Simpson | 28 Jul 2017

We kick off this month at Kinning Park Complex for Street Food Fusion. It's 'a three course adventure of street food with multi-continent influences using all intercepted food waste from supermarkets,' as Kinning Park aim to celebrate and share different culinary background and cultural influences, while also saving perfectly good food from landfill. Win-win if you ask us. 3 Aug, 5.30pm, more info via cca-glasgow.com

Following that is another simply-titled event – the Scottish Drinks Festival at the Briggait. Pleasingly straightforward this one; dozens of drinks brands and purveyors, from old school whisky folk to new gin distillers to craft breweries, all bunged into one big building for your amusement.  5-6 Aug, 12pm and 4.15pm sessions, £29.50, scottishdrinksfestival.com

A few months back, we mentioned the Bottle of Ginger series of events at CCA, aiming to create a community-focused soft drink in Glasgow's East End. Well guess what? They've only bloody gone and done it. The Bottle of Ginger team launch A Couple of Drinks – a pair of collaborations with London’s East End community drinks group, Company Drinks – this month, with plans for further celebration in September. For now, head down, crack open a cold one, and toast a job well done. 8 Aug, 9am-3pm, Bridgeton Cross, more info via cca-glasgow.com

Staying with the CCA for a second, the gallery hosts the launch of Artists' Cookbook, a new book exploring the cultural contexts and rituals which surround dining. A host of artists reflect on the forms of their meals, their place in culture and society, and the central place of food in all of our relationships and communities. Artist and cook, Claire Dearnley, will prepare and serve recipes from the Artists’ Cookbook on the night. 11 Aug, 5.30pm, free, more info via cca-glasgow.com

It's back to the Briggait mid-month for this year's Vegan Connections festival. While the fest features gigs from such Skinny faves as Pinact and Breakfast Muff, our attention is drawn to VC's food market which hosts dozens of options for the discerning herbivore. Booze, baked goods, vegan pies, vegan pizza, and five different vegan confectioners – if you've ever wanted to try living without animal products but were concerned it could become a utilitarian slog, this is the event for you. 12 Aug, 10am-4pm, £3, vegan-connections.com

Next up, a chance for juniper lovers to get themselves a new favourite tipple, as Gin71 host An Evening with Scapegrace Gin. Distilled at the foot of the Southern Alps on New Zealand's South Island, Scapegrace takes advantage of the country's unspoilt nature to make, they tell us, a delicious gin. The Scapegrace website does have a '2013's greatest web design hits on shuffle' vibe, so why not head along and get some more straightforward intel, and a chance to try the stuff out for yourself. 21 Aug, 6.30pm, 71 Renfield St, tickets via gin71.com

To close the month, the Cocktails in the City festival makes its first appearance in Glasgow following several successful runnings in Edinburgh over the past five years. Sixteen of the city's best cocktail bars are represented, with tasting tables and various other activities to supplement the main event – tasting lots of delicious cocktails without the usual hassles of 'walking' or 'planning an evening'. 25 Aug, 6pm, £12 (includes one cocktail), tickets via cocktailsinthecity.designmynight.com 

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