Have you ever wanted someone to just lead you from foodie haven to foodie haven without you having to do a thing but follow them?
Well, Fife’s food ambassador Christopher Trotter is promising just that with his bespoke culinary tours across Scotland.
Whether whisky is your thing or you’re more of a seafood connoisseur, or maybe you refuse to go through any day without the opportunity to eat chocolate, then Christopher says he will be able to make it happen on one of his tours, all you need to do is ask.
Running most of his tours in the Fife area, he has also organised experiences in Aberdeenshire, the Highlands and Islands, Perthshire, Angus and more.
“Obviously, seasonality is very important and determines who we go and see on the tours,” Christopher says.
“There’s no point in going to see a fruit farm in January, for example. People also sometimes come to me with a very specific thing. I did a whisky tour once and they asked me to devise it round specific distilleries but we also got local produce where we were as we travelled around.
“We can go anywhere in Scotland. I’ve done the islands, I’ve done whisky tours – anywhere and anything provided it’s based around food and drink.
“But most tours I’ve done have been within Fife because that’s where I’m based.”
All about experience
Trained as a chef at The Savoy Hotel in London, with decades of experience in the kitchen under his belt, Christopher has also hosted many public cooking demonstrations using Fife’s produce in his time.
However, when it comes to the tours, they primarily revolve around experience more than taste.
“The tours started organically,” Christopher continued.
“I’ve been doing cooking demonstrations for years now and I’ve realised that, in Fife, we are a microcosm for Scotland as a whole – we grow pretty much everything in this region that the whole of Scotland can produce as a nation.
“You could do a food tour within this region and cover most things. You realise with tourism that people are looking for experiences now – they don’t just want to come and stay somewhere.”
Price
In terms of the cost, there are a few things that Christopher factors in, meaning every tour is tailored to your tastes, party size and the season.
“There’s no set price for going on the tours as it is completely bespoke and depends on what the guests want to do,” he adds.
“A regular tour I do around Fife is for two to four people, and I include a picnic lunch in Crail. I’ll set up a table and we’ll have locally-sourced crab, I’ll have made some bread, we’ll bring along a bottle of wine and we’ll have this picnic.
“For a day’s tour around Fife, with the picnic included for about four people and coffee and tea stops, it’s around £600. I hire a car for the tours, as I drive people between the different locations, so that is included as the insurance on using my own car to do that is pretty hefty.
“I’ve also been recently working closely with a company called Inntravel who organise walking and cycling tours around the world. When people are walking along the coastal path as part of the Inntravel trip, they can book me for lunch in Crail.
“I’ll meet them there with my table cloth and some fresh bread and I’ll take them to buy crab. Then we sit and chat and I will tell them all about food in Fife.”
For more information about Christopher’s culinary tours of Scotland, or to book one of your own, visit his website here.