Prestige Venues & Events Race to Display Scotland’s Finest Produce

During September, Perth Racecourse is hosting a showcase of Scotland’s finest and freshest produce as part of a celebration of the country’s best food and drink.

Perthshire Farmers Market, Cookery demos, an interactive cook-off and plenty of tasting sessions will all be on the menu at the annual Scotland Food and Drink Race Day at the racecourse, set in the grounds of historic Scone Palace.

600 racegoers will be treated to a pre-racing lunch, featuring the finest local ingredients, prepared by chefs from Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events, the catering and hospitality partners at the racecourse. The menu will be packed with locally sourced produce. Venison from Perthshire-based Rannoch Estate, Perthshire Rapeseed Oil, Sea Bass from the North Sea and Perthshire Strawberries are just a few of the ingredients making an appearance on the menu.

Meanwhile, Sodexo Prestige’s kitchen experts will join other local chefs from the Perthshire area to take part in an interactive ‘Ready, Steady, Recipe’ event. Ready, Steady, Recipe will see chefs enlist the help of volunteers from the crowd to assist them in a 20 minute cookery demonstration using fresh local produce, with each demonstration rounding off with a chance for viewers to taste the finished product.

Tracey Quin, Head of Sales for Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events at Perth Racecourse, commented: “We are very excited for the Food and Drink Race Day as we always look forward to supporting the Food and Drink Fortnight in Scotland.

“At Perth Racecourse our chefs really strive to use fresh local produce in all of their recipes and it is one of the main things we pride ourselves on. As a result, the menu which has been devised uses produce from local suppliers such as The Wee Pie Company and The Rannoch Smokery.

“The Perthshire area in particular has so much to offer by way of fresh local produce and we feel it is incredibly important to source and support local suppliers wherever possible.

“The cookery demonstration, which will be hosted by Nicola Martin and Gill Murray from Small City, Big Personality, is a new addition to the event and gives those who attend an opportunity to see what our in-house chefs can do with local produce and hopefully provide viewers with a new recipe to add to their collection.”

Stephen Frost, Executive Chef of Sports, Leisure and Events at Sodexo Prestige, added: “We view the Food and Drink Fortnight in Scotland as an excellent opportunity to make people aware of the outstanding local produce that Scotland has to offer.

“For our pre-racing lunch, my team of chefs and I have ensured to use the ingredients and produce we have right on our doorstep. We really wanted to create a fresh seasonal menu for the occasion and I think we have done just that.

“The live demonstrations will be a great opportunity to showcase our chefs’ talents and will hopefully be a fun way of providing people with a few home and use in their own kitchens.”

The Food and Drink Fortnight dates from the September 6-21 and includes everything from farmers markets to pop-up restaurants to opportunities to meet local producers, as well as many more exciting events.

Contact our team