Chef’s Diaries: Scotland
directed by Laura Otálora
starring Joan, Jordi, and Josep Roca
Think of Scottish cuisine, and you imagine haggis, whisky and deep-fried Snickers bars. This is a little unfair, there’s quite a lot of good source material in Scotland from Aberdeen Angus to smoked haddock and on to intriguing cheeses. The Roca brothers run one of those high-end restaurants with a stack of awards and menu full of artistic food bites that will set you back a mortgage payment or two. In a series of visits to that foggy land of the Vikings, the Roca clan explore smoked fish, high end beef, aged distilled spirits, sea weed and razor clams. It’s a wonderful look at the secrets that lurk in that norther land, and a local fisherman argues “we grow all this great shellfish, and then we ship it around the world. We should be eating it.”
The narration examines a great deal of high-end gastronomy. Be aware the dialog is in classy Spanish and best read thought the subtitles. With prawns the size of chihuahuas and amazingly tasty sea weed, we’re missing a lot by ignoring this fruitful source of edibles.
This film was presented as part of the 2019 Florida Film Festival sponsored by the Enzian Theater in Maitland, FL.
