Scottish chefs and cooks share their New Year 2022 food resolutions

Our own New Year’s resolutions are pretty basic, and usually involve cutting down on cake or doing a Dry January. However, these chefs and food lovers are already making way more constructive and worthy plans for 2022.

Mary Contini of Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh, www.valvonacrolla.co.uk

“My New Year’s food resolution is to eat my next seafood risotto in the Trattoria Al Gatto Nero on the Venetian island of Burano, and then to travel South through Italy to eat in all my favourite cities. As soon as they say I can go, I’m off! This is one resolution I will keep”.

Lea Harris, first person from Scotland to be on The Great British Bake Off, Twitter @BakersBunny

"I’m hopefully getting chickens sometime next year. Just four and I’ve already got names. I did think, initially, to name them after cakes – Opera, Sachertorte, Madeleine, Eclair, but decided on Henrietta, Amelia, Beatrice and Sharon”.

Ronan Shaftoe, head chef of Bar Brett, Glasgow, www.barbrett.co.uk

“I’ll be continuing to discover more about Scottish produce. Since moving to Scotland less than a year ago, I still have a lot to learn. I’m also planning to start learning about beekeeping”.

Robbie Meldrum, head chef of Harvey Nichols Forth Floor Restaurant, Edinburgh, www.harveynichols.com

“My food resolutions are focused on sustainability and the environment, with both animal welfare and food provenance being very important to me. I’m making changes at home and will be pushing to do better professionally as well”.

Ross Trail, head chef at The Crusoe, Lower Largo, www.thecrusoe.com

“We recently hosted a Portuguese food and wine pairing and had lots of fun in the kitchen creating traditional Portuguese dishes using Scottish produce – it has most certainly made me want to discover more about cuisines from around the world. Next year, we’ll also be focusing on zero tolerance around waste in the kitchen and using the whole animal when creating nibbles, starters and mains. We’re already extremely passionate about sourcing food both ethically and responsibly”.

Amy Elles, chef patron at The Harbour Cafe, Elie, www.theharbourcafe.co.uk

“Because we live on the beach, I’ll carry on my seaweed exploration to find new species and experiment with them both at home and in the restaurant. I’m going to embrace the seasons to make the most of it all, so I’ll enjoy both the darker mornings in January and look forward to Spring. I expect in January I’ll be cooking a lot of Alpine food to keep us feeling cosy and happy”.

Chris Niven, head chef at The Lawn, North Berwick, www.marineandlawn.com

“I would like to try my hand at more foraging locally around East Lothian, especially along the shoreline to see what flavours I can bring from there into my dishes, whether it is seaweed or sea buckthorn”.

Peter McKenna, chef and director of The Gannet, Glasgow and Edinburgh, www.thegannetgla.com

“I’m not one for resolutions, I like to do what feels right when it feels right. Each and every year we try and elevate what we do at The Gannet, always aiming to better what's been done before both in customer experience and kitchen management”.

Larah Bross, owner of