Great Perthshire Picnic

September is shaping up to be a very tasty month in Perth as we welcome back the Great Perthshire Picnic. The month-long event sees our city celebrate our local producers and all the delicious food and drink that our region has to offer. It kicks-off on September 2^nd and we’ve got our forks at the ready, drooling at the prospect of tucking into some amazing grub!

This year, there are over 60 events scheduled right across Perthshire, over the entire month of September. There’ll be street food, live music, demonstrations and more. Local chefs will share their tips, with Praveen Kumar of Tabla Indian Restaurant, offering a masterclass in creating the perfect pakora being just one of the many highlights to look forward to next month.

We’re also eagerly anticipating what will be a spectacular collaboration between chefs from 63 Tay Street, The North Port, Giraffe Trading and The Post Box who’ll all be coming together under one roof – Perth Museum – to bring a beautiful four-course dinner to the table, using some of the area’s finest ingredients. Chefs from four fantastic venues in Perthshire all coming together, it’s an experience you won’t want to miss!

GALLERY

It’s not just restricted to the city centre either, and the Great Perthshire Picnic is being supported throughout the whole area. There’s the Mary Queen of Scots Festival in Kinross, Highland Safari’s Café in Aberfeldy, a pop-up market in Kenmore with the Taymouth Courtyard, a foraged cocktail experience with the Cairn o’ Mohr winery in Errol and a Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea Party at Perth College! So no matter where you are in Perthshire, there’s an event happening near you.

The picnic is the brainchild of local social enterprise, Giraffe Trading, who themselves will be heavily involved in the activities throughout September and will launch their brand new menu too. Giraffe will also be hosting an after-hours five course dinner evening to close the celebrations at the end of the month.

Giraffe Trading’s CEO, Gareth Ruddock, has been leading the project and he’s been delighted with the response and level of support he’s received from the Perth locals.

“Perth and Kinross is rightly famed for its food and drink producers. We have award-winning restauranteurs, chocolatiers, distilleries, breweries and produce right on our doorstep, so an event to celebrate this has a huge amount of talent to draw on locally.

“I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of businesses to get involved. We’ve had far more interest than I could ever have hoped for, and September’s looking like it’s going to be a really tasty month.”

Giraffe Trading has been able to pull the Great Perthshire Picnic together by drawing on the help and expertise of some of our city’s leading names in the food and drink industry. I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of businesses to get involved. Keron of Excel Wines, Andrew from the North Port, and Praveen Kumar of Tabla, are just some of those who’ve got involved and it’s this engagement with local businesses that is Gareth’s reason for taking on an event of this magnitude.

“As a social enterprise which concentrates on helping people with barriers to the workplace, we’re always looking for new ways to engage with local employers.

“The Great Perthshire Picnic has given us a reason to meet with and talk to a much broader range of potential employers than we would in our normal business. It also gives the employers a chance to find out more about what we do, and the value that one of our job seekers could bring to their workplace.

“Food and drink was the obvious link for us because we’re already involved in producing fresh food from our Perth sites, giving opportunities for people to gain experience in the catering and retail industries to help them move into employment.”

It’s certainly got everybody in the office excited! We can’t wait to head to the street food stalls and try some fantastic recipes whipped up by our city’s best chefs, using Perthshire’s local produce. The launch event takes place at midday on Saturday 2^nd September on King Edward Street, where John Swinney MSP will be officially kicking this year’s celebrations off. We’ll see you there!

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For more information on the events or to download a full 2017 brochure, visit the Great Perthshire Picnic website.

You can also keep up to date with all of the latest news on the Great Perthshire Picnic’s Facebook and Twitter pages.