Popular Fife food market returns this weekend

From Paisley to Perthshire, the Lothians to Dundee, this month’s Bowhouse Market Weekend offers the widest range of food and drink stalls so far this year as producers from across Scotland come together to celebrate spring.

This will be the first Market Weekend of the year that will be open to visitors and traders beyond Fife, offering everyone the chance to support an impressive network of the best producers from across Scotland, alongside local Fife produce.

Highlights this month will seasonal produce like asparagus, lamb, venison, cured meat, baking, cheese and preserves.

Bowhouse is the permanent home of a number of pioneering producers, from which they transform ingredients from the surrounding Balcaskie Estate into a varied range of food and drink products.

The easing of lockdown restrictions means that May’s Bowhouse Market Weekend will see the return of traders from beyond Fife for this first time this year.

Produce available will include: non-alcoholic drinks and kombucha from Buddy Kombucha, Paisley Drinks, Feragia and Bad Gal Boocha; a choice of cheeses from St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese and Strathearn Cheese; cured and fresh meat from The Farmer’s Son and Woodmill Game; Perthshire coffee roastery Unorthodox Roasts; chocolate and gourmet drinking chocolates from Pittenweem’s Cocoa Tree; breads and baking from Barnetts; craft beers and spirits from Wasted Degrees, and Shed35, Pentland Hills Gin and Toll House Spirits; and preserves, honey and sauces from Cloverlea Apiaries, Perthshire Preserves and Allan’s Chilli Products.

Street food will be available from the Defender Blender coffee truck, slider burgers and bao buns from Rost food van and foccaccia sandwiches, sausage rolls and doughnuts from on-site café pop-up Jess Rose Young.

Rosie Jack, Bowhouse manager, said: “We’ve noticed an increased interest in provenance over the last year and this goes to the heart of what Bowhouse is all about. Our Market Weekends connect maker and consumer in a setting that’s fun, informative and safe. This Market Weekend has a particular sense of optimism to it as we welcome back makers from across Scotland and reopen the street food area. We also know that visitors from outside Fife have been itching to return and this market finally allows them to do that. What better way to herald the start of the warmer summer months?”

Sophie Cumber, Butchery at Bowhouse, added: “Welcoming visitors to my shop and to the Market Weekends is an invaluable opportunity to chat to shoppers and show them the different cuts of meat we produce. I specialise in whole carcase butchery and really enjoy showing people some of the lesser known, delicious cuts For this market I’ve prepared a great range of organic lamb and mutton and our special Luing breed beef, all of which are organic and grass fed on fields surrounding Bowhouse.”

Bowhouse Market Weekends adhere strictly to Scottish Government Coronavirus guidelines. For added precaution and ease of use, a one-way system operates within the Market Hall, with hand sanitiser points available throughout and contactless payment encouraged. Facemasks must be worn inside the Market Hall.

The markets will be held at Bowhouse, between Elie and St Monans, on Saturday and Sunday.