The Events
The Creel to Meal project hosted three events during Glasgow Science Festival 2015, including a bespoke three course meal at Stravaigin on the opening night of the festival, a paddling pool example of how the research was conducted during a family day at Kelvingrove Museum, and posh scampi and beer tasting at Drygate Brewery.
Funded by Year of Food and Drink Fund coordinated by Event Scotland.
Family day at Kelvingrove Museum during GSF 2015
The Creel to Meal project was included as an activity during GSF 2015. Over a period of three family days, participants took part in an experiment designed to replicate elements of research work carried out by Drs McNeill, Bailey and Beavers.
We explored what effect mesh size has on catches of Nephrops (unwanted small versus large valuable animals) and bycatch (unwanted ‘other’ animals). Our pool contained plastic animals representing large and small Nephrops as well as bycatch (fish, starfish etc). Families were then asked to ‘fish’ using a hand net with a small mesh size and then again with a hand net with a large mesh size. Data from all individual catches were counted and recorded by the team of scientists. Over the period of three days, we collected 172 samples, a very robust data set!
From Creel to Stravaigin
Enjoy a taste of the (Creel to) Meal at Stravaigin.
GSF took over the downstairs of Glasgow restaurant Stravaigin on Thursday 4th June, the first day of GSF 2015. This area has space for 50 guests, and this event got booked up very quickly. GSF director Dr McNeill worked closely with the management and chefs to create a bespoke four course meal.
The premise was to utilize all the creel catch and bycatch showcasing Nephrops as the main attraction and promoting other delicious but overlooked seafood e.g. velvet crabs and squat lobsters. The dessert was on-theme with a caregheen (seaweed derivative) pannacotta with seaweed icecream.
Soup
Velvet crab bisque, crab dauphine and dill pomme, parmesan crouton with chilli oil.
Starter
Squat lobster and crab claw tian, cucumber with bloody mary aioli.
Main
Stravaigin Creel Bouillabaisse: Grilled langoustines, squat lobsters, velvet crabs, mussels, roast fennel and tomato broth.
Dessert
Caragheen creme, quatre quart noir, seaweed ice cream, lemon and a gin pipette.
This meal was attended by Drs Deborah McNeill and David Bailey, as well as head of the Scottish Creel Fishermand Federation Alistair Sinclair who gave talks about the research project and creel fishing.
Each attendee had a placemat on the table which contained information about the research, activities such as colouring, quizzes and origami and facts about Nephrops. Some of these activities can be found in the activities section ready to try at home.
Posh Scampi at Drygate Brewery
On Thursday 11th June 2015 the upstairs beer hall at Drygate was hired for a menu of posh scampi, created using Nephrops and Pitenweem potatoes alongside a flight of three beers from the Drygate range.
To accompany this meal GSF created a bespoke starter/quiz where a range of nibbles featuring Scottish marine produce, such as seaweed biscuits was presented and participants had to decide what animals or plants they were made from.
Dr Deborah McNeill gave a short talk about the research project and the placemat containing activities and information was also provided. Some of the activities such as colouring sheets and origami Nephrops can be found in the activity section.
