ISLANDERS SPEND FIRST 18 YEARS WANTING TO LEAVE AND THE REST DESPERATE TO RETURN

HAVING made his name writing charming regional recipe books featuring Gaelic foods as the Hebridean Baker, Coinneach MacLeod is bringing his unique take on gastronomy to an ew audience with his first TV series. The Hebridean Baker: Nordic Islands sees the 50-year-old foodie visiting kitchens across four remote islands - Lofoten, the Faroe Islands, Gotland and Bornholm - to learn about their food, culture and customs.

- BY EMMANUELLA NGIMBI

It is enchanting viewing, rich in flavour and folklore, using food as the thread that binds the islands across borders and seas.

But as Coinneach admits, filming his debut four-part series was a new challenge: ‘It felt like I had to pretend I knew what I was doing!’

In fact, he's a natural, as comfortable exploring culinary customs in front of the camera as he is in his warm, laid-back and entertaining books.

The idea of exploring heritage and tradition through food began when he inherited a clootie dumpling recipe from his beloved Aunt Bellag.

After a visit to his “absolute hero’ aunt on her 65th wedding anniversary, Coinneach recalls: “I remember just going home that day, thinking, ‘Tm just one generation down and I didn't know these traditions. Are we leaving these things just to homogenise, like the rest of the world?”

It lit a fire in him, to keep those traditions alive.

“We look north for our influences, food, ingredients, culture,’ explains the Isle of Lewis native.

“We are very proudly Scottish, of course, but our culture is different and our language is different.

“So even though I'm talking about Scandinavia to highlight island life, culture, the languages and meeting those people, it felt like you knew them because their stories were so similar.”

Although the series sees Coinneach sample new cuisine, including preserved lamb, a sea urchin dessert and fish sausage, the baker said his adventure felt familiar: “Everything in the Faroes and Gotland feels like home. But it's just slightly different, with that extra edge, which made it fascinating.”