Detail of van of Iain R.Spink preparer of Original Smokies from Arbroath.
Image details
Contributor:
Stan Pritchard / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BFEC31File size:
48.7 MB (1.4 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5060 x 3366 px | 42.8 x 28.5 cm | 16.9 x 11.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
8 November 2009Location:
Food Fair, New Lanark, Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe.More information:
The original 'Arbroath' Smokie hails from Auchmithie, a small fishing village, 3 miles north of Arbroath. The true origin of the village of Auchmithie is obscured by time, but there is evidence to suggest it may go back to the Viking raids of the early 11th century. There are several theories put forward as to the true origin of the Arbroath Smokie. One of the most popular relates to a cottage in Auchmithie in which haddocks were hanging up to be dried for preservation purposes. Unfortunately a fire broke out and burned the house to the ground. It was then (reputedly), whilst sifting through the ashes, wood, dust and associated debris that the 'smokies' were discovered. It stretches the imagination somewhat to accept that having just seen their house destroyed, that the occupants (or anyone else) would be likely to pick up a dust-covered blackened fish, and eat it! This romanticised version of the smokie's origin is commonly heard around Arbroath's Fit o' the Toon, and the story probably holds as much water as the cremated fish in question! The fishwives, smoking the fish on sticks, originally put them onto halved whisky barrels with fires underneath, and the smoke was trapped under layers of coarse sacking, provided by the jute mills in the local area. The world famous 'Arbroath' Smokie indeed follows a process which is typical of similar smoking processes carried out to this day in Scandinavia, and may itself provide yet another clue to the village's origin and identity. After the heyday of the late 19th century, the fisher people began to move to Arbroath, lured by the promise of better housing, better harbour, and overall better prospects promised by the Town Council of the time. They, with their skills and their labours, settled in the area of Arbroath known as the Fit o' the Toon, and became one of the greatest contributors to Arbroath's economy. Their 'Arbroath' Smokie, inadvertently created something which was to become the signature of Arbroath, a