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Scottish cuisine
is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with Scotland. It shares much with wider British cuisine but has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, as a result of foreign and local influences both ancient and modern. Traditional Scottish dishes exist alongside international foodstuffs brought about by migration.
Scotland's natural larder of game, dairy, fish, fruit, and vegetables is the integral factor in traditional Scots cooking, with a high reliance on simplicity and a lack of spices from abroad, which were
often very expensive. While many inveterate dishes such as Scotch broth are considered healthy, many common dishes are rich in fat, and may contribute to the high rates of heart disease and obesity in the country.
In recent times greater importance has been placed on the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, but many Scots, particularly those of low incomes, continue to have extremely poor diets, which
contributes to Scotland's relatively high mortality rate from coronary heart disease.
Despite this, Scottish cuisine is enjoying a renaissance. As of 2009, fourteen restaurants with Michelin stars served
traditional or fusion cuisine made with local ingredients (15 Michelin stars in total). In most towns, Chinese and Indian take-away restaurants exist along with traditional fish and chip shops. Larger towns and
cities offer cuisine ranging from Thai and Japanese to Mexican, Polish or Turkish.
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