Special Event: The 2025 Scottish Food Heritage Symposium - Tea

A day for researchers enthusiasts and anyone with a passion for tea to explore the history culture and proliferation of tea in Scotland.

The annual Scottish Food Heritage Symposium returns on March 28th 2025! Organised by the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts & Humanities and Tenement Kitchen this year’s highly anticipated symposium will explore the history culture and proliferation of tea. It will be an opportunity for researchers enthusiasts and anyone with a passion for tea to connect explore Scotland’s relationship with tea and experience how the rich history of Scottish food can be used as a tool for learning.

Held in collaboration with the historic and iconic Mackintosh at the Willow in Glasgow the symposium will delve into the impact of tea on Scottish culture from the social phenomenon of Mrs Cranston’s legendary tearooms to the global reverberations of the tea trade. Attendees will be treated to a day of talks presentations and live demonstrations offering a multi-faceted journey through the history and heritage of tea.

Highlights of the day include:

Mrs Cranston and the history of Glasgow’s tearooms: a keynote talk from Perilla Kinchin author of Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tearooms Miss Cranston: Patron of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Tea and Taste: The Glasgow Tea Rooms 1875-1975.

Tea International Practices and Art: explore Japanese tea ceremonies Chinese tea provenance the material culture of tea and how we curate and understand tea in Scotland today.

Do you take sugar? Historical talks on tea smuggling the dark history of sugar as a product of Caribbean slavery and explorations of how sugar came to be part of Scottish cultural identity.

Cakes of Afternoon Tea: Uncover the creative confections inspired by the rise of afternoon tea from shortbread to empire biscuits and the historical Scottish recipes.

The event will also feature a curated selection of tea tastings samplings and a display of historical artefacts related to tea culture in Scotland.

To enquire further please contact [email protected] or telephone 0141 204 1903

For information on accessibility please visit www.mackintoshatthewillow.com/accessbility

Host or Publisher Mackintosh at the Willow