Although I’ve lived in Edinburgh before, I have to admit, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the food. It wasn’t that it wasn’t good before- I just really took it for granted.

I’ve heard it said that the British diet is bland, even boring. Well, perhaps traditionally the British diet bears a great resemblance to the Midwest American diet- a lot of meat and potatoes in varying combinations, but metropolitan Edinburgh has an amazing fusion of so many different cultures of food that boring is the furthest thing from your experience. In fact, it’s more like you are overwhelmed with diversity and choice that my biggest complaint is that I won’t be able to touch the tip of the foodie iceberg.

My only advantage was vaguely knowing the lay of the land. Although I was going to give you a play by play of our day in food paradise, I’m attempting this article from my smartphone so I’m going to just give a few annoyingly vague observations that really stuck out in our experience.

First, the coffee.  Casey choose the most interesting, tiny shop this morning to give us the needed jolt for our hill walking excursion. Here we meet Chris. I stupidly assumed he must be studying at university because he was reading when we arrived. But no, young Chris impressively owns Zebra Coffee, known for its creamy and indulgent flat white.  Made so beautifully, you really have a hard time taking the first sip. Once you do, you have no trouble finishing.

Chris, who I discovered was teaching himself Scottish Gaelic, was an unassuming young man who turned the tiniest of spaces into a true gem of a shop, using rustic materials like pipe, seed bags, and overstuffed chairs, you find yourself feeling like you stumbled upon Dicken’s hidden library under a stairwell. Well done Chris!