The cooking whizz who's created buzzy and tasty programme at Scottish event

There’s a lot to see in Perth this weekend

If you’re at the Scottish Game Fair, look out for the big white tent that has some rather come-hither foodie smells drifting from its entrance.

It’s here that you’ll find Edinburgh-based chef and food educator, Daniela Forbes, who will be working in the grounds of Scone Palace all weekend, as host with the most at The Scottish Venison Cookery Theatre, in association with The Scotsman.

This will be her fourth year curating the festival’s cooking programme - a job she landed via a recommendation from Scottish cheffing royalty.

“Nick Nairn was quite heavily involved with the Scottish Game Fair until a couple of years ago, and they just reached out to Nick when the post became available, and he suggested my name,” says Forbes, who had done a bit of work for this chef in the past. “He knew that I was reliable and could do a good job. I had to hit the ground running. I'd never done it before, and it was minimal contact with the previous person, so I inherited the timetable. It's grown quite a lot since then. The first year was a little bit of a learning curve, and I've been finessing it since, and this year we've really decided to kind of focus on more of an overarching theme”.

They’re collaborating with Scottish venison, with produce courtesy of Ardgay Game, for the third year running, but they’ve also gone for a Cooking for Real Life idea.

“We’re looking at where we're at just now as a nation as a country, and the fact that people are struggling to just afford basic provisions,” says Forbes, who trained at the Edinburgh Food and Drink Academy, Leiths School of Food and Wine and the Bertinet Kitchen. “Food costs are escalating massively, but when we care about good ingredients, we've got anything on our doorstep, and I think it's just about kind of telling people that venison is really sustainable, it's really affordable, and it can actually be part of your midweek meals”.

At the show, there’s a vibrant timetable of 45-60-minute-long chef demonstrations and talks for 2026, including those from forager Amy Rankine (today at 10am) and Richard Dalgleish and Douglas Forrest from Gleneagles (today at noon).

Forbes tries to get an even spread of men and women, fine-dining and more casual cookery, and participants from across Scotland.

They find that, if Scottish Game Fair attendees end up at one demonstration, they’re hooked and tend to come back for more over the course of the weekend. This year, they’ve added an extra 20 seats to cater for the interest.

“The little sample at the end is also a good way of getting them to come along,” says Forbes.

Although she is hoping for sunshine today and tomorrow, a bit of rain always draws people into the tent.

Not everyone will be doing venison as part of their demonstration. Edinburgh’s own Barry Bryson of Leith restaurant Barry Fish will be appearing at 1.45pm on Sunday July 5, and he’ll be cooking with his piscine speciality. The exact dish is secret until the day, as he’ll be bagging whatever is freshest from Welch Fishmonger. This will be Bryson’s second year in the theatre.

“He’s so lovely and really engaging. You want someone who gives good chat and who can make the demonstration entertaining,” Forbes says. “There's a balance between skills, talent, and the ability to communicate and engage with the audience, so he was fantastic last year”.

Another exciting chef in attendance is Claire Coghill, who’s come all the way from Skye and her Carbost-based business Cafe Cuil. As the focus there is brunch, she’ll be doing a venison steak with chimichurri and fried egg. You’ll find her in the tent at 11.30am today.

“I had my eye on her on social media for quite a while, and I'm really inspired by what she does. Her cafe looks fabulous. She's a real kind of advocate for game and for venison and using Scottish local sustainable ingredients,” Forbes says. “She's young, she's vibrant, and she's got a really nice way about her. I think that will go down really well”.

Another chef who’ll be at the Scottish Game Fair for the first time is Jamie Scott, who used to own The Newport in Newport-on-Tay. He now does private catering and events, and he’ll be in the tent on Sunday July 5 at 12.45pm.

“He is a former winner of MasterChef the Professionals, so the audience will have a lot of questions to ask about how that experience was. He's really good friends with another of our chefs, Grant MacNicol. Jamie is going to be making venison tartar, I believe, and we’ll allow people to taste,” Forbes says. “For most people, the tasting goes down really well, so we'll see how many are up for sampling it”.

Of course, Forbes will also be doing her own demonstration on Sunday July 5 at 10.30am. This is for kids and their adults, and they’ll be making flatbreads, a venison kebab style filling and tzatziki.

It sounds like she’s going to be the busiest person at the Scottish Game Fair. In fact, we imagine it’s unlikely that she’ll get to leave the tent, though she has a few ideas, should she manage to bag a well-deserved break.

“I'd definitely be up for going and checking out all the dogs, maybe doing a bit of shooting. I’d definitely see what's going on in the main arena and the ring, and there's also live music this year, “ she says. “So there's lots of stuff happening, and it's a really beautiful setting as well. We just need to keep our fingers crossed that we get some decent weather”.

And a little bit of rain might be welcome, too.