A heritage loaf carries the story of the seeds from which it was grown, the land that sustained it and the generations who developed the skills to bake it. Digging deeply into these roots helps us understand what makes a bread culturally significant and what we stand to lose when its ingredients or traditions disappear.
Historical research is essential to this understanding. Tracing grain varieties, examining written records and listening to farmers, millers and bakers helps establish a bread’s relationship with a place and its people. This gives heritage recognition a sound foundation and helps identify the traditions and ingredients most in need of protection.
Particular attention deserves to go to breads made from rare or threatened grain varieties. Their survival depends on people willing to save seeds, cultivate small plots, share knowledge and bring these grains back into everyday use. Earlier work under the Scotland The Bread name helped inspire others to take up this challenge, with small growing initiatives continuing in pockets across Scotland.
This living connection between research and practice is central to the work of Wendy Barrie, IGCAT Expert, who spoke at Terra Madre on 26 September 2026. A cook, food writer and campaigner, Wendy brings detailed knowledge of Scotland’s food heritage together with a practical commitment to its future. As a member of IGCAT’s Global Experts Network, she consistently champions the people, skills and ingredients that keep food traditions alive.
Alongside Bosse Dahlgren, Wendy is also directly involved in protecting grain diversity. Bosse works to safeguard threatened heritage grains, including Shetland Black Oat and Hebridean Rye, which Wendy helps harvest. Together, they share seeds with smallholders to help restart growing traditions. This work is progressing without funding, sustained by their own commitment and the willingness of others to participate.
Such efforts demonstrate why biodiversity conservation needs practical support. A rare grain needs people who know how to grow it, opportunities to pass on its seeds and uses that make continued cultivation worthwhile. The knowledge held by growers and bakers is part of that inheritance.
International recognition can strengthen this work. It can help people discover a threatened food, understand its value and support those protecting it. For a rare grain, greater appreciation can create reasons to keep saving its seeds, growing it, milling it and baking with it. Recognition achieves its greatest value when it supports this continuing cycle and the livelihoods behind it.
Wendy’s advocacy also extends to celebrating breadmaking skills. In 2017, she co-founded the Scottish Bread Championship with Andrew Whitley, creating a platform that celebrates artisan skills, Scottish grains and breads reflecting diverse cultural influences. At Terra Madre, Wendy explained how detailed judging and individual feedback support the bakers carrying these traditions forward.
Through writing such as The Staff of Life, she also connects heritage grains and seed saving with the work of growers, millers and community bakers in Scotland and Scandinavia. Her work makes the relationship between biodiversity and our daily bread visible and meaningful.
Platforms such as Terra Madre offer opportunities to bring these stories to an international audience, connect producers and share knowledge across borders. They also invite us to ask deeper questions about which foods we celebrate: whose grains do they depend on, whose knowledge sustains them and how can recognition help secure their future?
Listening to Wendy was a reminder that the strongest heritage stories are grounded in knowledge and sustained through practice. Researching their roots, supporting those who cultivate them and building international appreciation can help ensure that rare grains and the breads, skills and communities they sustain, have a living future.
