Scots go wild for buffalo pie

Buffalo have been imported from Romania and Italy

A bakery in Nairn is having trouble coping with demand for its latest culinary delight - buffalo pie.

A local farmer started raising buffalo as part of an experiment in diversification and the local bakers bought a batch of meat, initially as a joke.

However the flesh, which has a slightly gamey flavour, has proved a big hit with the locals and buffalo meat pies are said to be selling like hot cakes.

Farmer John Hamish has six buffalo on his land at present and may soon increase his stock.

He said: "I thought I'd try raising buffalo just for a change really, I already have a large cattle herd and wanted to try something different."

Ewen Macpherson, bakery sales manager, added that the demand for the unusual product had taken him by surprise.

He said: "The first time we were considering putting them on the market, we just told people that we were going to do buffalo pies.

"We were soon inundated with telephone calls asking when were we starting them.

"We could only get enough meat to produce so many pies and because of that we ran out within three days."