Hailing from Dunscore near Thornhill, Roddie left Scotland to pursue a travelling ‘itch’ taking him on a six month trip to Oslo. Fifteen years later, now with a Norwegian wife and three kids, Roddie has put down some serious roots.

After working as a chef in his early career, Roddie cultivated a passion for local produce and so took the plunge, quite literally into a new career, diving for sea-urchins (a gourmet delicacy prized by fine-dining restaurants around the world) off the coast of northern Norway; inspired, he tells me by a pint of Guinness and a song by ‘The Waterboys’.

Such romanticism was hit by stark reality after enduring financial losses during the recession and more depressingly, the sinking of his boat. Undeterred, Roddie’s perseverance has paid off. With more realistic expectations and careful expansion, business is thriving and, amongst other top restaurants, he now supplies the renowned Noma in Copenhagen (recently declared ‘The World’s Best Restaurant 2011’); owner and chef, René Redzepi himself visited Roddie last year and he has been featured in Redzepi’s latest book, “Time and place in Nordic cuisine”.

Roddie and Rene Redzepi.

Out of season, Roddie works as a freelance chef and lectures in local high schools, educating young people about his work and the fishing and food industries. Settled in the remote and beautiful hamlet, fittingly named Nordskot, Roddie and his family now endure never-ending winter darkness, contrasted by 24 hour daylight in the summer. But its location close to the Lofoten islands bears more than a striking resemblance to Scotland’s west coast.

Scotland, admits Roddie, will always be home.

Roddie has thrown himself into the local community taking a role as a community councillor and he has, over time, developed a sound verbal grasp of the language although written Norwegian is still something of a mystery!

Scotland, admits Roddie, will always be home. He returns every year to visit family and friends, but when here, he then views Norway as home; a case of distant loyalty. He is passionate about both countries and undoubtedly there are similarities beyond the mountains and breathtaking landscape. But, he considers that we Scots could learn a thing or two from the Norwegians when it comes to a more ‘open’ society. Scots, he observes, live in a ‘privacy-orientated’ culture, whereas the Norwegians are more open with, for example, tax returns being accessible to the public. Roddie sees this as a contributing factor to a low crime rate and a more trustful society. Something we Scots could learn from perhaps?

The future, muses Roddie, will hopefully involve continued expansion of the business, this year he hopes to build strong links in France whilst also taking a bigger share of the domestic market. With our own track record in fine dining continuing to thrive, perhaps Scotland too could be on his ‘to do’ list for the future.