A MATTER OF SURVIVAL
For most of the 5,000 years that people have lived in Shetland, the food
that sustained them was found close at hand. It was often a hard existence
and the finding, cultivating and preserving of food for their own survival
absorbed the greater part of a family's energies.
Animals
were kept, but the cool, damp and windy climate limited the range of crops
that could be grown. Not surprisingly, islanders relied heavily on the
fruits of the surrounding seas.
