I'm proud to say that I can recite the traditional blessing of the dish, Burns' "To A Haggis," from memory. If anyone's whipping one up next January, I'm available...
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
NO GUTS, NO GLORY
A couple of weeks late for stateside Burns Suppers on January 25, haggis is once again legal in the U.S. My Mom cooked one for my high school graduation.
I'm proud to say that I can recite the traditional blessing of the dish, Burns' "To A Haggis," from memory. If anyone's whipping one up next January, I'm available...
I'm proud to say that I can recite the traditional blessing of the dish, Burns' "To A Haggis," from memory. If anyone's whipping one up next January, I'm available...
Nineteen years ago, my wife and I took a bus tour through England and Scotland as a honeymoon. In Edinburgh, we went to the King James Thistle Hotel and participated in “Jamie’s Scottish Evening”, which was a kind of dinner theater. Through the course of the fest we were served “traditional Scottish haggis”, but never having it before or since, I can’t guarantee it wasn’t a bit toned-down for the tourist appetite. I do remember enjoying it tremendously, and eating my own and two other servings from folks not taken to it.
ReplyDeleteAlso that evening, I was elected to a competition where I had to race another fellow in donning traditional Scottish battle gear. I won a small thistle pin and was given some temporary title, like “clan chief of the night” or “fastest cross dresser” or summat.
And, of a course, all involved spoke R-r-r-a-a-a-h-b-e-e-e B-a-a-i-r-r-n-s-s’ name with honor and respect.
The two or three times I actually had haggis I genuinely liked it too; I'm told that over there it's seen as a once in a while food, but I could eat it often.
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