During my excursions to various other European countries, I’m always curious about what kinds of foods people eat. And while, yes, I love food much more than is remotely healthy, a country’s daily cuisine says a lot about the country itself. On that note, I realised I haven’t written about Scottish cuisine yet. It’s quite different than any country I’ve been too (even England), so here goes.
BREAKFAST: sausage, Canadian bacon, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, fried tomatoes, AND some kind of potato. Another favourite is black sausage, also known as blood pudding, which includes parts of animals you didn’t even want to know existed. Including blood. Personally, I think it’s disgusting, and don’t feel very badly about this, since a lot of the Scottish people I’ve meet agree. This, or a filled roll, which means a hot roll with bacon, sausage, egg or all of the above. The Scots do not skimp on breakfast.
Nor do they skimp on LUNCH, also called high tea. For lunch it’s often chicken and potatoes, or lamb and potatoes, or fish and potatoes, or beef and potatoes, or just potatoes. Sometimes we have fish, chips and peas with salt and vinegar. Occasionally, we were offered a particularly Scottish Scottish delicacy: haggis. If you don’t already know what’s in it, you’d do yourself a favour not to find out. As a tour bus driver said to me several months ago when I first ventured into the highlands, if you’ve eaten a hot dog, you should have no problem with haggis. I took this advice to heart and ate my fair share of haggis here. If the Brits think one thing is disgusting, it’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Of course, jelly here is always called jam (if you say jelly it means Jello – I learned this the hard way); nevertheless, they even think peanut butter and jam is gross. This makes me a little sad. I’m pretty sure PB&J’s defined my childhood.
SNACKS: While the French pride themselves on their fine cheese and wine, the Germans are into litres of beer and salty pretzel bread, and the Danes like a lot of pickled herring and pastries, the Scots figure that if they fry anything it will taste good. This includes Mars Bars, a true Scottish delicacy. When a friend and I buy one fried Mars Bar between the two of us, the man who sells it to us says, “The hospital’s by Morrison’s.” Despite these encouraging words, we ate the national food, declaring it delicious, but sickening. We were both pretty sure we could feel our arteries clogging as the treat made its way through us.
AFTERNOON TEA: This is not as common as it used to be, but occasionally we had afternoon tea in hall, usually on a Sunday. The Scots drink their tea (usually Scottish breakfast or Earl Grey) with shortbread, biscuits or small cakes.
DINNER (or tea): See lunch. Sometimes we also have Sheppard’s Pie.
DESSERT: sticky toffee pudding, chocolate cake, some other random things with sugar in them.
DRINKS: Whiskey, whiskey and whiskey are popular Scottish drinks. Also, beer. The Scots only drink one non-alcoholic beverage, and that’s Irn Bru. It’s basically liquid cotton candy, and, in my opinion, it’s pretty disgusting. Also, of course, there’s tea. With breakfast, in the afternoon, all the time, tea. The Brits drink theirs with cream, but I haven’t acclimated so much, and still prefer mine black.
While the Scots may not have extremely fine cuisine, nor are they known for their food, I’m probably going to miss the food here a little bit. Mostly breakfast. What counts, they make well; that is, whiskey and beer. I’m not sure that, upon my return to the States, I’ll be able to stomach Jack Daniels or Miller Lite. Contrary to popular belief, Scottish and English beer are very different, and Scottish is better. The Scots themselves might use this as a metaphor for much more than just beer, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.
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