Saturday, April 24, 2010

The hills are alive with haggis

Those Brits - never fail to surprise us! Most stories that include statistics are usually cut-and-dried factual reports focusing on a subject that attracts readers specifically interested in the topic. On occasion, statistics have entertainment value. Okay - I find these particular stats entertaining.

An on-line take-out food service, Just-Eat.co.uk, recently commissioned a survey, which revealed that one in five people in Britain believes that haggis, a traditional Scottish dish made from the lung, liver and heart of a sheep, is an animal that roams the Scottish Highlands. Yet another fifteen percent believe it's a Scottish musical instrument and another four percent believe it's a Harry Potter character.

The purpose of the survey, which questioned 1,623 people, was to ascertain how many Brits were aquainted with traditional Scottish food. Even more surprising was the revelation that 14 percent of the 781 Scottish people polled didn't even know what haggis was.

Actually, when it comes down to it, how many people reading this have ever tasted haggis, seen it on offered on a menu or would recognize it if placed on a plate? I know I wouldn't. Here is a photo of the dish in case somebody serves it to you and you don't want to appear ignorant:

http://www.freefoto.com/images/09/35/09_35_3---Haggis_web.jpg

Thinking further on this subject many countries have their own culinary specialties. For example poutine with cheese curds and gravy on top of french fries, is a dish loved by Canadian Quebecers:

http://www.voir.ca/blogs/nouvelles_musique/poutine.jpg

There's some great pics of unusual (to say or write the least) food items here:

http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2009/01/weird-things-people-eat-around-world.html

As an aside, in the name of a community TV program, I've indulged in sucking on a bug lollipop, crunched on a chocolate covered grasshopper. Declined fried maggots in tomato sauce. There was something about the way they moved too realistically in the frying pan that bugged me.

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