Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. Have you dared to try it? Yes, it looks totally unappealing, but it’s actually crumbly, spicy and quite tasty! Scots poet Robert Burns' (post incoming) even wrote the poem ‘Address to a Haggis’ in 1787 to celebrate this unique dish, you can’t ignore that.
Scottish folklore says haggis is a small and wild animal living in the mountain with longer legs on one side so that it can run only in one direction around the hills. If you want to catch one, you have to scare it so that it will turn around, lose its balance and fall over. Poor little thing!
/!\ Spoiler
That’s not true.
Despite that tourists (mainly Americans) are known to believe this legend, the reality isn’t that silly. Don’t be disappointed though, you can still buy a cute haggis soft toy to comfort yourself.
So what is really haggis? Here are the main ingredients:
- sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs)
- oatmeal
- onion
- salt and spices
It’s usually served with mashed turnips (neeps) and potatoes (tatties), with some local whisky or Irn Bru if you prefer soft drinks.
Traditionally, it was cooked encased in the animal's stomach. It was a ration cooked for men to eat during their long journeys through the Highlands. Women added different ingredients they had at home, and to pack the dish conveniently, they used the cleaned animal’s stomach as a cooking bag. Nice and tidy, no washing-up required! It was a cheap popular and nourishing dish that used rests of meat that would otherwise have been thrown away.
Nowadays natural casings are still used sometimes, but artificial ones are often replacing them to avoid affecting the flavour. Of course, now you can also easily find vegetarian or vegan haggis.
If you have a restaurant where to eat the best haggis, write it down in the comments!
Ok, after writing these lines I’m getting so hungry, I’ll stop here and have a snack.
See you next time pal! 
