I love Haggis...the food of the Gods!! Sadly now I can't eat it because of the spice... but I was raised on it... Even the chip shop sells it ...and it's super popular !!..especially deep fried in batter!!
I had to look it up.... hag·gis ˈhaɡəs/ noun a Scottish dish consisting of a sheep's or calf's offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal's stomach. NO thanks!
So...... not having a clue what haggis was either, I have been reading through the posts , waiting for someone to describe it. Still having no idea, I read @Holly Saunders post describing it as “food of the gods” (so maybe it tastes like chocolate ?), but she didn’t even begin to explain what it was beyond that it had spices. Next comes @Chrissy Cross , who (bless her heart !) has googled it and prints out the explanation. After reading that, I agree with her emphatic “NO Thanks !” , and can almost imagine how such a concoction of stuff could turn out as a bagpipe. They accidentally used the whole sheep, feet and all, and that sheep is NOT happy, and she is squalling about it. But , something else has had me wondering , ever since I read @Bill Boggs opening post here......he refers to wanting to own 4 of the Suzuki harps. The only harp that I have seen from Suzuki would be like the Omnichord, now sold as a Q-Chord. Is this what you are referring to, Bill, or does Suzuki actually make real harps, as well ? I used to have an Omnichord, and I just loved that instrument, and it has to be one of the simplest instruments to play, as well as versatile. For some reason, even the old Omnichords still cost almost as much as a new Q-Chord; and both are out of my price range. Probably wouldn’t play it like I used to anyway, but I did love it when I had one, all those years ago.
It's very rare now for the meat which is minced to be boiled using the sheeps' stomach, I think that was a very long time ago ... it's more likely to be like a sausage skin...
@Yvonne Smith said: But , something else has had me wondering , ever since I read @Bill Boggs opening post here......he refers to wanting to own 4 of the Suzuki harps. The only harp that I have seen from Suzuki would be like the Omnichord, now sold as a Q-Chord. Is this what you are referring to, Bill, or does Suzuki actually make real harps, as well ? I used to have an Omnichord, and I just loved that instrument, and it has to be one of the simplest instruments to play, as well as versatile. For some reason, even the old Omnichords still cost almost as much as a new Q-Chord; and both are out of my price range. Probably wouldn’t play it like I used to anyway, but I did love it when I had one, all those years ago. ************** Here are some of the harps Suzuki sells in North America. A good number of others are sold in Europe and the Orient. I play Suzikis and Tombo's or the Lee Oskar harp. You can't find Suziki's in but a few music stores in the US. Have to order them on line. My Suzuki is not pictured, the Harpmaster, a very good econonical harp. They make many, more harmonicas than appear in the above photo.
I think the bagpipes were developed as de facto weapons of warfare. They were used to intimidate the opposition and for signaling, just as a bugle was later. I understand the Irish actually used larger ones than the Scots
The Avatar is Deford Bailey, who played harmonica for fifteen (15) years on the Grand Ole Opery, every Saturday night, appearing more than any other musician, but the audience didn't see him, only a silhouette once in a while, or just heard him. One of those Trail Blazers on a little instrument developed to play German folk songs.
I think the stomach was used to partially digest the "offal" prior to cooking. I have never had the opportunity to try and am not sure I could "stomach it".
I'm a very fussy eater believe me..and I wouldn't recommend anyone try it if I thought it was gross in any way... but I do believe that sometimes people would love it if they didn't know the ingredients in advance ... If you slice it up and fry it in patties, it just tastes like a spicy flavoured oatmeal sausage . There's no real 'meat' taste to it..
I am not a particularly fussy eater, but I am not fond of offal. I have eaten plenty of stuff in my travels that I didn't know the identity of, but the only thing I couldn't bring myself to try was an expensive fermented (essentially rotten) fish in Japan. My host didn't seem at all offended, since it was very expensive and I don't think he wanted to waste it on someone who couldn't appreciate the delicacies of taste supposedly contained in the dish. There are also plenty of native foods here that I haven't tried, but most have not been offered to me. Many of the Eskimo dishes are fermented proteins that can be dangerous if not prepared properly.