Tonight we went on a quintessential Coach Tour optional excursion. If you've ever been on a bus tour, you know EXACTLY what I mean. They stuff you in a room with 7 (or more) other coach tours, seat you on loooong tables so tightly packed that you have to eat with you elbows stuck to your sides, serve you food that's not bad, but nowhere near as good as what you'd have had in a restaurant on your own, and then entertain your socks off with lively show of cultural music, singing, and dancing.
It's always a good time, even if they are totally interchangeable. No matter how often I've done them, I always end up concluding it was fun.
So tonight, included in the festivities was "A Taste of the Haggis".
For those of you who don't know, Haggis (Scotland's national dish) is finely chopped lungs, heart and liver of a sheep, mixed with oatmeal and onion, and stuffed into a sheep's stomach bag for cooking. It's served with "Neeps and Tatties" (potatoes and turnips) and lots of pepper.
There's a whole ceremony you have to go through... appropriately enough called "The Ceremony of the Haggis". A piper announces the arrival of the haggis and Robert Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis" is recited. Then, the haggis is sliced open with a dagger.
We were not served a huge portion -just enough to say we ate some, besides this was at the end of diner so we were kind of full anyway. To eat it, we were instructed to mix the haggis and neeps and tatties all together.
It really was not that bad. Tasted a lot like shepherd's pie, but very VERY peppery. The texture was all right, but because it was chopped and not minced, occasionally you'd get an extra chewy piece... like a firm mushroom. I can't say if it was heart, lung or liver (don't wanna know either).
Can't say I'd ever have it again, but I didn't think it was awful; I finished my plate, and now I can scratch it off my list!
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