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Who Said What About Scottish Food
Down Through the Ages
Scottish cuisine? I
don’t think there’s any such thing . . .
When you buy a Mars bar . . . they dump
them in hot oil.”
.....Jay Leno, host of NBC's Tonight Show
...some of their dishes are savoury, and even delicate, but I am not yet Scotchman enough to relish their singed sheep's head and haggis, which were provided, at our request, one day at Mr. Mitchelson's, where we dined. The first put me in mind of the history of the Congo, in which I had read of negroes' heads being sold publicly in the markets; the last, being a mess of minced lights, livers, suet, oatmeal, onions and pepper, enclosed in a sheep's stomach, had a very sudden effect upon mine, and the delicate Mrs. Tabby changed colour; when the cause of our disgust was instaneously removed at the nod of our entertainer.
.....Tobias Smollet (1721-1771) Humphrey Clinker
The northern Highlanders, who also were marauders, ate flesh largely, and often ate it raw. Lesley, indeed, affirms that
they preferred it dripping with blood, because it was then "mair sappie" and nourishing.
.....Old-world Scotland; Glimpses of its Modes and Manners ©Thomas Finlayson, 1844-1923
Ancient Scottish cookery was specially distinguished by the excellence and variety of its soups. Of these it may suffice
to mention three: to wit, hotch-potch, cockie-leekie, and specially fish-soup, compared to which last, the greasy turtlebroth of London City is a gross and barbarous abomination.
.....Old-world Scotland; Glimpses of its Modes and Manners ©Thomas Finlayson, 1844-1923
Other interesting foods that the
fish and chip shops have been asked to
fry include chocolate (21%) and sweets
(16%) in general, Snickers (4%), Creme
eggs (4%), and pizza (4%). Three shops
each said they had been asked for deep-fried
ice cream and deep-fried Maltesers.
Deep-fried Toffee Crisps, bananas,
pineapple rings, and Rolos had also
been requested.
We conclude that Scotland’s deep-fried
Mars bar is not just an urban myth.
Encouragingly, we did also find some
evidence of the penetrance of the
Mediterranean diet into Scotland, albeit
in the form of deep-fried pizza.
.....www.thelancet.com; Vol 364 December 18/25, 2004; survey conducted for the Scottish National Health Service (NHS) among Scottish fish-and-chiperies, about the sales of deep-fried Mars bars
It was chiefly among the Lowlanders that kale attained
its extraordinary vogue. It is a vegetable essentially Saxon
and non-Celtic. The more unsophisticated Highlanders regarded its use as a symptom of effeminacy...the Grants who, living near the Lowland line, had grown fond of it were contemned as the "soft kale-eating Grants," and a Gaelic poem on the battle
of Killiecrankie mocks at Mackay's defeated soldiers as
"men of kale and brose." When the Highlander indulged in such a luxury as broth he preferred the common nettle..
.....Old-world Scotland; Glimpses of its Modes and Manners ©Thomas Finlayson, 1844-1923
In a candy store I saw Edinburgh Rock, fishills, voice
-pastilles, chocolate bouncers and frosty railroads, but no railroadspikes or iron. Frosty railroads, eh, and chocolate bouncers!...
In bakery windows I noticed short-bread, oatcake, and
scones (pronounced, "scorns"), that were as
big as an elephant's ear; they sold for two cents each; and a
variety of strange bread...
May I be blowed! In a butcher shop I saw platters of
Hamburg steak labeled Mince which came in several
grades at different prices. The cheapest kind was labled 4d,
(eight cents), and probably came off the horns; the next
grade was labeled 6d, (twelve cents), and may have come off the
neck or tail; and the eight pence variety was good stuff,
no doubt, that came from good parts of the animal.
.....A Poor American in Ireland and Scotland by
Windy Bill, [ Ben Goodkind ] © 1913, W.S. Van Cott &
Company, 516 Mission Street, San Francisco, California
When the aboriginal Highlander or Borderer did condescend to cook his dinner, his appliances were of the simplest: he
contented himself with seething the flesh of the animal in its own paunch, or in its skin. The broth, obtained in this way was the common drink of the Highlander ... so excellent that not the best wine, nor any other kind of drink, might be compared to it. .
.....Old-world Scotland; Glimpses of its Modes and Manners ©Thomas Finlayson, 1844-1923
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