Haggis
My grandmother’s name was Mary Anna Bella Minnie Hanton Tobias. She was born in Aberdeen Scotland and moved to the United States when she was very young. She was a Scottish patriot, the sort that still believed that Scotland should get the British boot off our necks.
Once, when I was about ten, my family went to visit her in Fowlerville. When we walked in, the house stank. I said, “Grandma, what’s that horrible smell.” She answered, “Hush. That’s haggis. Every true Scottish boy eats haggis.”
It was before dinner, but she called me into the kitchen with a hunk of haggis on a plate. It looked as bad as it smelled. I told her so. She said, “Hush. That’s haggis. Every true Scotttish boy east haggis.”
So I did my duty as a grandson who wanted to please his grandmother. I took my first bite and it was horrific. I ate as much as I could, but couldn’t finish. ”Grandma,” I said, “How can you eat this?”
She said, “I don’t eat it. It tastes terrible.”
She was a Scottish patriot, but more than that she loved a good joke.
For more information on the haggis visit http://www.gumbopages.com/food/scottish/haggis.html.
For Robert Burns’ famous “Address to a Haggis” http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Address_to_a_Haggis.
Haggis is yummy!!
I enjoyed haggis when we were in Scotland! Way to go Aunt Mary! I wonder if my dad, the sole survivor of the 12
children, and one of mary’s younger brothers, ever enjoyed haggis. Knowing Aunt Mary, she probably made her younger brother test the haggis the same way cousin Eric was forced to “enjoy” the scottish delight!
Nice read BIL. Your G-mom was a pistol and I’m going to be like that too. You were blessed to have her.
Yuck! Thank gosh we never had to eat it in Texas! Isn’t that what they came to the US for to run away from the Haggis Famine, lol! That is why all the potatoes were gone…
Have you ever heard that on the boarder of Canada they have a Haggis caterpolting (sp?) contest across the great river? Too funny, you should look it up!