French President Chirac talking about Britain: "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," he said. "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food." "But what about hamburgers?" said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, referring to America. "Oh no, hamburgers are nothing in comparison," Mr Chirac said. Mr Putin and Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, laughed. Mr Chirac then recalled how George Robertson, the former Nato secretary general and a former defence secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet, had once made him try an "unappetising" Scottish dish, apparently meaning haggis. "That's where our problems with Nato come from," he said. Mr Schröder and Mr Putin laughed again. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wchir05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixnewstop.html
Remember the Scottish restaurant skit on SNL way back in the '70s? Ackroyd--I think--played the chef and/or waiter. He rattled off the menu which consisted of things like thorns and thistles and when he finally reached "haggis", the restaurant-goers said "Oohh, I've heard of that, that might be good, what's in it?" After he recited the list of ingredients and the, ahem, unique manner in which they're prepared, thorns and thistles sounded appetizing by comparison. The only thing worse than Scottish food is Norwegian, which qualifies for "Most Disgusting" on my list solely by dint of lutefisk, which is, essentially: jelly-like, rotten fish cured in lye. You can't avoid it if you spend enough time in Minnesota--which I did.
To call that an insult, like the Telegraph does, is simply preposterous. In any case, Chirac begins to show the first symptoms of senility. I mean, didn´t he ever come to Holland to try what they call "food" here???
Haggis: First tried it at a fast food joint in Oban in the Highlands, MacTavish's. In the fast food deep-fried version, it seemed quite harmless. Crispy mystery meat. But the real McHaggis, the sheep stomachs hanging there on strings in butcher shop windows, another matter entirely. Lutefisk: I had a Norwegian girlfriend in college. Every month, for two years, her family in Norway sent a box of food, of which lutefisk was the prime ingredient. Was it the sole reason for our breaking up? An important question, lost in the mists of time.
I understand the Olympic city vote (tomorrow) is very close and Finland has two votes. Will they vote for Paris?
Re: Re: Scottish Food News: Haggis Causes International Incident I wonder if those two votes they were missing today were actually from Finland....
British Food Haggis is a Scottish dish not an English one. Though it is rumoured that it has cost Paris the 2012 Olympic games, which has now been awarded to London! Roy Maybery
I agree. They were just joking around. Besides, who would listen to French opinions about gross food anyway? They eat snails!!!!! I remember a bunch of Chinese friends bringing me a 'hundred year old egg' and waiting to see the white guy eat it. It was a horrible thing, all black and it smelled BAD. But I had to eat it or lose face, and it actually tasted surprisingly good. They laughed their heads off. It was just a fermented egg, not any grosser in its way than pickles or cheese. (I gather that many Chinese won't eat cheese. They think it's disgusting.) Putin can say anything he wants, but I'd choose a burger over a snail any day.
For anyone who wants to sample the Scottish delicacy for themselves; http://www.thehaggis.com/home.html
My wife is Norwegian, and she periodically drags us down to the "Sons of Norway" lodge, where a bunch of friendly Vikings force this (and other horrors) upon me. English is mighty good in comparison.
Yeah, French people eat anything that moves. You name it, snails, frogs, insects,... Sooner or later they find a way to cook it, and document their findings in those michelin guides.
Was this before or after their battlecry of Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spammity Spam! while eating the delicacy of spam, eggs, bacon and spam?
