This week has been “essay completion week” here at the University of Edinburgh (basically midterms week where classes are canceled and you have one week to complete three essays), so my only thrills have been meal-related. Therefore, for this blog I am going to talk about potatoes. I became obsessed with potatoes when the other day for lunch I got the most amazing baked potato from a small hole in the ground (literally—it’s under a café, and you have to go down a flight of stairs in the sidewalk to get to the door) baked potato place called Rotato. It was called the Aussie Mongrel and consisted of chili, coleslaw, chunkily grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream on top. It might sound disgusting, but I was starving, and it was an amazing experience. They also asked if I wanted butter or mayo on my potato, but I declined.
Potatoes are as common here in Scotland as wraps in America (on the other hand, wraps haven’t really taken off here). Anything you can put in a panini or a baguette, you can also put in a baked potato. Let’s start with baked beans and cheddar cheese; not only is this normal to put on toast, but extremely common to put on a baked potato. If that’s not strange, then let’s move on: Pesto chicken, tomato, basil, and mozzarella? You could ask for it on a toastie (toasted sandwich), but it would be equally as normal to ask for it on a baked potato. Baguette Express is a sandwich chain that’s sort of akin to a fancy Subway—or maybe the sandwich station in Lower Usdan on an unexciting week. For £1.50 you can get any type of roll or bread or a baked potato. Turkey, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo potato? Ya got it!
If you’re not into baked potatoes, you can always get chips. And no, I don’t mean Walkers crisps from a bag—I mean chips from a pizza and chips shop. In general, the chips here are thickly cut and soggy with grease, i.e. unbelievably good at 3 in the morning. If you want them salted, though, you have to ask, and usually a mild vinegar is also poured on. Ketchup costs extra. If you are looking for a bag of crisps, though, you have to decide between a few flavors: Ready Salted, Vinegar, Extra Crispy (which I hear is nothing like kettle cooked chips back in the States), Chicken & Cheese, Steven Fry-up, Roast Chicken, Smokey Bacon, Cheese & Onion, Beef & Onion, and the new English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding (no, really, check it out here: http://www.walkers.co.uk/flavourcup/).
One of my good friends back at Brandeis who’s also abroad actually hates all things potatoes. He’s having troubles.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Brandeis chapter.