After living in Scotland for a year and a half I took it upon myself to try some traditional Scottish foods, because let’s face it – I just couldn’t avoid them forever. I asked my fellow HC girls what they thought were some must-try foods, and I went on with courage to brave the unknown.
Butteries
I wasn’t quite sure if you were supposed to eat them plain or with jam so I tried both. Plain was very plain, the jam made it a lot better. All in all it tasted much like a sweeter version of bread (is it supposed to be bread is the real question??) Nothing to call home about, but no complaints here. (HC note: For those outside of Aberdeenshire, Butteries/Rowies are our local delicacy!)
3,5/5
Stovies
For these I went to Thain’s Bakery because according to everyone at work, they do the best stovies in all of Aberdeen. They asked if I wanted a box or a cup and, confused about the fact that food like this came in a cup, I opted for a box. Just for future reference – that is a lot of food. I opened the box and literally thought that this is something I won’t be eating- it looked like dog food out of a can. Having my HC article in mind, I powered through and I tried the mush; and I’m glad I did. It was actually amazing! The best part was that it actually tastes exactly like a traditional Finnish food, so now I know where to go if I’m missing home.
5/5
Irn Bru Ice cream
I am an ice cream addict so when any sort of ice cream was given as an option to try I knew it was happening. The bright orange color kind of scared me at first as it seemed unnatural for ice cream, but my first impressions deceived me. It was sorbet like on the outside and creamy ice cream on the inside. It was a rather sweet ice cream but I would still go back for more.
4,5/5
Mac and Cheese Pie
Pies in Scotland have always seemed like a weird thing to me. I tried a Scotch pie, a Mac and Cheese pie and a Steak pie and none of them did anything for me, at all. The mac and cheese pie was alright – that one I actually finished-but I would still rather have my mac and cheese and pies separately. Just way too much grease and salt in one piece of food.
1/5
Battered Mars Bar
I went all the way to Stonehaven for this one, as I figured I might as well try it from the place where it was invented if I was going to have one. It had been talked about so much that I had very high expectations about it, but I had also tried a battered Milky Way in America so kind of knew what to expect. It was very sweet, but still delicous. Maybe not something I would have every day, but I still wouldn’t say no if someone offered to buy me one.
4/5
Haggis
Haggis is the first thing everyone knows about Scottish food. The amount of times I got asked if I had tried it yet kind of made me have to, so this was the first Scottish dish I tried. I was extremely sceptical because it obviously doesn’t look very appealing and being stupid I had googled what it was; knowing the real facts did not make it sound any more appealing! But this again was actually a positive surprise. No gag reflexes whatsoever happened and I have to admit it was okay. I don’t think I’d order it again but I can’t say it was bad either. I was content with this black mush as well.
2,5/5
To conclude, I learned that I really shouldn’t be so prejudiced about the foods in Scotland. For some reason they have managed to be made to not look very appealing (maybe mush is the thing?) but they all did taste a lot better than I had expected, apart from the pies. I finished all my portions which can only mean it was good, as I am a very picky eater. I will continue on my journey of sampling Scottish foods and I hope all you non-Scots reading this will do the same!