A little while ago, our household was blessed with the return of a fellow Frenchman, Pierre, along with a beret and baguette. Finally, the house balance would tug a wee bit more towards the garlic-grinding French rather than the chorizo-relishing Spaniards. Pierre being a student at Newcastle University, felt very much obliged to bring us the very finest of northern food to our sunny little county of Suffolk. And there is no dish like haggis.
Now, for those non-initiated, haggis is a lovely little concoction the Scots crafted centuries ago when for lack of other ingredients they gathered what they could (see inset above left). Actually, according to online sources, this may well be a blatant lie. The Scots would have inherited haggis or something along those lines from the Romans. Yet another innovation brought to you by Hadrian and his fellow Latin men. With hindsight, it now seems odd that the British shouldn’t have put up a haggis display to celebrate the flirting of Scotland with Roman times epitomized in the erection of the wonder Hadrian wall (an oasis of Roman remains) during their exhibition.

Getting back to my housemates, Pierre had therefore decided he should introduce the household to this fine meal of haggis, neeps, and tatties (which nearly seems like a spoonerism, in fact, one most suitable for this post).
And, on a bright sunny morning not unlike the Suffolk Fall season, as Amaia was driving us to work down the winding Foxhall Rd, he started describing what went into haggis. Much to Amaia’s surprise, concern, and one might add dismay. It isn’t so much that she was repelled by the gruesome ingredients. Rather, she’d understood Pierre was talking about Huggies, the famous nappy brand. Need we say she was surprised to think one could even slightly consider tasting the baby contraption for ‘human refuse collection’? The puzzled look on her face led to contortions of disgust and disbelief.
Naturally, Pierre soon understood the misinterpretation and relieved Amaia of her uncanny ideas. Incidental vocabulary mix-up or premonitory warning of haggis’s natural appearance? Came the day to try, test, dine, and devour the Northern dish. It was a success. Pierre had also cooked up suede (another word that left Amaia intrigued) and potatoes.
To close off this culinary digression, I went on the Library of Congress’s website and found the following two artifacts which I reckon complement this post quite well.
Enjoy and remember serve your haggis piping hot!