1/3rd of American Visitors Believe Haggis is an Animal

[AgentSun]

American tourists want to hunt haggis

A third of all American visitors to Scotland believe haggis is an animal.

Researchers have found almost one in four of those questioned said they had come to Scotland under the belief they could hunt it.

US tour operators are even selling haggis hunting tours.

Some 1,000 Americans took part in the survey, which was launched in the summer when haggis maker Hall's teamed up with a US tourism association website.

Hall's, which is based in Broxburn, West Lothian, asked Americans considering a trip to Scotland why they wanted to come and what they expected to see.

One American tourist believed that haggis was a wild beast of the Highlands, no bigger than a grouse, which only came out at night.

Another claimed haggis was a creature that sometimes ventured into the cities and was similar to a fox.

Anna Finlay, of Hall's, said: "It's amazing in this day and age that the myth of the haggis roaming the glens continues to resonate with overseas visitors."

The recipe for haggis varies but it can be made using a sheep's stomach bag filled with a mix of sheep's liver, heart and lung, oatmeal, suet, stock, onions and spices.



i apologize for the ignorance of many americans...

[BlackThorn]

I won't try haggis again. I have. I hated it. The end. BUT . . . I think it's a crime to not know what it is.

[Kurt_eh]

Dren disturber that I am, I'm all for perpetuating the myth. :D

Yep, in Scottland, the annual Royal Haggis Hunt is legendary. A tradition that stems back to the days of the highlanders. Only in modern times the SPCH (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Haggis) has been protesting it.

"Throw out the old ways." they cry at their protests and ralleys.

They wear banners declaring "I'd rather go naked, than wear haggis!" and some have even gone so far as to promote violence against the participants in the ARHH.

Little do they know, they're only hurting the local industry. Haggis Hunt tourism brings in billions of Pounds into Scottland every year. (or is that millions of lbs?) ;)

I can go on and on... :D

[NYPinTA]

Well, truthfully, why would they know what it is? It's not like it is something to comes up during everyday conversation.
I bet there are somethings that we eat over here that someone from another country wouldn't know what it was and I wouldn't blame them... but if it was good I would most definitely make them try it. :)
Haggis Hunt! Thats too funny! :rollin:

[Kurt_eh]

NYP, there's thing in your country (and mine for that matter) that we eat that WE don't know what it is!

They're called Hot Dogs :D

[NYPinTA]

:rollin: Sad but true!

[MJS]

So can you hunt hot dogs? As a hunter I might be interested :)

[BlackThorn]

No, they're an endangered species.

[Selena]

Just check out the Jay Leno show and the Jay Walking segment.

You will be surprised to find that many of the people he interviews (average Americans) don't have a clue about simple, ordinary everyday things that most people take for granted in other parts of the world.

[Jellyfish]

Well I was born and raised in Scotland and I can confirm that Haggis is an animal. In fact it is very rare because it is easily caught due to the fact that it has a genetic disadvantage which you may be interested to know about.

Because Scotland is so hilly and it lives high up in the hills it developed two long left legs and two short right legs to help it get around. Of course it can only go clockwise round the hill so the easy way to catch it is to hide in a bush and have someone with a net at the bottom. Wait for it to come round and suddenly jump out. Normally it will get such a fright that it will turn around to flee but then will roll all the way down the hill to your accomplice at the bottom.

Because they are now so rare and we enjoy this type of hunting so much we have tried to keep them to ourselves by allowing the myth to grow that they are sheeps stomachs filled with offal.http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/fingers/fing01.gif

Honest.http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/fingers/fing34.gif

[BlackThorn]

Sure. And I'm Claudia Black.

[Jellyfish]

Will you marry me?

[BlackThorn]

Umm, no because there's someone who might be a tad upset if I did, and umm, no. :D

[Darth Buddha]

Haggis for BREAKFAST!

I've had haggis, for BREAKFAST! And it was good!

The amount of scotch I had already consumed (I guessed all five of the scotches at the scotch tasting stand... and got a second round!) might have had something to do with it.

Won't be a repeat though. The next day, though, I paid for it.

BTW - Did you know that those with Celiac (an auto-immune disease involving gluten allergies in the gut) can actually drink scotch, because there is no raw mash reintroduced at the end. The distillation leaves gluten free.

Not so with American and Canadian whiskies. Just another of the WONDERFUL facts about that wonderful drink from the land of my ancestors!

[Selena]

Originally posted by Jellyfish
Well I was born and raised in Scotland and I can confirm that Haggis is an animal. In fact it is very rare because it is easily caught due to the fact that it has a genetic disadvantage which you may be interested to know about.

Because Scotland is so hilly and it lives high up in the hills it developed two long left legs and two short right legs to help it get around. Of course it can only go clockwise round the hill so the easy way to catch it is to hide in a bush and have someone with a net at the bottom. Wait for it to come round and suddenly jump out. Normally it will get such a fright that it will turn around to flee but then will roll all the way down the hill to your accomplice at the bottom.

Because they are now so rare and we enjoy this type of hunting so much we have tried to keep them to ourselves by allowing the myth to grow that they are sheeps stomachs filled with offal.http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/fingers/fing01.gif

Honest.http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/fingers/fing34.gif

Bad Jellyfish :whip: bad, bad :snicker: go stand in the corner

[akimbo]

My hubby tried to get me to try haggis while in Scotland, but it was one delicacy I wasn't willing to put through *my* intestines :goof:

He made me go on the "Its a small world" ride and try poi in the past. So now I know better than to trust his judgement on new things. :D

edited to add:
Well we do have our parallels to haggis hunts:
Anybody been on a snipe hunt? :poke:
What about hunting trail bologna and naugahydes? :snicker:

[Tiriel]

Of course haggis are animals! And they are CERTAINLY not fit for human consumption! A friend of mine (from Aberdeen) had a beany-baby version with the telling shorter legs :D

On my list of things that do not come near my mouth they are higher up than fruitcakes and that says a lot...and they are only marginally beaten by raw snails, too...

Love and Peace and DON'T EAT THAT!!!! :shocked:

Tiriel :bounce:

[Devnull]

I know what haggis is, but I sure as hell don't want to eat it.

[witchdoctor]

Originally posted by Kurt_eh
Dren disturber that I am, I'm all for perpetuating the myth. :D

Yep, in Scottland, the annual Royal Haggis Hunt is legendary. A tradition that stems back to the days of the highlanders. Only in modern times the SPCH (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Haggis) has been protesting it.

"Throw out the old ways." they cry at their protests and ralleys.

They wear banners declaring "I'd rather go naked, than wear haggis!" and some have even gone so far as to promote violence against the participants in the ARHH.

Little do they know, they're only hurting the local industry. Haggis Hunt tourism brings in billions of Pounds into Scottland every year. (or is that millions of lbs?) ;)

I can go on and on... :D

Yes, yes, its true. And that's not all the SPCH has been up to. Though feasting on roast haggis ribs after the ARHH is a long and beloved Scottish tradition, the SPCH is opposed to consumption of haggis flesh too. They have gone so far as to come up with a haggis substitute made from a mish mash of sheep body parts.

If you ever visit Scotland, insist on real haggis. They may try to fool tourists in restaraunts with that bag of pureed parts, but if you stand up for your rights and insist doggedly that you know this isn't real haggis because there are no ribs and if you persist despite their reassurances, you can still get real haggis. :D

Geez, anyone who had watched the original Highlander movie should know what a haggis is.