In celebration of yesterday's Robert Burns Day, I thought I'd introduce you all to the world of haggis.

Now don't recoil and run screaming in the other direction. Haggis' urban legend bark is much worse than any bite you could take of the Scottish food. Really, the whole anti-haggis stance doesn't make much sense. Usually larger versions of foods get applauded and loved, but haggis gets the pointy end of the leftover meat sword. It doesn't have the widespread appeal of its cousin, the hot dog, nor the culinary adoration of cousin #2, the sausage.

But it's just a spicy, tasty meatloaf sort of food stuffed in innards, whether they be intestines, stomach, or other lining. In fact, if you're like me, your first bite of haggis will make you think that you're being played and fed ground beef instead. Scots knew what they were doing. This isn't a food where you try to bring out the delicate flavors of the pluck. It's boiled, ground with tasty bits like onions and oatmeal, and heavily spiced so that it slides down with deliciousness, rather than revulsion.

Slop it on a plate with neeps and tatties, and you can't go wrong.

By now, I think most of us are aware that drought is hurting many places around the world. However, one place that is going through a drought that probably won't get any attention is Scotland, the Western Isles to be precise.

The world may take notice, though, when it can't get Scotch whiskey from that part of Scotland. OK, maybe only whiskey connoisseurs would really notice, but still. About half the distilleries in the Western Isles have had to shut down so far, and the other half only have a few weeks of water left.

Sure, a lot of people are worried about running out of water (I mean other than the distillers), but apparently plenty of residents are also pretty happy about all the sunshine. Well, here's hoping that they, and all drought sufferers, get some much needed rain soon. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep the whiskey flowing.

[Via Gaurdian]

Have you ever been fired from a job? It's a horrible experience, I'm sure, but no matter what you might want to do, I bet you never challenged your boss to a duel with a meat cleaver.

That's what a Chinese cook in Dumbarton, Scotland did upon being fired this week. Unfortunately, he also threatened to chop his boss up and said that he had already done that to someone else, so he had to be taken into custody be the authorities. The cook was fired because he couldn't produce a work permit, and was sentenced to seven months in jail.

I can imagine that you might think crazy things if you were to be fired, but to actually threaten your ex boss is taking things a little too far. To actually brandish a weapon at him or her is definitely a sign of instability. While I feel bad for anyone who gets let go, let's just try to remember that getting fired is not worth going to jail for.

Ah, Scotland. The beautiful landscape. The deep lochs. The cheap beer!

That's right. Beer in Scotland is so inexpensive that it costs less than bottled water and soda. At least in the supermarkets. It's still more expensive in the pubs.

The price of beer in Scottish supermarkets has been trending down for quite some time. The reason is competition. More supermarkets are selling beer as compared to many years ago. And more recently, people want to drink at home since the smoking bans went into effect. The combination of more competition and higher volume of sales has driven down the prices.

Oh yeah. I know that getting alcohol from the supermarkets and liquor stores anywhere is cheaper than the bars, but when do I get beer cheaper than water? Surely it has to happen soon, at least where smoking bans are in effect. Maybe if we all buy more beer at once, and keep it up, we can make it happen. It'll be a group effort. Beer drinkers unite!

To most Americans, the thought of haggis, the national dish of Scotland, is stomach turning. In fact, that is what it's made of: specifically sheep stomach stuffed with minced sheep organs and onion. There has been a ban on importing haggis into the U.S. since 1989, when the BSE threat first appeared.

Now the Scottish government is thinking of asking the U.S. to drop the ban at the request of Scottish haggis maker Macsween. The Macsween company thinks they can sell a lot of haggis here, due to all of the Scottish ex-patriots. A company spokesman also claims that "once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it". (Er, maybe.) Officials say that haggis is perfectly safe as long as hygiene procedures are followed correctly which would make haggis safe to import into the U.S.

I have a personal rule that I have to try everything once. I won't lie, haggis is one thing that makes me nervous. Once I found out what it involved I was a little alarmed. However, if I did have the chance to try some high quality haggis I would not pass it up. What's the point in living if you don't take a chance from time to time?

[Via ColdMud.com]

Want to protect your unborn kids from getting asthma and allergies? You might want to add fish and apples to your diet.

Researchers in Scotland and the Netherlands have discovered that apples might have an effect on asthma in kids aged 5 and that fish might have an effect on the risk of eczema in children.

This isn't the first study involving the same group of children. Earlier studies suggested that mothers who had more vitamin E, vitamin D and zinc while pregnant might also lower the risk of asthma, allergies and eczema.

At Luxist, Deidre reported that a new scent called the Spirit of Scotland is to go on sale soon. Following in the footsteps of another unusual scent, the Spirit of Scotland is supposed to smell like malt whisky. While people have sample the scent and given it positive reviews, not everyone feels that it actually smells like whisky. Apparently, it has smoky, peaty notes with floral overtones. Honestly, it seems like you wouldn't want to walk around smelling like whisky all day, so it's probably just as well that the perfume is not an exact match for the spirit. Of course, if you already walk around smelling like whisky and are looking for a way to hide that, this could be the perfect product. 

Richard Lochhead, a candidate in the Scottish National Party, has added a food issue to his platform that he things will help his campaign. He has promised to fight to give Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status to shortbread. PDO is a classification by the EU that aims to ensure that goods, if given a particular name, originate from a single location. This would mean that the only official shortbread could come from Scots bakers, if the biscuits were given protected status; other shortbreads would have to be described as "shortbread-like." The Walkers bakery is a local employer in the area Lochhead is campaigning in, so it seems like a good stand for him to take, even if shortbread is unlikely to receive PDO status.

Scotch whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The annual foreign market is more than £2 billion. Understandably, the distillers would like to hold on to as much of this market as they can, but there are some who are none too happy about the current market.

In India, sales of whisky have enjoyed a fifty percent increase in the last year and a Scotish Whisky Association (SWA) representative said that "India is the industry's number one trade priority." That is where the trouble starts. The SWA is protesting the 212-525% taxes and tariffs on their imports, which the Indian government and distillers say is necessary to protect local products. Indian distillers, in turn, are protesting the fact that the EU does not permit them to sell their own brew as "whisky" in Europe because it is molasses-based, not cereal-based. The Indian distillers, like magnate Vijay Mallya, say that having to call their beverage an "Indian spirit" hurts sales and the EU's labling requirements amount to protectionism, especially since they are not asking to call their products "scotch," and are willing to use the label "Indian whisky."

Efforts towards a settlement have failed thus far, but the EU is apparently conducting negotiations to see if a resolution can be reached.

Pity Robert Wood. The Scot has a problem: he cooks in his sleep. According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Wood routinely sleepwalks, but the real problem comes when he gets into the kitchen and starts whipping up dishes - and he's not just heating up soup. His wife, Eleanor, has caught him making omelettes and spaghetti bolognese in his sleep. As expected, the couple is a bit worried that Rob is gonna burn down the house. "Every night, I have to think, 'Is Rob going to cook?'" says Eleanor. And no - no mention of Ambien in the piece.

[Image Coles.com.au]

In response to ongoing talks of change to established pension plans, the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) union in the UK is considering a five-day strike. If a strike went ahead, the slaughterhouses throughout the country of Scotland, where 150 members of the union are employed, would be forced to close - a move that would definitely hurt small businesses and butchers whose customers look forward to picking up fresh products. There would be no alternative to closing during a strike, because the 900-member MHS union inspects the conditions and quality of meat throughout the production and packaging process. Serious safety and health issues could arise from improperly inspected meat. Sources, according the BBC, are reportedly urging the union to rethink it strike position and keep negotiations open, as business closures could have a long-term, negative impact on the economy. Approximately 200,000 public workers in Scotland went on strike on Tuesday to show solidarity with the MHS.

Allow me to preface this post by saying that I like ketchup. However, I cannot profess to love the red stuff as much as Jeffrey Steingarten who kvells, "To my mind, ketchup stands in the top tier of the world's cold or tepid nondessert sauces."

I  have dear friends for whom the smell of ketchup on an egg sandwich in an enclosed space, oh say a car, is abhorrent enough to provoke a threat of physical violence. My friends might think they have it bad, but apparently two sisters in Scotland have it far worse. Nonetheless, they remain open-minded.

Despite an aversion to ketchup so fierce that they say the mere sight of the condiment is "an absolute nightmare",  Kirsty and Linsey Miller, want to overcome their phobia, which is so strong they can't abide the tomato-based staple in their flat.

 Maybe their urge for self-improvement has something to do with their parents predilection for tomato sauce at meals. Who can say? The sisters seem to have no problem with recent varieties of green ketchup.

A distillery in Scotland is planning to produce the world's strongest whisky. The single-malt whisky will be distilled four times, while whisky is ordinarily distilled only twice. At 92 percent alcohol, the malt will have more than double the alcohol content of ordinary whiskies. The distillery is engaging in the project in an attempt to replicate the Scottish drink described in a 1695 travel book, The Western Isles of Scotland, which contains what is considered to be the world's oldest whisky-tasting note. The book also includes a warning that the drink takes effect immediately, so by imbibing any more than two spoonfuls, "it would presently stop his breath and endanger his life". Despite the warning, the distillery manager believes that the whisky will have a floral note to it. They expect to produce approximately 5000 bottles.

Figures published last week reveal that in the last twenty years cirrhosis death rates for men in England and Wales have risen by over 60% and the rates for women have increased by nearly 50%. While Austria still has the highest cirrhosis death rates in Europe, followed in an ever-narrowing margin by Scotland, where cirrhosis deaths have doubled in the past two decades, many other countries have seen a 20-30% decline since the 1970s. Excessive and binge drinking - which results in some 22,000 British deaths each year - rates have risen among young men and women, and doctors report treating cirrhosis patients in their twenties, while only two decades ago nearly every patient with the disease was in late middle age.

England switched to 24 hour licensing at the end of last year, which permits clubs and pubs to serve alcohol around the clock. The medical profession is worried that this change will lead to an increase in alcoholism and alcohol and cirrhosis related deaths. They are encouraging the government to put more money into alcohol-treatment programs and to consider putting more restrictions on liquor licensing.

Slashfoodies love their cocktails. Particularly on festive occasions, football games and New Year's Eve, or when we decide to get spirited with our cooking. But we know when to stop and would like to take this opportunity to remind our friends and readers to do the same. Please drink safely, responsibly and in moderation.