Well I've certainly had haggis many a time for breakfast when I lived in Edinburgh (See? Not a US tourist). Delicious as an alternative to black pudding with a full Scottish.

Not a huge fan of black pudding at breakfast either. I will make an exception for the best Stornaway but not many places do it and cheap supermarket black pudding is grim.

Kate is right.
The sliced breakfast haggis is delicious.
Try it some time.

When my neice was living in London some years ago, she and a friend went to Scotland for a weekend, I think she said it was something like a Haggis Festival or some such thing..anyway, she said the Haggis she ate was quite good.

May I suggest that the roots of Haggis go back much further?

There is strong evidence that "haggis" derives from the ancient Hebrew word "hagga" - that which causes one to stagger - and entered the current language via the usual course through the Indo-European languages derived from Sanskrit. (http://tinyurl.com/m5y5wc)

((I))

Haggis IS scotch 'cos their the only place that eats it. To say otherwise is to say that Chicken Tikka Masala isn't English. Which would be BAD.

Personally I think it's horrid. It's what sausages would look and taste like if made by kids of the Sunshine Coach. Note - by, not out of)

<<It also has affinities with the French Andouillette>>

This is an infamous slander on the noble haggis. Andouillette is something that I have tasted once. Hetismij has described it well. It will never pass my lips again.

This is from someone who enjoys a plate of Tripe à la mode de Caen.

Doesn't al a mode mean served with ice cream?

CW -boggled, and more than a bit repulsed.

a la mode = in the fashion or way or method of

Does anyone know how Andouillette is actually made that makes it taste so dreadful? How does it differ from haggis, exactly?

:-(

I think I found most of my answer on line:

"By contrast, many French eateries serve andouillette as a hot dish, and foreigners have been repulsed by the aroma, to the point where they find it inedible (see external links). While hot andouillette smells of feces, food safety requires that all such matter is removed from the meat before cooking. Feces-like aroma can be attributed to the common use of the pig’s colon (chitterlings) in this sausage, and stems from the same compounds that give feces some of its odors."

:-(

I like Andouillette. The more X's the better. It goes very, very well with a good, full-bodied Bordeaux.

((I))

Andouillette is a completely different thing. Its taste comes mainly from beef paunch. I personally cannot eat it (although I otherwise admire French cuisine).

To fill stomach or bowel with meat is a common European tradition. You find it in every European country. It is called "sausage". You never taste the stomach or bowel - it is just like a foil.

It is also common all over Northern Europe to eat blood sausage. It is both very tasty and very healthy.

Haggis is unique because

- it is made of sheep and not of pork (in fact, has a distinct sheep taste),
- it is made of innards which are mixed with oatmeal.

In no other country, this type of food is eaten. Whether it had been invented in Scotland or not does not matter. Nowadays you find it in Scotland only. So it is a Scottish dish.

I personally find it delicious.

"Haggis is unique because
- it is made of sheep and not of pork (in fact, has a distinct sheep taste),
- it is made of innards which are mixed with oatmeal.
In no other country, this type of food is eaten".

Try "cordula" in Sardinia.

<<Nowadays you find it in Scotland only.>>

Not really. I picked up a couple from a butcher in Calgary who told me that sells several tons each January for Burns Suppers.

It is also readily available year round in my home city of Ottawa. In fact we served one as an appetizer for a BBQ this past June (complete with Burns' 'Address').

I liked travelgourmet's description of haggis as a bit like "dirty rice." It's been awhile, but I'd describe the haggis I've had (and enjoyed) as between rice and grainy meatloaf in texture. Spicy, too. I like it.

Haggis is on general sale in SE London. Quite who buys it I have no idea.

ps I was right about a la mode:

http://www.answers.com/topic/la-mode

Stop eating haggis and tripe with ice cream. Please.

If I had my way, people who call Robert Burns "Bobbie Burns" should be added to the haggis mixture. No self respecting Scot or Burns' disciple would ever use that name.

<also (in USA) fruit or other sweet pie served with ice cream.>

Well since it is France we are talking about a la mode only means in the fashion of and not with ice cream -only in good ole USA could you define it as such

Once again CW 'fact' is undone

>>It's a well known fact that wild Haggis have two long legs and two short legs place on either side of the body. This enables it to run around mountain tops at tremendous speed. If you want to catch a Haggis get it on level ground. They topple.<<

or if you've got it on a mountainside, give it a fright and get it to turn round the other way.

And PQ is right "à la mode de" (pronounced MOD) in France is not the same as "a la mode" (pronounced MOWED) in the US. But tripe, sadly, is tripe in any language: and I ain't 'avin' any.