# Is haggis really all that bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415 "2002-08-31T05:33:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/21 "2002-09-02T10:30:47Z")
I’d try it. But I doubt there is anywhere in Hawaii that serves Haggis. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/22 "2002-09-02T13:16:50Z")
I’ve eaten haggis. Didn’t change my life… wouldn’t go out of my way to get any more, wouldn’t go out of my way to avoid it. The ingredients aren’t any worse than what goes into sausages, really, are they? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/23 "2002-09-02T13:26:23Z")
I’ve eaten haggis. Didn’t change my life… wouldn’t go out of my way to get any more, wouldn’t go out of my way to avoid it. The ingredients aren’t any worse than what goes into sausages, really, are they? ---
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/24 "2002-09-02T13:53:05Z")
Haggis… mmmmmm… deep fried in batter, served wth chips (salted & vinegared), eaten on the sea front of Ayr on a cold, wet Wednesday afternoon in November. Fast food heaven! At least you _know_ it’s offal in haggis, unlike your typical greaseburger. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/25 "2002-09-04T15:37:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > The swedes definatly spell it lutefisk We most definitely don’t. Americans do it for some reason, probably to make it easier to get a good approximation of the pronunciation. It’s **lutfisk**! > [@](#): > > I would be more likely to say that Surströmming is the Swedish equivelant of Haggis. … It is the most foul smelling thing I have ever smelled, and most landlords have rules that you cannot eat it in their buildings. Rubbish. I’ve never heard of any such rules. > [@](#): > > I want to try it some day. By all means do! It’s a rare delicacy. I can admit that the smell does put some people off (according to a friend of mine it’s worse than durian, and he’s an aficionado of both), but once you have overcome that obstacle you will find that the taste is nothing like it. I would rather describe it as spicy and salty. As for haggis I must say that I hesitated a bit the first time I came across it (knowing the recipe), but once I had tasted my first mouthful I fell for it. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/26 "2002-09-04T15:57:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Iteki \* > \*\* It has (in common with the haggis I think) one group of rabid supporters, another who scream that it is bizarre and inhuman and they wouldn’t, …_\* Hey, not **“rabid”** - we con’t put dogs into it. You’re thinking of English West Country cider! 🙂 No humans in it either, I [i/]think\*, anyway. 😃 Anyone else remember the author **Iain Banks’** cross-cultural idea of haggis pakora? ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/27 "2002-09-04T16:03:06Z")
I had haggis once, in 1996 at a scout camp in Hanko, Finland. I was offered canned haggis by visiting Scottish scouts. I managed to down one mouthful right before they noticed that the “best before” date was five years old. Explains in part the taste, I’m sure. It might not be that bad, really. Lutfisk, though, is located in the “Foods **auRa** has had the discomfort of coming into contact with, but will never _ever_ do so again” section of my memory, along with sheep’s eyeball soup and blood pudding. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415/28 "2002-09-04T16:29:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WotNot \* > \*\* > > I’m English, and I’ve never heard of blood pie. Do you mean our delicious black pudding? \*\* I wouldn’t mind an answer to that either. Even if he did mean black pudding, it is hardly in the same league. Black pudding is an essential component of an English Breakfast, something that people rave about world-wide until they conventiently forget about it when they decide to accuse English food of being crap. Personally, as an English/scottish crossbreed who lives in Sweden, I think I am qualified to comments on the Black Pudding/Haggis/Lutfisk thing. Black Pudding … lovely. Haggis … lovely, but it has bee a wee while since I last had it. Lutfisk … Fish that has been reduced to lookign like jelly has no right to be in my mouth. And finally, Surströmming … is not a food. I am sure it breaks the definition in several places 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-haggis-really-all-that-bad/126415.md?page=1)