Gab about guga

[DCampbell16B]

In fact I have eaten guga. I was staying with an older couple in Ness, Lewis in 1983 just to hear gaelic and try my my own. I was there when the guga boat came in. I went down to Am Port and watched and listened. I saw a fantastic pair of oars which I tried to replicate when I got back.

So guga is, or at least was, considered a delicacy by Niseachs. To get it you usually had to let the guga hunters know ahead of time. And yes, you had to be b-----y hungry to eat it. We tend to forget that folks in the Highlands and Islands were often b-----y hungry. The gentleman I was staying with told me when he was a boy they would catch the cudichean (little salt water minnows, I don't know the English), boil them in milk and drink the milk. The cudichs* were too small to eat alone. Anyway, that's the background as to was why the guga were hunted. Any food available was needed.

So, what does it taste like? If you can imagine a very salty eraser you'd be pretty close. Tough, rubbery, salty, and maybe overtones of burned feathers.

*Lewiseachs do (or did) tend to use "s" for plurals a lot. Other things too that are different.

I suppose I should post some of my adventures in Scotland. I'll have to dig into the journal I kept.