Haggis and kilts? No Yanks

[Drac]

Let me ask this, if I go to a Burns dinner I wouldn't be in a kilt and I wouldn't be eating the haggis. The kilt is because all I have is a Sport Kilt which is not good enough for that sort of event and I have tried haggis before and it's not to my taste.

Would I be a bad American because of this? I will say that I have no real problems eating a wide variety of stuff, except eggplant, and enjoyed my way around Europe three times when I was active duty Navy but would be judged by looks?

Jim

[Old Hippie]

Let me ask this, if I go to a Burns dinner I wouldn't be in a kilt and I wouldn't be eating the haggis. The kilt is because all I have is a Sport Kilt which is not good enough for that sort of event and I have tried haggis before and it's not to my taste.

The very first Burns supper I went to a few years ago, I wore a Utilikilts Mocker, because it was all I had. I zooted it up a little with a nice shirt and a tie, and bought a pair of cream-coloured kilt hose and some inexpensive wingtips to wear with it. It wasn't fancy but I was surprised that a lot of the folks there had so many questions about the kilt:

"A kilt with pockets? That must be very practical."

"Is that a military or police kilt?" (Mine is black)

"Wow! It's not wool! I always hate wearing my kilt because wool irritates my skin. Where did you get that?"

"You could wear that every day, couldn't you?"

"Machine washable, is it? God, I can spill coffee on ANYTHING."

It was an interesting lesson -- a lot of people consider kilts to be "costume" and just what you wear for playing dress-up on Robbie Burns Day or at a Highland Games. They've never really encountered people who wear kilts of any sort as a practical garment, and seeing it blows their minds a little. We tend to approach it a little differently here.

I'm generally a vegetarian so I'll nibble a little of the haggis to be polite but at least here there's a pretty full spread of food and nobody's standing there judging you by the size of your haggis. (I broke over this year and ate a little roast beef because it looked so good. It was better than the haggis...) I'll be having my own recipe vegetarian haggis at home.

Although my kilting wardrobe still tilts strongly to the casual side, nobody gave me the cold shoulder because I didn't have a PC and a fly plaid, yellow hose and green ties, a sporran made from an animal so rare that it's not on the Endangered Species list because that was the last one, right there, and 18 different items of antique weaponry hung about my person.

Although some may have reason to act snooty, they're easy to ignore. The overwhelming majority of people at a Burns supper are pleased to see new faces coming in, and glad to see you make an effort.

My mother raised me to consider what would be "polite" in any social situation. I'll be the first to admit I don't always meet that mark and probably never will. Attending and acting respectful of people and customs will take you a long way, however. That's all anyone has the right to expect of you.

:ootd:

[Ian.MacAllan]

Seems rather pointless to me to go to a Burns Dinner and then not partake of a Burns Dinner. . . .

Travelling to other countries at considerable expense for no apparent reason but to complain that they're not like home is an established tradition in the USA. Mark Twain, among others, described several instances of it in the 19th century.

. . . Apparently, kilts at a Burns supper are not mandatory by any means and indeed (so I'm told by many on this board) lots of people wear pants. Including Scots. . . .

I've seen several pictures and statues of Burns in breeches, but none in a kilt. Considering the effects of the acts of proscription it seems likely to me that he may never have worn a kilt.

As for haggis, I have eaten it only once and I did not enjoy it. Like country cooking in general, it was overdone and overspiced. But I'm willing to try it again, at the hands of a different chef. Like composite dishes in general (e.g., hash, stew, soup, salad) the merits of a particular instance depend much more on the skills of the chef than upon the name or even the recipe of the dish.

.