Comments on: Haggis in Pyongyang

Haggis in Pyongyang

stonerose — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 09:50:04 -0800

"The haggis was pronounced excellent by all that ate it, foreigners and Koreans, including the Vice-Minister." A diplomat describes opening the British embassy in Pyongyang. Direct link (rtf) here.

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 10:06:02 -0800

Can't keep the Great Chieftain o' the puddin-race down...

By: spock

spock — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 11:33:02 -0800

Does anyone need further evidence that this is a nation of starving people???

By: BlueMetal

BlueMetal — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 11:49:32 -0800

"The haggis was pronounced excellent by all that ate it..." An excellent example of diplomacy in action.

By: borkingchikapa

borkingchikapa — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:00:40 -0800

Kim 11 Sung?

By: iconoclastic flow

iconoclastic flow — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:02:07 -0800

The kimchi, however, was pronounced "ass."

By: jenleigh

jenleigh — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:12:38 -0800

I promise, it's not as bad as it sounds! Yes it is

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:26:05 -0800

No true Scotsman eats haggis. It is a dish that they ceremoniously serve to the English for the joy of watching the silly fools eat it.

By: Sk4n

Sk4n — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:27:43 -0800

And only in Pyongyang does someone get to be Minister for Vice..... I love Haggis.

By: 3.2.3

3.2.3 — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:41:21 -0800

haggis, i like it when it's done right. it's highly variable, though. i think it best when done with more oats.

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:54:49 -0800

Zoe Williams gives you the offal truth.

By: Len

Len — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 14:47:34 -0800

As an actual Scottish person, I'll have to disagree with TimothyMason about haggis only ever being served to the English for the joy of watching them eat it. Done properly, it's a thing of wonder, even if it is made out of a sheep's stomach. And as for Zoe Williams, whose columns are as vapid as they are ill-informed ... words cannot describe how wrong she is, but I'll make an attempt. The eating of offal has precisely fuck all to do with middle class restaurant patrons wanting to imagine themselves as peasants, and much more to do with people, bored of the standard menu items, who (i) fancy something a bit different, having been presented with the same few options, dressed up in different guises, for too many years and (ii) who have come to realise that it's not just the standard cuts of meat which can make for a great meal.

By: Meaney

Meaney — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 15:37:05 -0800

I'm with Len, though not Scottish, at nicer restaurants, haggis is really tasty. I had haggis stuffed with chicken and again with beef, the haggis was the best part both times.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 18:27:23 -0800

Sod restaurants, recipes, all that shit. Eat haggis in the true Scottish style: after frying the arse off it in a vat of boiling oil. With chips.

By: gesamtkunstwerk

gesamtkunstwerk — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:03:14 -0800

I can just hear the N. Koreans. "They serve what to honour our great leader?" "Quiet, I haven't had meat in years" I am sure that good haggis is good-- so good it doesn't even taste like haggis.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:41:45 -0800

I must have been lucky: I had haggis three times when I was in Scotland: in my cheap hotel, in an even cheaper chippy, and in an upscale pub. It was excellent all three times. I now have a hard time imagining how it could be bad.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 22:12:35 -0800

Organ meat is big in Korea. Haggis would be nothing that odd, I'd guess, except, as mentioned, that meat in general in the North might be a bit scarce. Like bugbread, I had haggis a few times in Scotland. When I lived for three months in a damp bedsit on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh, I was just around the corner from the amusingly-signed 'Family Butcher' on Portobello High Street that claimed it had won the 'Best Haggis in Scotland' competition five times running. It was pretty good, actually, with some supercheap Bulgarian 'Blood of the Bull' red wine.