Haggis in Pyongyang

April 26, 2005 9:50 AM

"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.
posted by stonerose (16 comments total)

Can't keep the Great Chieftain o' the puddin-race down...
posted by docgonzo at 10:06 AM on April 26, 2005

Does anyone need further evidence that this is a nation of starving people???
posted by spock at 11:33 AM on April 26, 2005

"The haggis was pronounced excellent by all that ate it..."

An excellent example of diplomacy in action.
posted by BlueMetal at 11:49 AM on April 26, 2005

Kim 11 Sung?
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:00 PM on April 26, 2005

The kimchi, however, was pronounced "ass."
posted by iconoclastic flow at 12:02 PM on April 26, 2005

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



Yes it is
posted by jenleigh at 12:12 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by TimothyMason at 12:26 PM on April 26, 2005

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

I love Haggis.
posted by Sk4n at 12:27 PM on April 26, 2005

haggis, i like it when it's done right. it's highly variable, though. i think it best when done with more oats.
posted by 3.2.3 at 12:41 PM on April 26, 2005

Zoe Williams gives you the offal truth.
posted by TimothyMason at 12:54 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by Len at 2:47 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by Meaney at 3:37 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by bonaldi at 6:27 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:03 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by Bugbread at 7:41 PM on April 26, 2005

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.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:12 PM on April 26, 2005