I arrived in Edinburough after flying from Liverpool, and was immediately struck by the visual display of gothic architecture. There is a valley that runs through the city with large bridges connecting the old city to the new. Hills upon hills of ancient four story brownstones mixed with young college students, sharp black churches piercing the sky, and amazing food. When I think of Scottish cuisine one flavor reigns supreme – smoke. Smokey whiskey, soup, meat, cheese, beer, you name it, its smoked. My favorite dish was Cullen Skink, a creamy potato and smoked haddock soup with fresh herbs and crusty bread. Of course the country is well known for its whiskey, amazing beers, and distillations, but lets address the elephant in the room – Haggis. My first introduction to this strangely legendary dish was in a bar called “the end of the world tavern.” I ordered the haggis which was served with mashed potatoes, turnips, and whiskey gravy. It was so good! It tasted like bone marrow, or any slow cooked meat flavor you can imagine. The intense flavor comes from the fact that it is all organ meat, which can be more nutritious and flavorful then muscle fiber. When you are eating it you just have to not think of what it is made from, oats and spices mixed with liver, lung, and… you can just research it yourself. From Edinburough I took a train to the west coast for my nest stop – Glasgow. Simply put I will tell you what this city is all about in the most straight forward way that you would hear from any Glasweigen: Rains every day, food is mostly fried, and the people are the best. Its all true, the weather sucks, being in a particular region it receives a lot of rainfall, and although there is fried pizza and fried mars bars on every corner you can still find amazing Scottish food, you just have to look. I met some of the most spectacular people in the world here, and made some friends for life. People from Glasgow don’t give a F***!
