Eddie Lin's "Extreme Cuisine" Pisses Off Entire Country. And It's Not Even in Stores Yet!

haggisxcuisine
The offending entry.

What'd I say? What'd I say? I thought I wrote some very flattering stuff about the famous Scottish dish haggis, a delicacy consisting of the blackface sheep's viscera and cooked within its own stomach.

Apparently, the Scots didn't think so.

Read about the haggis hubbub here, here, here and here.

Frankly, I think this is a big misunderstanding rather than an international incident. "Extreme", at least to me, is a compliment. I think of it as being extraordinary.

JB Houston, if you're reading this, send me some of your best haggis and I'll throw my own Burns supper/haggis fete, video tape it and post it on my blog.

And citizens of Scotland, if it makes you feel better, foie gras is listed in my book too. (Just wait till the French get wind of that.) Peace.

Comments

JHL said…
Hey Eddie! Please promise you aren't going to get all PC now. I absolutely love your blog, your style and have even been inspired to eat pig face...all because of you!
Noah said…
Pissing people off is inevitable unless you're irrelevant.
MaxMillion said…
hahaha, Eddie -- you can't buy publicity like that! Congrats!!
Eddie Lin said…
JHL,

Unless PC stands for "perverse connoisseur", then you need not worry that I get PC. I'm not sure I even know how to be PC. Thanks for the really nice comment.


Noah,

That sounds like a Yogi Berra quote or something genius like that.


MaxMillion,

I couldn't afford to pay for publicity like that!
H.Peter said…
Brilliant. Though I do like the odd Haggis, it is out there when it comes to cuisine....
Really, only one of those articles used loose rhetorical interpretation, the Times article I think. All this simply proves the truth of the centuries old adage, "one person's haggis is another person's PB&J".

Hello to your wife!
elmomonster said…
Gee, of all the people in the world, I didn't think the Scots to be so sensitive! The French, yes, but the Scots? Isn't this the country of Bravehart?

I hope that durian, a South East Asian (and Indonesian) staple was included in the book. That would be a source of pride for me, an Indonesian.
rsynnott said…
Bear in mind that the Mail and Express, in particular, are tabloids and are probably biased against the book to start with because you sound a bit foreign.
Eddie Lin said…
H. Peter,

Odd haggis is good haggis, my friend.


Food, She Thought,

You are correct. The more I re-read them the more amusing they get. I can't wait for the French response to foie gras, seriously!

I'll say hello to wifey for you!


Elmo,

Yeah, Scots, Braveheart, bravestomachs. What's the problem? Anyhow, it's press. I wish it would've come nearer to the book's release date on Oct. 23rd.

Durian is in the book. Was there ever any doubt? Thanks, man!


Robert Synnott,

I ain't foreign. I'm American goddammit!!!
Unknown said…
Jee-BUS. I got my disclaimer out of the way in the first Fringe Foods column I wrote, just to make sure people didn't think I was using the term pejoratively.

Not everybody is familiar with every food, Scotland. Cripes. I just had someone ask for recommendations for the best Caribbean food in Madison (WI), because that person's aunt was coming to town and hadn't ever heard of "such a thing" as Caribbean food.