The Galloway Inn, Wigtown

This photo commemorates a gastronomical milestone in my life. The Galloway Inn, the charming white building on the right, was where I first ate haggis, neeps and tatties. The "neeps" are turnips, the "tatties" are mashed potatoes - and the "haggis" is essentially ground meat, mildly spiced. I had heard that sheep's stomach was one of the principal ingredients of haggis. That may be so, but I couldn't tell. I saw no coiled and steaming entrails. It looked like meatloaf and tasted fine to me. The dish is a touch bland, but comforting and familiar. As the Scots are ancestors to so many Americans, so is this an ancestor of our standard "meat and potatoes". Except that it goes best with single malt whiskey instead of beer.