A summer abroad in Scotland has a lot to offer – stunning scenery, new friends, inspiring traditions – and an area it excels in is providing memorable meals and a food culture that can’t be beat. My name is Roux Colacino, I’m a technical theatre major at Wagner College in NYC and a hobbyist playwright and food historian, and this is my breakdown of my top 3 favorite meals I had while studying abroad in Stirling, Scotland with CIS Abroad!
My absolute favorite breakfast was had at University Café, a tiny little establishment located near the University of Glasgow that only a few people could enter at a time, and which sold the most wonderfully greasy full Scottish breakfast that anyone could hope for. I had an idyllic moment sitting under the shade of the trees in the Glasgow Botanic Gardens with my breakfast of lorne sausage, black pudding, beans, toast, tattie scones, eggs, and bacon, watching people pass by with their dogs.
Unfortunately, this was my one and only trip to University Café and the Botanic Gardens – most days I made my own breakfast in the kitchen of my dorm building – but I made sure my fridge was stocked with all the essentials: strawberries (incredibly sweet compared to their U.S. counterparts!), lox (salmon is one of Scotland’s biggest exports), and haggis (I’ll elaborate on this more in another entry, but haggis has quickly become one of my favorite foods).
Usually (when I’m not studying abroad in Scotland) I’m in New York City for college, which has a rich food culture all its own. Bagels with cream cheese are of course a dietary staple of the landscape, especially with the addition of lox (typically thin-slices of cold-smoked salmon) and capers. I have a great affinity for lox bagels and lucky for me, a seafood lover, Scotland has a large fishing industry!
To say that it’s a match made in culinary heaven might even be an understatement, given that I must have eaten seafood every day I was abroad. Enter: the lox sandwich, the vehicle for my fish obsession. I found these in almost every café I went to in Glasgow and Edinburgh, all with slightly different variations but at their core a construction of cold-smoked salmon, spinach, cucumber, and cream cheese on lightly toasted bread.
For this penultimate food pick, I want you to imagine yourself sitting in a nice restaurant, the sort of place with two types of forks laid next to three differently-sized spoons laid on a pristine white tablecloth, and cloth napkins folded into flowers. The front door and windows are open and on the breeze wafting in comes the unmistakable sound of bagpipes; outside the window you can see the bagpipe-player himself walking up the cobblestone street towards the Church of the Holy Rude, which is visible from where you sit and silhouetted against the lowering sun. Most importantly, you are enjoying a plate of chicken breast in a delightful Drambuie sauce, with a dollop of haggis on top. Would it surprise you, then, if I told you that the restaurant you are in is Hermann’s in Stirling, which serves primarily Austrian cuisine?
Though Google will tell you so, in reality it’s closer to an Austrian-Scottish fusion, but all the same, I felt I had such a stereotypically (in a good way!) Scottish experience while I was there! This was my first time trying haggis, and let me tell you: it’s one of my new favorite foods.
First time trying haggis! Chicken in a Drambuie sauce, topped with haggis and served with veggies at Hermann’s in old town Stirling
For those who don’t know (because, and I learned this, many people from the U.S. don’t know!), haggis is minced livestock – usually sheep – offal cooked with oatmeal, onions, and spices, enclosed in an organic or artificial casing and cooked in stock. It’s difficult to describe what haggis tastes like, because it’s spiced in a way that feels distinctly… medieval? That description is not meant to be disparaging, actually quite the opposite; it’s my guess as someone who adores recreating high and late medieval European recipes.
I’m not sure what the “standard” spice mix is for haggis (I’d guess coriander, clove, and mace are in there), but it’s very different than spice mixes in the U.S., which tend to utilize dried herbs more heavily.
I also think a lot of people – at least in the U.S. – can get squeamish about the contents of haggis, to which I have two responses:
a) do you eat hot dogs? and
b) there are vegetarian versions, which are also delightful!
I’m so glad to have tried it, because it quickly became a staple in my breakfasts and lunches whenever possible. And on that note I encourage you, reader, to also be adventurous and try new foods for this reason – you never know what you’ll fall in love with!
If you're interested in exploring more of Scotland, check out all of CIS Abroad's available programs here!
Blog by Roux Colacino, Wagner College student & Summer in Scotland alum