Haggis, Blood Pudding and Shepherd’s Pie: The Horrors of the Tomato Free Diet
By Danny Thompson
My ancestry is 75% Irish and 25% British.
I have to like potatoes and black-eyed peas and leeks, or my family will disown me.
Shame will follow my children’s’ children through eternity.
Irish and British food is hearty and rib-sticking (it has to be, the islands are damp, cold, miserable places to live—at least they were up until the advent of modern indoor climate control systems).
A nice potato, some meat and a green vegetable are enough to further one’s existence out on the moor.
But, good lord it’s bland. God bless the people who invented salt and cheese.
Why is their food so…ordinary…when their neighbors on the continent have such savory cuisine?
It all goes back to
In fact, it is rumored that a British agent attempted to poison George Washington by serving him a dish laced with tomatoes.
Not everyone believed the tomato was poisonous (the leaves and stems are, but not the fruit itself), but it was enough to cast it in an unsavory light.
It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that my forefathers on the Isles began easing tomatoes into their cooking, and by them, strange foods that were strong on texture but not so strong on flavor had become traditional fare.
Which is a shame, because Shepherd’s Pie is incredible when you add in a tomato or two. Haggis on the other hand…
