• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

OpenLearn Works Unit 6: Food Drink by Annie Mattheson Copyright © 2019 The Open University 2 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 Contents Introduction 4 6. Introductory handsel 4 6.1 Traditional foods 7 6.2 Drink 14 6.3 Scran, piece and jeelie piece 19 6.4 Fish 21 6.5 Herrin, caller an saut: herring, fresh and salt 23 6.6 What I have learned 28 Further research 29 References 29 Acknowledgements 31 3 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 Introduction Introduction In this unit we look at the role of the Scots language in an important area of Scottish life and in Scotland’s economy. Food and drink make up the largest sector of Scottish exports and this very successful industry employs almost 1 in 5 (18.8%) of all workers, most of them in small local businesses (Gates, 5 top exports for Scotland right now, 2017). You will learn about traditional Scottish fare; food and drink which are created from produce grown or sourced in Scotland. Not surprisingly, it is largely the geography of the country, its rugged hills and cool, damp climate that have determined the crops which can be grown and the animals which can be reared. With just under 17,000 km of coastline, it is equally unsurprising that seafood features prominently on our menus. Scotland’s food and drink are celebrated so vibrantly in the nation’s literature and folk culture that there are references throughout to examples of these. Consideration of such examples will raise your awareness of Scotland’s culture and attitudes to Scottish staple foods and drinks. Two books have defined the nature of Scottish cookery for several generations of consumers: The Meg Dods Cookery Book by Margaret Dods (1823) and The Scots Kitchen, Its lore and recipes by F. Marian McNeill (1929). However, with increased availability of international ingredients, you may consider there is now no such thing as distinctive Scottish fare. Yet, on the other hand, you may well believe that the traditional Scots kitchen is undergoing a gastronomic revolution. Important details to take notes on throughout this unit: ● The influence of geography on the production of Scottish food and drink ● Food and drink: their role in Scottish culture ● The Scottish eating and drinking habits and the nation’s health ● A gastronomic trend. Activity 1 Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts on any of the four important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could write down what you already know about each/any of these four points, as well as any assumption or question you might have. You will revisit these initial thoughts again when you come to the end of the unit. Provide your answer... 6. Introductory handsel A Scots word and example sentence to learn: 4 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 6. Introductory handsel Spurtle Definition: A short, round stick used for stirring porridge, soup, etc. ○ Example sentence: “The meall is steired wi a spurtle tae mak parritch.” ○ English translation: “The oatmeal is stirred with a spurtle to make porridge.” Please note: In Scots, meall always refers to oatmeal, as opposed to pease-meal or barley meal. Activity 2 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word Related word: Kail Definition: Borecole, esp. the curly variety; by extension, a main meal or dinner. ○ Example sentence: I hope, Sir Andrew, ye'll no objek to tak your kail wi' us. ○ English translation: I hope, Sir Andrew, you won’t object to taking your meal with us. Please note: With Scotland’s relatively mild winters, kail was the staple vegetable, grown almost everywhere and used in broths as well as cooked in various other ways. As its main use was in soup, the word kail often referred to any kind of soup or even to a meal. Activity 3 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word 5 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 6. Introductory handsel Arthur Melville ‘A Cabbage Garden’ (1878) 6 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 6.1 Traditional foods 6.1 Traditional foods Kail, haggis, neeps an tatties Activity 4 Sweet potato kail and quinoa fitters In recent years, kail, a form of brassica, has become a fashionable vegetable. Here is a picture of some ‘posh nosh’: sweet potato, kail and quinoa fritters with crème fraiche for dunking. Read this information and take notes on the climatic factors favouring the growing of kail. Please note: The usual spelling in Scotland is kail, but “kale” is also often used. Cold-hardy and resilient, kale is an easy member of the cabbage family to grow. You can set out plants quite early in spring as long as you protect the young plants from severe cold winds with a cover. They will grow steadily for months until the weather gets too warm. You’ll get a second chance to plant kale in the fall, when cool weather brings out a wonderfully sweet, nutty flavour that is unique to these cold-natured plants. Fall is the best time for growing kale in areas where winter doesn’t dip below the teens, or in a cold frame farther north, because the leaves are sweeter when they mature in cooler weather. In the kitchen, kale can be steamed, stir-fried, or substituted for spinach in omelets, casseroles, or even quesadillas. It’s a wonderful addition to smoothies, too. (Bonnie Plants, Growing Kale) 7 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 6.1 Traditional foods Provide your answer... Answer Kail or kale is a vegetable that thrives in cooler conditions. However, when it gets too cold and windy, or too hot, the plants won’t grow or even survive. Autumn is the best time for growing sweet-tasting kail, but in areas where temperatures infrequently dip below 10˚C kail can grow throughout the winter. This is an ideal nutritious vegetable for Scotland’s temperate climate with an average temperature ranging from 17˚C in the summer and 5˚C in the winter. Neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes) are most famously served champit (mashed) as an accompaniment to haggis at Burns Suppers. Haggis was essentially the food of the poor cottar farmers who had to sell most of their animals in the autumn as they could not grow enough to feed themselves as well as provide fodder to winter their beasts. Hence, the perishable offal (heart, liver, lungs) was minced and mixed with oatmeal, spices, suet and seasoning, then stuffed in the animal’s stomach. If you would like to make a haggis from scratch, consult Meg Dod’s cookery book! No one knows where haggis originated, but it has – largely thanks to Burns’ poem – become Scotland’s national ‘delicacy’. Great respect is shown to it at Burns’ Suppers, as befits a dish which has all the life-enhancing qualities the poem describes! During the address to a haggis as part of the Burns Supper ceremony, the reciter plunges the knife in the haggis then pours a dram of whisky into ‘the entrails’. Activity 5 Part 1 In the previous units you have listened to spoken Scots language and began to ‘tune into’ the way this language sounds. In this activity you will be able to do this again, this time with one of the most iconic poems in Scots, Robert Burns’ ‘Address to a haggis’ (1786). Listen to the first verse of poem without reading the transcript and test how much you can understand. Take some notes while listening. Audio content is not available in this format. Provide your answer... Part 2 Now read the entire poem and its translation and compare both with your notes from Part 1 of this activity. Address to a Haggis Address to a Haggis Translation Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Good luck to you and your honest, plump Great chieftain o the puddin'-race! face, 8 of 31 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Monday 3 August 2020 6.1 Traditional foods Aboon them a' ye tak your place, Great chieftain of the sausage race! Painch, tripe, or thairm: Above them all you take your place, Weel are ye worthy o' a grace Stomach, tripe, or intestines: As lang's my arm. Well are you worthy of a grace As long as my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, The groaning trencher there you fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your buttocks like a distant hill, Your pin wad help to mend a mill Your pin would help to mend a mill In time o need, In time of need, While thro your pores the dews distil While through your pores the dews distill Like amber bead. Like amber bead.

Load more

  31

Copy Link