A loyal reader asks: I’m having a Scottish party. Don’t laugh. I like theme parties. What foods should I serve?

Dear reader, we’re not laughing. Not much, anyway.

We found an amazing food site! Practically Edible.

If you drill down through the Cuisines section, you’ll find Scottish food and you’ll see this:

Scots get tired of their food being summarized as haggis, whiskey, deep-fried Mars bars, and shortbread in tartan tins.

Yet there is something to it. Haggis is oatmeal and offal, both of which the Scots both eat a lot. Scots are very pround of their whiskey. And as for shortbread, Scots really do have a sweet tooth.

In general, Scottish food is seen as being very heavy. There are many jokes of it all being “artery clogging”. Not even a vegetable such as cabbage is a major player in the Scottish diet.

And you’ll also see this:

Comfort foods in Scotland are soups, casseroles and steamed puddings. In November 2003, the “Food Trust of Scotland” surveyed 6,000 Scots to determine what their top ten Scottish foods were. The results were as follows, in order from the most popular down:

1. Cranachan
2. Aberdeen Angus beef
3. Smoked salmon
4. Scotch broth
5. Venison casserole
6. Haggis with neeps and tatties
7. Farmhouse cheese and oatcakes
8. Roast lamb
9. Clootie dumplings
10. Baked salmon

And on this wonderful site (our new favorite? I don’t know – we like so many!), you’ll also find extensive information in these categories:

• encyclopaedia
• recipes
• biographies
• foodcalendar (now this has some funny stuff!)
• tips
• conversions

Check it out. Gotta run. Getting hungry.