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Go to "Haggis and Other Stories" to find the current version via the nav panel.in the main website. 

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This is a book at the typescript stage which has been made available on this site in a revised format.  It will appear in etext format in due course.


The book appraises the history of Scottish diet as Scotland caught up with the surrounding standards of civilisation. That achieved, Scotland moved towards a European level of gastronomy and its related standard of nutrition.

Gastronomic subjection is one strand. To dominate to the extent that there is control of the food supply is to possess the power to starve. It was not until the late 1850s that the ordinary people of Scotland began to climb out of a history of gastronomic subjection. The people were the subjectees and the lords, lairds and land-owners were the subjectors.


But in that context, the Scots on the farm and in the later factories managed to survive and pursue their inherent hospitality ideal.

There was a diplomatic friendship between France and Scotland known as the 'Auld Alliance'. This was formalised in 1295 and continued beyond the 1560s. It influenced Scotland's 'food habits'.

In a chapter on food habits, it is shown that specific ways of food preparation, customs at the table including the beverages have come and gone.and some are described on this website.


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