News reaches 5pm of an unusual meal which is soon to take place at Biadh at MacSorley’s in Glasgow.
The kitchen has got hold of a couple of baby gannets or guga and is to serve them at a private invite lunch along with the traditional accompaniments of Ness potatoes and a glass of milk.
Chef Sam Carswell, a previous Chewing the Fat subject, will also lay on some palate cleansers as the taste of Guga, said to be like a cross between fish and duck, doesn’t always have everyone clamouring for seconds.
The guga are culled from the cliffs of the isle of Sula Sgeir which sits out in the Atlantic, north of Lewis. The cull is an ancient Hebridean custom which is not without its detractors.
Some animal rights organisations have called for it be banned; a request which the Scottish government has rejected.
There’s a good piece on the dispute in The Guardian here and it throws up wider questions about how we decide what is and isn’t acceptable as food.
A lot of people happily eat game such as pheasant or partridge or young birds such as squab pigeon. I can’t see the problem. Do readers have other thoughts?