Let's talk about food

[Sharon posting]

Because when you're taking three picky little (or not so little) eaters to a foreign country, vegetarian eaters at that, what you think about is, What on earth can we feed them? And how much is this going to cost?

I need not have feared. Scottish bread and dairy products are as rich, flavorful, rich, cheap, and rich as I'd remembered them from childhood. In fact, Brigid, poor thing, spent our first twelve hours here throwing up from a combination of stress, sleep deprivation, jet lag (she was indifferent to our insistence that you really have to try to get a nap during the brief nighttime on the plane over the Atlantic), and then a bowl of the Scottish milk that Josh innocently gave her without looking at the fat content on the label. At least they homogenize it now; thirty years ago you had to mix in that thick layer of cream on the top before you could drink it.

Sophia discovered our first morning that a single scone (no relation at all to the semi-edible things they call "scones" in the U.S.) filled her up for the morning. The cheese can only be eaten in thin, meltingly delicious slices, and is less than half the price of the Texas cheddar. The European Union has translated into 15p each for buttery Portuguese pears and dark and juicy Spanish oranges. A big sack of Scottish carrots--odd-looking, being short and uniformly thick, and much less woody than American carrots--goes for a pound.

Biscuits occupy a whole aisle in the grocery store. The girls are delighted to discover McVitie's chocolate digestives, Cadbury's jaffas, cream sandwiches... tea has replaced snacktime in style around here. What with having to walk everywhere (it's a quarter mile just to get to the bus stop, and the bus usually leaves you with plenty of walking to do yet, and Josh runs the two miles to his office and back), you can eat about what you want with no guilt.

And for those of us not fettered by cruel vegetarianism, ponder the humble Scotch pie--potato and beef in a pastry crust--fresh-baked daily for 25p per. Mmmmm.

I wonder how many of them I can fit into my suitcase. Next to the McVities.