Contestants must eat half a guga and a portion of potatoes

Ten things on Scottish island delicacy

The first World Guga Eating Championship is to be held later but, for those not canada goose coats in the know, what canada goose black friday sale is it all about?

1. Guga are gannet chicks. About 2,000 of the buy canada goose jacket cheap young seabirds are taken from the tiny island of Sula Sgeir, about 40 miles (64km) cheap Canada Goose north of Ness on Lewis, to be eaten as a delicacy.

Sula Sgeir has about 9,000 to 10,000 pairs of gannets, according to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The government agency has described the annual hunt as «sustainable».

3. Ten men from Ness take part in the Sula Sgeir hunt. The hunters spend 10 days harvesting the chicks.

Western Isles canada goose coats on sale MP Angus MacNeil has said the hunt has «legendary status» and was similar to activities on Iceland and the Faroes uk canada goose outlet that perhaps started at the uk canada goose time of the Vikings.

4. But the hunt has its critics. The Scottish SPCA has described the method used to kill the birds a blow to the head as «cruel» and «barbaric».

The animal welfare charity has made frequent calls for the harvest to be banned.

Responding to calls in 2011 for it to be outlawed, hunt leader John MacFarlane said canada goose clearance sale grouse shooting caused canadian goose jacket birds greater suffering but the SSPCA was not calling for shoots Canada Goose Parka to be banned.

Mr MacFarlane said guga taken were dead within two to three seconds of being caught and struck on the Canada Goose Outlet head.

He added: «Rich people can go and canada https://www.canadagooseparkasoutlet.ca goose factory sale shoot and maim birds and deer and nobody says a word about them. Why?»

5. Lady Guga? Aristocracy and a celebrity chef Canada Goose sale have been among those to have tried the meat.

Edinburgh born Rachel Chiesley, who became Lady canada goose uk black friday Grange on marrying James Erskine, Lord Grange, canada goose uk outlet encountered guga while living among hunters and their families on Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago in the canada goose uk shop 1700s.

Lord Grange was secretly sympathetic to the Canada Goose Online Jacobite cause against the government.

Erskine claimed she had died and even a funeral was held.

The lady remained in exile for almost 10 years living among the islands’ fisher folk and guga hunters. She spent her last years on Skye.

Dr Samuel Johnson, who produced the original Dictionary Of The English Language, is said to have told St Kilda’s landlord that he might make his islands profitable if he let it be known they were a place for «naughty ladies».

More recently, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay tried guga on his cooking show the F Word.

In 2010, Musa in Aberdeen was described as Canada Goose Outlet the Canada Goose Jackets first restaurant Canada Goose Coats On Sale in the UK to offer the cheap canada goose uk delicacy on its menu.

However, Canada Goose online Lewisians those living on the isle and abroad in countries canada goose clearance such as New Zealand and other islanders are the main consumers of it, traditionally cooking and eating it buy canada goose jacket at home.

6. The inaugural World Guga Eating Championship takes place in Ness on Lewis later on Saturday.

7. It is to be held in Ness FC Social Club and the competition could become an annual event.

Donald MacSween, one of the organisers, said he expected the first championship to be oversubscribed.

8. The event is being held as a celebration of the traditions of harvesting and eating guga.

9. Contestants must eat half a guga and a portion of potatoes. The winner is the person who can finish the meal in the shortest time.

10. How the meat tastes could be a challenge to some. It has been described as tasting like a cross between kipper and steak or «salty goose» and, less flatteringly, as «rotten canada goose store leather and fishy beef».

Other canada goose descriptions have included it being like a mix of «anchovy paste and high strength cod liver oil».