Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘I liked them a lot!’: Love at first bite for American on Aberdeen rowie adventure

Peyton Baylous was visiting from America when she tried butteries for the first time.
Peyton Baylous was visiting from America when she tried butteries for the first time.

Food is a common language that crosses national borders and transcends cultures.

But what happens when people from outside of the north-east of Scotland are introduced to a buttery for the first time?

That’s the question Me and My Buttery put to Peyton Baylous, an American from Virginia who visited Aberdeen a few years ago.

Peyton was introduced to butteries by a friend. But what did she make of the traditional north-east delight?

Read on to find out.

Peyton, hi. Welcome to Me and My Buttery. What were you doing in Aberdeen?

I was visiting a close friend from high school in the US who lives in Aberdeen now. I’d been living in France, so before going home to the US for a bit I stopped by.

Do you remember first hearing about butteries?

My friend told me about them right before coming to Scotland. I asked about fun, traditional foods and things to do and she told me I had to try butteries.

We laughed because they look really similar to American biscuits [like buttermilk or drop biscuits] but they aren’t exactly the same so us trying to figure out the difference over text when I hadn’t tried butteries and she didn’t remember much about American biscuits – it was pretty funny.

American Aberdeen rowie
An American-style biscuit. Picture credit: Shutterstock

How did you eat it? With butter? Jam?

We ate them plain, then with jam and then with cream. I think at one point I actually tried one dipped in hummus for fun!

What did it taste like?

It was slightly salty, savory, and a bit dry like American biscuits, whereas something like a croissant would be more buttery and slightly sweet.

But something about the texture was similar to pastries like a croissant or Danish, without the sweetness.

Was it a pleasant experience?

I liked them a lot! I’m pretty big on pastries/carbs in the morning and the size of them was nice as they weren’t too big.

Did it feel like an authentic Aberdeen experience?

I’d say so. Anytime I get to try food from other cultures and countries in the physical context of the country it feels like a really fun and rich experience, even if it’s just sharing some butteries in my friend’s apartment on a Saturday morning.

Did you tell people about it back home?

Yep! I tried a bunch of UK/Scotland-specific foods while in Aberdeen (high tea, haggis, butteries, beans on toast) and I sent pictures to my family group chat since apart from tea we either don’t have these or don’t normally eat them in the US.

Would you eat one again?

Absolutely! Unfortunately, I’ve never seen them outside Aberdeen.


More from Me and My Buttery…