US President George W. Bush might be celebrating his 59th birthday at next week's G8 summit in Scotland, but he will politely rebuff attempts to mark the event with the country's culinary delicacy, haggis.

"Yes, haggis, I was briefed on haggis," Bush said in an interview with Britain's Times newspaper when asked if he was tempted to try the dish, a concoction of chopped meat and oatmeal wrapped in a sheep's stomach, adding: "No."

"Generally, on your birthday, my mother used to say: 'What do you want to eat?' and I don't ever remember saying: 'Haggis, mom,'" Bush added in the interview.

Nor would he be tempted to don a kilt, the tartan skirt-like apparel beloved of Scots, for the traditional G8 leaders' joint photograph, Bush said.

The US leader recalled seeing friend Bill Gammell, a former Scotland rugby international who now heads an oil and gas exploration firm, wear a kilt to a royal banquet in Bush's honour during his state visit to Britain in 2003.

"Gammell showed up in his kilt. I said: 'Look buddy, you can wear your kilt, but I am not going to wear one,'" the president said.

Bush, along with host Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations, will be at the plush Gleneagles hotel resort for the three-day summit from next Wednesday, his birthday.

Despite the famous golf course at Gleneagles, Bush said he was unlikely to be able to pop out for a quick round.

"I am afraid Blair has over-scheduled." he joked. The best he could hope for was that he and wife Laura might "walk around together, holding hands in the Scottish mist."

Source: China Daily