[MR] British Library: Haggis!

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots:

Tonight, 25 January, Scots around the world will celebrate Burns Night, a
feast in honor of Scotland's national poet Robert ("Rabbie") Burns. Chief
among the traditional platters is haggis, the Scottish national dish, which
will be carried with great ceremony into the feast hall proceeded by a bag
piper. The haggis will be praised by poems and toasts with scotch,
traditional blessings on the food followed by more toasts with more scotch,
and sometimes dessert followed by still more toasts with still more scotch,
followed by what is known as a "big head" the next morning. We Scots
certainly do know how to party.

"And what is haggis?" you ask. Well, it is traditionally minced sheep's
heart, lungs and other organs mixed with suet, oatmeal and spices, all
cooked in the animal's stomach. Today one can find many variations on the
traditional recipe, including vegetarian haggis (in cans, no less).

Which brings us back to the middle ages. Haggis has deep historic roots in
Scotland, but also in England. The BOOKE OF COURTESSYE, which dates to
1430. has the oldest known recipe for haggis. Today the British Library is
offering a blog page on haggis, including the full recipe in period verse
from the BOOKE:
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2017/01/address-to-a-medieval-haggis.html

The English claim to have invented haggis (along with scotch, golf, and the
wee kilt) in what may be smug cultural imperialism. It is not clear to me
if the BOOKE OF COURTESSYE is a Scottish or English manuscript. I think the
latter, but was unable to find any online discussion of the book's source.
If it truly is an English book, then there is some justification for the
claim, though that argument ignores the fact that haggis was a poor Scots'
meal extending back into the depths of history, and nobody ever thought to
write down the recipe (or couldn't write it down because illiteracy was
rampant in Scotland until the 16th century).

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆