Toast the Haggis and Robert Burns’ Birthday on Burns’ Night This Monday

Thu, Jan 22, 2009

haggis/
Scotland’s favorite poet, Robert Burns celebrated the haggis, one of the country’s most famous dishes, in verses recited annually on Burns’ Night, his birthday, January 25th

At traditional Burns’ Night Suppers on the night, the poem is declaimed with great drama and the haggis is stabbed with a sharp knife, then toasted with many drams of Scotch whisky, before being eaten with neeps and tatties – mashed turnips and potatoes.

A traditional haggis is made from a sheep’s pluck (the stomach) stuffed with all sorts of bits of innards. But, before you go off shrieking in disgust, relax – they make vegetarian versions that you can find online for those of us of a squeamish disposition.

haggis/ And, by the way – if you think you’re not a fan of poetry, have never heard any of Robert Burns poetry and certainly have never memorized any, just think back a few days ago to New Year’s Eve. If you sang so much as a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, you were singing Burns’ words.