A LEADING food historian has announced that the Scottish national dish actually originated in England.
Just like kilts, whiskey and caber tossing, Haggis is a universal symbol for Scotland – so historian Peter Brears’ announcement is sure to anger patriotic Scots everywhere.
In his latest book about historical North-East cuisine, boffin Mr. Brears refers to haggis as a “fine English dish” made in England since the 15th Century – but not in its spiritual home of the Scottish Highlands.
In the book, ‘Traditional Food in Northumbria’, he argues that the association between haggis and Scotland is due to “romantic patriotism”, rather than historical fact.
The book is a breakthrough in food history – containing a wealth of unpublished information, unearthed from the depths of the Beamish museum’s archives in County Durham.
According to Mr. Brears, even as recently as 1920, haggis would have been more common on the dinner tables of Northern coal miners than Scottish shepherds.
This is not the first nail in the coffin for Scotland’s claim as the birthplace of haggis – the debate flared up in 2009, when an historian discovered a recipe for the dish in a cookbook called ‘The English Hus-Wife’.
Published in 1615, the recipe predates any mention of haggis in Scotland by a staggering 131 years.
Today’s link between haggis and Scotland is due to the desire for national identity after the once-independent nation was unified with England, say academics.
The historian Catherine Brown claims: "It seems to be that there's an identity thing there. We'd lost our monarchy, we'd lost our parliament and we gained our haggis."
"There was a latching onto everything that was distinctive about Scotland” – and haggis became the Scottish staple as we know it today.
However, fans of the Scottish favourite, which is made from sheep heart, liver and lungs, have been quick to hit back at such allegations in the past.
Former world champion haggis maker Robert Patrick said: "Anything that's to do with Scotland, everybody wants to get a part of.”
“We've nurtured the thing for all these years, we've developed it, so I think very much it is a Scottish product.”
Mr. Brear’s book may be a hit, but it takes a lot more than that to get between a Scotsman and his haggis
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Topic Author
