The Scots have a problem. The Americans have been banned from eating Scottish offal. For most of us that may not seem to big a issue, but there are ’serious’ economic and cultural consequences, and Scottish ministers are considering lobbying the US government about it.
Apart from deep fried Mars bars, haggis is the Scottish national dish. It’s also a globally recognized symbol of Scotland alongside bagpipes, kilts and Scotch whisky. There are some people in the UK for whom haggis remains a deep mystery. I had a friend who genuinely thought it was a Scottish game bird. For the uninitiated, haggis comprises a sheep’s heart, liver and lungs wrapped inside a sheep’s stomach lining. The offal is minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and boiled for three hours.
The present problem between Scotland and the US started with British cows. The US banned imports of Scottish haggis after Britain’s outbreak of mad cow disease, which is linked to the human brain illness Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. But, according to the experts, haggis is safe if normal food hygiene procedures are followed. Currently only offal free haggis is available in the US.
The number of Scottish clubs are increasing in America, as is the sale of tartans. And there is a growing interest amongst some Americans in their Scottish heritage. The meat exporters feel confident that there is a US demand for haggis that they cannot satisfy.
As 25 January approaches, they are feeling the injustice of that export ban acutely. Haggis is an essential part of Burns night celebrations, which commemorate the national poet Robert Burns.
Personally, celebrating a poet by eating offal boiled in a stomach doesn’t do it for me, but I do sense yet another Scottish injustice (caused by the English), and would support their move to have the ban lifted.
Source: BBC
And I thought sausage was disgusting. YECH!
Even though I share Burn’s birthday day I have never eaten offal and would never want too.
I have learnt more about haggis though. I thought it was the stomach of a sheep not all the ingredients mentioned here, wrapped in a stomach.
I think this turns me more towards vegetarianism. One chef mentioned recently that if you can’t watch the slaughter of an animal you should not eat meat. Perhaps, I am straying of the point here. But that is a fair statement. Seeing meat already prepared in a butchers makes the whole business of eating animals somewhat sureal.
Perhaps SilverTiger might like to comment on this subject.