Great Scot – the haggis is English!

Historian Catherine Brown has rocked Scotland’s food lovers by claiming that their national dish of haggis originated in England. Brown, a Scotswoman herself, has found a reference to haggis in an English recipe book, The English Hus-wife, published in 1615, which predates any Scottish mention of haggis by 132 years. Brown says the evidence points towards the recipe being an English idea, which was popularised by the Scots.

Haggis, a dish traditionally made from the heart, liver and lungs of a lamb, cooked in the lamb’s intestine, is enjoyed by Scots as part of a full breakfast, or can be served for dinner with ‘neeps and tatties’ (turnips/swede and potatoes).

Although quite surprising, it is unlikely Brown’s theories will convince the English to claim it back – even if the Scottish would let them! Haggis is a multi million-pound trade and a source of national pride. Poet Robert Burns even paid tribute to the dish, when he wrote Address to a Haggis in 1786.