We are sick of discrimination and disenfranchisement!

[Ron G.]

Haggis, traditionally eaten on Burns night, is banned in the US

The Scottish Government is considering asking the United States to rethink its ban on haggis imports.

Imports of Scotland's iconic dish were banned by the US in 1989 in the wake of the BSE scare because it contains offal ingredients such as sheep lungs.

Only an offal-free version of haggis is available in the US.

The move would be backed by renowned haggis maker Macsween, which believes the American market could be a very lucrative one.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it "will consider engaging the US government on its haggis export ban, if there is popular support for such a move from within our world famous haggis producers".

Jo Macsween, a co-director of family company Macsween, said she hoped to see the ban overturned.

"The market is massive because there are so many expat Scots there and once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it," she added.

The dish, traditionally served with tatties and neeps on Burns' night, usually contains a sheeps lungs, liver and heart minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt mixed with stock.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7198751.stm

(But we can buy SPAM??? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?)

Address to a Haggis

by Robert Burns

National Bard of Scotland

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!

Aboon them a' yet tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy o'a grace

As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,

Your hurdies like a distant hill,

Your pin was help to mend a mill

In time o'need,

While thro' your pores the dews distil

Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,

An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright,

Like ony ditch;

And then, O what a glorious sight,

Warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:

Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,

Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve

Are bent like drums;

Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,

Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout

Or olio that wad staw a sow,

Or fricassee wad make her spew

Wi' perfect sconner,

Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view

On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,

As feckles as wither'd rash,

His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;

His nieve a nit;

Thro' blody flood or field to dash,

O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,

The trembling earth resounds his tread.

Clap in his walie nieve a blade,

He'll mak it whissle;

An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,

Like taps o' trissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,

And dish them out their bill o' fare,

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware

That jaups in luggies;

But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer

Gie her a haggis!

Edited January 21, 2008 by Ron G.

[GeorgeStGeorge]

A classic "Earthworm Jim" cartoon:

EJ and Peter Puppy are having lunch in an International House of Haggis.

PP: "This isn't bad! I wonder why no one's in here. What is this, anyway?"

EJ: "It's HAGGIS! The heart, lungs and liver of a sheep boiled in its own stomach."

George

[mstar1]

Edited January 21, 2008 by mstar1

[mstar1]

A word from 007

[now I see]

"If it's not Scottish it's crap!"

Definition of "Tatties and Neeps"??-Mashed potatoes and rutabagas combined.