the vegetarian butcher

TO A HEARTLESS HAGGIS...

'Pluck' wrapped in sheep stomach lining?

Surely haggis can not be for dining

Please take it away 

And give me the hay

It helps make my wool come out shining.

Recently I learned there is actually a sport called "haggis hurling" which seems to merely entail throwing a haggis as far as possible.   It is even included in the Guinness Book of World Records!  Had I not read the entire description, I would have assumed it was a bizarre digestive competition after consuming this dish and learning of its ingredients. Oh those Scots. 

Even before I gave up eating meat the very idea of haggis actually turned my stomach. (There is probably some irony in that.)  And so I was still reluctant the first time Chef suggested it for New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) dinner, a traditional one for him and a vegetarian haggis for myself; served with the customary "neeps and tatties" (mashed turnip and potato). But I needn't have feared. 

Though I still couldn't suffer looking at his plate with steaming innards bursting from the casing, the aroma of my own was enticing.  A delectably rich mixture of beans, lentils, vegetables, oatmeal, herbs and spices, it was superb! Both our haggises (or is it haggii?) were made by Macsween, the 'Guardians of Scotland's National Dish' and can be found at Waitrose every year from at least the early Christmas season until around now, on Burns night.

Many traditionalists may argue a veggie adaptation isn't justly called haggis and I leave this for another discussion of the 'faux meat' category.  However "haggis" or not, this is exactly the kind of dish that fills me with faith that vegetarians can still enjoy delicious hearty fare.  Macsween veggie haggis may be a difficult thing to match, but with many recipes to try, it is going to the top of my list of Vegetarian Butcher dishes I want to create. 

And so this evening, January 25th, as many gather to dine on haggis, celebrating the life and works of poet Robert Burns, I shall think of his ode, 'To a Haggis' and hope that my vegetarian version will inspire such poetry.