HAGGIS
‘. [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR, —I see that a Turk who visited the Display of Scottish Foodstuffs now being given at British Industries House in London claimed that the haggis came from hii country. All Scots will be. glad to learn that so terrible a heresy has been promptly quashed.
But while haggis is native to Scotland in origin and material, I should like to point out that, during my wanderings in Europe, I have found it honoured and sung a long way from home. Once I was dining in a beer garden in Remshied, Germany, when to my surprise a German family sitting nearby was served with haggis. There was no doubt of it ; there was the familiar paunch stuffed with its famous mixture of liver, onions, oatmeal and spices. A group of students, on seeing the dish, broke into an impromptu chorus of praise. Quite plainly its virtues were no novelty at Herr Lembke's schottische menage.
The haggis, since its introduction to Paris by a Scottish society fifty years ago, has been served in many leading hotels there. I have helped to pipe it in and, such honour is; paid it, that the Chef and Maitre d'hôtel frequently take- their place in the solemn procession.
I .remember a St. Andrew's night in Warsaw when the haggis was such a success that a trans-European 'phone message was sent for a further supply. That night I was awakened by the chef who begged of me to give him the recipe. Had I been foolish enough to attempt it, Warsaw would now be denied the rich flavour of the real native.
In Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, exiled Scots have introduced the haggis to the town, but as far away as Budapest at an ambassadorial banquet I have piped in the haggis and seen foreign statesmen and diplomats rise in deference to the gastronomic symbol of Scotland.
Incidentally, a district in Edinburgh where two well-known haggis factories stand is known as Haggiston.—Yours faithfully, J. M. MACDONALD MURRAY 52 Priory Road, S.W. 8. (Pipe-Major).
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