Scots' Delicacy May Actually Be...English

To kilt-wearers' horror, haggis was probably invented down south
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2009 5:27 AM CDT
Scots' Delicacy May Actually Be...English
Haggis has long been thought of as a Scottish delicacy, but a historian found an early reference to the dish in an English cookbook.   (©jbcurio)

Alongside bagpipes, whiskey, and plaid kilts, there's naught so Scottish as haggis, the mash of sheep heart, liver, and lung disgusting to many and a delicacy to some. But recently a Scottish historian discovered the earliest ever reference to haggis—in an English cookbook. The idea that the ultimate Scottish delicacy may in fact be from down south is too much for some, reports the Daily Mail.

The historian found a reference to an English haggis from 1615, but no Scottish recipe appears until 1747. She speculates that after Scotland was absorbed into the United Kingdom, haggis was used as "an identity thing" to differentiate the two countries. But some lovers of sheep innards are unconvinced; one crusty Scot said that if the English claimed haggis, it must have been introduced by "a backpacker on his way south."
(More Scotland stories.)

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