OK, this is interesting: Chicago may soon be home to the first haggis factory in the US:
“There are lots of Scots living in the States, and Scottish food is becoming increasingly popular, so I think the market is definitely big enough to make haggis a success in the U.S.,” Ken Stahly, owner of Stahly Quality Foods told the Evening Telegraph and Post in Scotland. “Chicago is an ideal base, because its geographical location is an ideal gateway to the U.S. and Canadian marketplace.”
Not to mention our extensive set of folkways that involve eating various and sundry pieces of meat and offal ground into bit and stuffed into organs, yum. Actually, I love bratwurst, don’t get me wrong, but … even on Burns Day and even in Scotland I can’t bring myself to eat haggis. I’ll stick with Lagavulin, thank you very much.
Interestingly, the company says that they will market a vegetarian haggis in the US market (!).
This is excellent news as the US government prohibits the import of haggis. This has allowed the Canadians to rediscover smuggling techniques last used during Prohibition.
The best producers of Haggis are McSweens of Edinburgh, who also market a delicious vegetarian alternative…
But, for those of you who simply can’t cope without some shortbread to go with your Lagavulin, try these folks: http://www.scottishfoodoverseas.com/
Is Haggis hunting allowed in Chicago?
It is important to distinguish between factory – or farmed – Haggis, and the real thing. The real thing is now very rare; so rare in fact that Scotland’s leading newspaper runs a competition for its readers to spot one of these rare beasts. http://www.haggishunt.com/
Andrew Carnegie tried to introduce a captured pair of haggii to the Pittsburgh Zoo – in exchange for the pair of grey squirrels that he sent to Scotland. Unfortunately the haggii did not flourish in Pensylavania, unlike the squirrels which escaped and bred – like squirrels. Their descendants’ voracious feeding and breeding habits have caused a dramatic decline in the population of both the British red squirrel, and the haggis.