Taste of Life: No Burns Supper complete without Scotch whiskey and haggis
Haggis, now considered the “national dish” of Scotland, became the centrepiece of the Burns Night Supper
Good luck to you and your honest, plump face,
Great chieftain of the sausage race!
Above them all you take your place,
Stomach, tripe, or intestines:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.
Robert Burns most probably wrote the famous poem “Address to a Haggis” in 1786 for a dinner at the house of his merchant friend Andrew Bruce. Burns, widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, whose well-known works included “Auld Lang Syne”, “Scots Wha Hae”, “A Man’s a Man for A’ That”, and “To a Mouse” is considered a pioneer of the Romantic Movement, and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world.
During Burns’ times, haggis was an item of luxury, which makes it possible that his ‘Address” was ironic in its praise for the dish, and given his political beliefs, it is likely that he was pointing the finger at those who revered it. But haggis, now considered the “national dish” of Scotland became the centrepiece of the Burns Night Supper.
The Burns Night Supper is an annual celebration of the life and works of Robert Burns in Scotland and elsewhere in many countries, on January 25, the poet’s birthday, in the form of a convivial dinner with specific ritual traditions. No similar celebration with particular rituals dedicated to a literary figure on a given annual date exists anywhere in the world.
The first Burns Night supper was held in 1801 by Rev Hamilton Paul in Burns Cottage in Alloway. He invited some of Burns’ friends to mark the fifth anniversary of his death. The night was so successful that the friends decided to congregate again, only this time in honour of their friend’s birthday. They started celebrating the supper with haggis and dram. The suppers incorporated Burns’ most performative verse featuring the haggis to capture the spirit of his oeuvre.
The key ingredient of haggis was the sheep’s pluck (the heart, liver, and lungs) which was boiled together with the windpipe hanging over the pan to drain the impurities. After this, half the liver was grated and the rest of the pluck was minced up together. The stomach of a dead sheep, soaked overnight in water and turned inside out in the morning was stuffed to the brim with a mixture of onion, toasted oatmeal, pepper, nutmeg, gravy, beef suet, and the minced pluck. Once packed, the stomach was sewn up, pricked with a fork and boiled for five hours until a large grey sausage was left. It was traditionally served with “neeps and tatties” (mashed turnip and potatoes) and a wee dram (a glass of Scotch whiskey).
Food and sharing a meal were at the centre of these theatrical rituals. At the supper, guests were called to the table and the host offered an opening grace, usually the “Selkirk Grace”, one of Burns’ poems. The supper began with the “Piping of the Haggis” – the haggis was brought to the table on a large silver plate following a bagpiper. The guest of honour stepped up for the “Address to a Haggis”, reciting Burns’ famous poem. Whiskey was offered to the chef, guest of honour, and the host. The guest cut into the haggis with a ceremonial knife or the Scottish dirk. When the meal was cleared away, a singalong commenced with a Burns song. The host or a guest then rendered the Immortal Memory Address, a speech that elucidated upon the bard’s life and achievements.
Till the early twentieth century, the Burns’ supper was exclusively a male domain. Later, women first joined as spectators, and then at the tables. A new practice was included where a laddie (a male guest) poked fun at the lassies and was reciprocated by them. The supper was brought to a close by one of Burns’ great poems. The dishes were cleared away and the Scottish country dancing, the ceilidh, began. The evening ended with everyone singing together Burns’ hymn to friendship, “Auld Lang Syne”.
Burns had become a symbol of Scotland by the mid-nineteenth century, and Burns Supper was a performance to articulate, affirm, and assert Scottishness. Initially limited to Scotland, it was celebrated in several countries, including India, by the early nineteenth century. Opportunities for careers for Scots in the British Empire had begun to grow in the mid-eighteenth century, in the colonial civil service, the army, and commerce. Missionary careers became an exciting prospect in the early nineteenth century.
The Scottish diaspora in India was huge. The activity and success of the East India Company lured young, aspirational Scots from all walks of life to the subcontinent. Well-born and well-educated Scots had less access to the top jobs and careers at home than similar Englishmen, and their relative poverty also motivated them. Scots had proved themselves to be good administrators, and many, like John Malcolm, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Lord Dalhousie, held the post of governor-general. Many graduates from Edinburgh University, especially in medicine and botany, found success in India. Scots worked in India as merchants, brokers, bankers, architects, and teachers, and served in the army. They used the power of patronage on other Scots’ behalf, providing more jobs for their compatriots in the colonial administration.
At Poona, a Commemoration Dinner was held in honour of Burns in November 1818. James Douglas wrote in his ‘Book of Bombay” – “I should like to have seen Elphinstone on that occasion rise to propose ‘The immortal memory of Burns’ and hear him add words, ‘Success to his offspring’, for a son of Burns was there and sung one of his father’s blithest lays.” This son of Burns, mentioned by Douglas, was James. Malcolm, then the political and military in-charge of Central India, had first met him that same year, describing him as a “fine young man, we had a good evening”. He made him sing his father’s songs for his supper, “which quite delighted” him.
Burns Night Suppers were celebrated with much enthusiasm in Bombay and Calcutta. In February 1868, the “Poona Advocate” reported that the “annual tradition” of the Burns Night Supper continued in the city. MH Andrews, a civil servant, hosted the party at his bungalow in Wanowrie. Diners were served the traditional Scottish soup cock-a-leekie to start with. This soup had its roots in the culinary tradition of meat and fruit pottages. At the Burns Night Supper organised by the 9th Highlanders Royal Scots in Poona in 1899, Scotch broth was served instead of the soup.
Freemasonry had a great influence on Burns’ life and work. One-line reports in “The Freemason and Masonic Illustrated” over the years suggest that suppers were held at the Freemason Halls in Kirkee and Cantonment.
The Scottish Temperance League had a branch in Poona. Called the “Poona Association for the Promotion of Temperance on Christian Principles”, it appealed every year in the 1880s to the Scots in Poona to include non-alcoholic drinks at the supper instead of Scotch whiskey, rum, and gin.
But no Burns Supper was complete without Scotch whiskey and haggis, and as such food was an indispensable part of performing the Scottish nation. It became a symbol of Scottishness. The dishes facilitated a culinary journey home and an affirmation of the past. They helped foster a sense of solidarity when the Scottish migrants were trying to establish themselves in the new world.
Food forms an integral part of performing the nation by being part and parcel of rituals. Burns Night Supper is a great testament to this.
Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com