I hope you’re all ready for tonight with your haggis, neeps and tatties and a wee dram 
The haggis is a 3 legged mammal – one of its legs is shorter than the other two, and this leads to the beast running round in circles. Consequently, large groups of haggi can be found at the tops of hills. In days gone by, haggis hunters would climb the hills in the hope of finding a tasty meal. The method of slaughter was rather unkind – the haggis had to be manhandled into a sporran which was then bashed against the nearest drystane dyke. Not pretty.*
On the subject of haggis, I found this text in a letter from the Papers of the Graham Family, Dukes of Montrose (Montrose Muniments) held at National Records of Scotland. It’s correspondence of James, 1st Duke of Montrose, and Mungo Graham of Gothrie.
From Montrose. Henly Park, 15 August 1721
‘Montrose, his family and servants are suffering from food poisoning; the duchess ordered a haggis and I take it for granted that some of the herbs that were put into it have been poisonous since all that eat of it have been ill of the same disease’.
In my humble opinion the best haggis comes from MacSweens and they do a great veggie version. You can order it online, but I see that there are restrictions on importing outside Europe – perhaps you could find a local breeder?
Enjoy Burns Night! Are you having haggis tonight?
* Some of the facts in this paragraph may not be entirely accurate as I am unsure of the original source so can’t check the original document
