Save the haggis, och aye!

Via Roberta X we learn that climate change is threatening the future of that famous food, the haggis.

A vital ingredient to make the traditional Scottish dish is becoming increasingly hard to find: sheep lung. Many sheep have been infected with Lung Worm, which does not affect the rest of the sheep’s body, [but] does render the lungs inedible.

Haggis (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

“Lung worm has been at a very low level and did not cause serious problems in sheep but with the changing climate and availability of the parasite it is becoming a problem,” said Sandy Clark, a veterinarian at the Scottish Agricultural College in Thurso.

But haggis fans need not worry. Scottish butchers are sourcing their sheep lungs from Irish farms instead, where Lung Worm has not been a problem.

There's more at the link.

Nae mair Haggis? Och, t' bluidy Sassenachs an' theer wurrms bid fair tae ruin oor great Scots tradition!

Ahem.

(Peter slaps himself on the cheek, stops channeling long-distant Scots ancestors, reverts to reality.)

Where was I? Oh, yes.

There is, of course, the question whether Irish sheep lungs can possibly substitute for the genuine Highland article. After all, the cheeky Irish still insist that whisky is their invention! Next thing you know, they'll claim that Robert Burns was channeling Saint Patrick when he wrote his famous 'Address To A Haggis'!



Peter