Haggis sushi for Auld Lang Syne

Jan 28 2010 Tristan Stewart-Robertson

Haggis Sushi Image 2

Scotland and Japan fusion for the Bard

Glasgow cafes are offering punters a fusion of Burns and haikus to create haggis sushi this week.

The haggis, potato and carrot, wrapped in rice and seaweed has been launched for just one week to celebrate our national bard.

Haggis sushi is being offered at iFull at Charing Cross and Tinderbox cafes in Ingram Street and in Princes Square.

Bento Box Ltd owner Joseph Suzuki, 49, who came up with the idea, said: "Almost anything can be a sushi ingredient, not just raw fish. Haggis sushi just looks like normal sushi.

"I tried haggis with mashed potato and mashed carrot because of the colour, rather than swede.

"We thought that haggis and sushi could be a nice match. So we tried that idea and the result was brilliant."

But the merger of the national dishes of Scotland and Japan is not unique to Glasgow.

It can be found as a delicacy in a top restaurant in San Francisco and has been attempted by many a home sushi chef.

Michael Teasdale o fiFull Coffee said: "We were up for giving customers something a bit different for Burns Night and this fits the bill.

"I have tried it and thought it was really nice and interesting. The combination of haggis, potato, carrots and rice actually worked. "We are hoping people will be daring this week and give it a try, and maybe get some discussion going around the idea."

Meanwhile, one of Scotland's best known Burns enthusiasts has praised the National Trust for Scotland's leading role in preserving the legacy of Robert Burns. Glaswegian Eddi Reader is a long-time Burns fan and in 2003 released her first Burns album, Eddi Reader Sings the Songs of Robert Burns, to critical acclaim.

The album spurred a renewed international interest in the Bard and, in 2009, Eddi released The Songs of Robert Burns: Deluxe Edition, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth.

This week, on the Bard's 251st birthday, she agreed to act as the first celebrity "Burns Ambassador" for the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, due to open in Alloway this autumn.

She said: "Scotland needs a fitting legacy for Burns and the Trust's new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum will be a place where generations of children can learn about the man and his work in a fun and interactive way."