Friday, January 25, 2013

Burns Day: A Time to Celebrate Scottish Food Traditions in North Carolina

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.]

Where in North Carolina is Scottish food celebrated, and when can you find authentic Scottish food in our state? Travel no farther than to the multi-county Sandhills where many residents still celebrate Scottish heritage, particularly today – known to many as Burns Day in honor of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns on this day in 1759.

Haggis is ceremoniously presented
for dinner as a poem by
Scottish poet Robert Burns is read.
As described in Transatlantic Scots, a recent study edited by Celeste Ray, the “exodus of Scots to America” still shapes the identity of many in our state, particularly in Scotland County, home of the “Fightin’ Scots,” and other locales with Scottish ancestry where foodways constitute a significant part of this identity.