The Scotsman:
Burns meets the dragon in a Chinese Canadian feast
The Scotsman, international journal for the Scottish diaspora has
published a story about Gung Haggis Fat Choy. Journalist
Christina Harper interviewed myself and bagpiper Joe MacDonald.
Piper Joseph McDonald (inside dragon mask) and Gung Haggis Fat Choy organiser Todd Wong.
Picture: Jaime Griffiths
Burns meets the dragon in a Chinese Canadian feast
NO MATTER where Scots have settled throughout the world, chances are
that as January 25 gets closer many of them will shake out sporrans,
dust down kilts and attend a Burns Supper.
From Australia to
Alabama, thousands of ex-pat Scots will savour haggis, neeps and whisky
while the Bard's immortal words flow through the air. But in Vancouver,
British Columbia, there's an annual event that Burns, to many the
quintessential everyman, would surely be proud.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
is a celebration of Burns Night and Chinese New Year created by fifth
generation Chinese Canadian Todd Wong, or if you’d rather: Toddish
McWong. The event has grown from an intimate merging of the two
cultures at a dinner in 1998, to a cultural must-do filled with song,
dance, poetry and a feast that in 2005 fed 600 people.
As a piper Joseph McDonald has been involved in many traditional
Burns suppers. He likes them, but says that they are not too surprising
in terms of what is going to happen next and what food people will dine
on. “With this the food is different,” says McDonald.
Joseph McDonald on pipes and dhol player Nealamjit Dhillon.
He plays the bagpipes accompanied by an Indian dhol drum and the singer songwriter has been performing at Gung Haggis Fat Choy since
2001. “He[Wong] said, 'I'm having this Gung Haggis Fat Choy. You
would fit in.' It’s all about blending cultures,” says
McDonald. It has become a tradition to have the bagpipes
and the dhol to get the event started and McDonald pipes in the haggis.
“Now
it's quite an affair where the waiters are all lined up with quite a
few haggises,” says McDonald. “It's quite a spectacle.”
Read the rest of the article Burns Meets the Dragon in Chinese Canadian Feast