Haggis invented 'by the English' not the Scots: reports

Historian Catherine Brown said she has discovered references to the dish in a recipe book dated 1616 and titled The English Hus-Wife.

The book, by Gervase Markham, was published at least 171 years before Scotland's national bard Robert Burns penned his poem, Address to the Haggis, which made the dish famous, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The first mention Brown could find of Scottish haggis was in 1747, indicating that the dish originated south of Scotland and was later copied from English books, the reports said.

"It was originally an English dish. In 1615, Gervase Markham says that it is very popular among all people in England," she said.

"By the middle of the 18th century another English cookery writer, Hannah Glasse, has a recipe that she calls Scotch haggis, the haggis that we know today."

The claim by Brown, whose findings feature in a TV documentary to be screened this week on STV in Scotland, is sure to irritate many Scots, given their traditional rivalry with England and affection for the dish.

Haggis, sheep's heart and lungs chopped up with spices and oatmeal, stuffed into a sheep's stomach and boiled, is often served with a glass of Scotch whisky.

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