The Current - "Make Haggis Legal Again"

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

For the first time in 28 years Scotland is headed to the World Cup. Now a butcher in the small village of Dunning, Scotland is trying to convince the American government to lift a decades long ban on traditional haggis so fans can celebrate with the country's national dish.

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. This, right now, is a very good time to be a Scottish soccer fan. There's McLean. He's going to shoot. Absolutely astonishing, indeed, for the first time in 28 years, Scotland is headed to the World Cup, and while it is certainly a time to celebrate Scottish fans making the trek across the pond, will have to do that without one of their most iconic meals.

This isn't just tradition being ignored. It's regulation gone mad. But Simon Howie are offering the land of opportunity, a real opportunity. They're leading the charge to make Hagas legal again. So come on, Scotland, get signing, get sharing. Let's make Haggis legal again. Make Haggis legal again. Whether you love it or perhaps are repulsed by it,

the fully authentic version of the quintessentially Scottish dish is actually technically illegal in both the US and Canada. Simon Howie is a butcher, founder of Simon Howie Foods, and is hoping to get that changed in time for the World Cup. He's in Dunning, Scotland. Simon, hello. Hello, Matt. How are you? Well, I'm well.

For people who may not have tasted this dish before, can you just very briefly describe what Haggis is? Yeah, it's a super nutritious dish. It's full of meat. It's got cereal, seasoning, and very tasty. It looks like ground beef, and it's when it's sitting on your plate, it looks like what we call minorses. or you call ground beef in North America. And so why would such a thing, as delicious as it may be, because you might be kind of not telling the full story,

why would such a thing be banned in the United States and Canada? Yeah, because in the early 70s, someone in the wisdom in the US and Canada decided that the ingredients of the product were banned from coming in. So inside the meat products that make up, I guess, are a shoulder meat, the shoulder of the lamb and also beef, beef fat, but also it has heart, liver and lungs in it as well. So it's not for everyone, but seriously, it's a very, very nice dish

and eaten in big volumes in the UK. And a lot of people from North America who come to Scotland really enjoy Haggis as well. I have enjoyed Haggis, and I had no idea that it was illegal. Have I been breaking the law this whole time? No, it depends where you were eating it. There may be products imported to Canada, and the US, which don't have those cuts of meat in it. So it won't really taste like a proper haggis,

but could be legal. So what we're really saying is, look, come on, people in the Western world are all eating haggis except for Canada and the US. So let's make haggis legal again. It's a really nice time in Scotland. Another, as you said, quintessential thing is the Scottish football team,

which is, you know, we're a big, big supporter of our national team, as all countries are. It's a really good opportunity to have a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek go at Mr. Trump. You know, you couldn't have a better president to have a bit of fun with. He's 50% Scottish himself. His mother was from the island of Stornoway, in, sorry, the town of Stornoway in Lewis, I believe, on the west coast of Scotland. and so there's probably been no better time for them to say, come on, this is silly, let's get this reversed. Is there a way to get around this? I mean, if you don't have sheep lung in haggis, is it really haggis then?

No, I don't think it is. No, it wouldn't be. It's not the real thing. So we think that's ridiculous because we're all eating it and we're all fine. And there'd be lots of other things in the US and Canada that are broadly similar. So why not haggis? You've said this is regulation gone mad. Yeah, I think it is.

I mean, to be fair, at the time, someone decided that there was some kind of risk of eating lungs, what it was at the time. I can't tell you, I was four years old at the time. So it's not something I can do the answer, but it just hasn't been on the agenda. You'll notice that this year, when the King went to visit the US,

he did a good job in having them reverse tariffs on Scotch whiskey. Our own First Minister, John Swinney, did a good job on that as well. And all of a sudden, Scotch Whiskey is moving back and forward between the country now without any tariffs. So that's good. And we could see something along that line with the Haggis. We'd be delighted. There are 25 million people of Scottish extraction in the US. So we think that many of them would enjoy a haggis.

Make Haggis legal again. I mean, MHLA. It doesn't roll off the time. come like MAGA, but you could put it on a hat, right? Yeah, we have done. Yeah, so we've got hats and scarfs and flags and all kinds of things to give to the supporters as they go over. As I said, come on, we're having a bit of fun and enjoying the opportunity to shout about

it. It gives profile to our business and for the product, and you just never know. Maybe get it on the plate of Donald Trump, who knows? He likes to eat all sorts of things, right? He does. He does like to eat all sorts of things. He likes a burger. So this is akin to a burger in the way.

What is it like in Scotland? The Tartan Army will be, it's one of the great supporting nations, right? And Scottish fans have been waiting for this. You said for 28 years, the fans are wild wherever they go. What is it like in the week and a bit before the World Cup? There's a lot of anticipation. I think that we're every bit passionate as the great footballing nations,

as the Brazils or any of these other countries that absolutely love soccer. and we are fired up for this. I'm old enough to remember when Scotland got into every World Cup, 1972, 76, these famous, famous escapades that didn't always go very well. And on many occasions, Scotland accounted themselves extremely well. Some of the best players in the UK were Scottish. Do you think you have the...

Is there the possibility of getting this dish on the menu by the time the World Cup wraps up, maybe not by the time it starts, but the tournament goes on for many weeks. There's a possibility. There's a possibility. Let's see what happens, and we'll be banging the door down, so fingers crossed. Simon, good to talk to you as always. My stomach is rumbling.

No, I don't know if that's... You too, man. Simon Howey's the founder of Simon Howie Foods. It includes a couple of butcher shops. He is pushing to make Hagus legal again in North America, United States and Canada. He was in Dunning, Scotland. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC

listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.