"Bringing back a bit of Scotland for everyone" was how Toddish McWong described the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Throughout the evening, Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, shared stories of his recent trip to Scotland.  He had gone to Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.for the finale weekend of Scotland Homecoming Year, and wrapped up a long year of Scottish celebrations that had started with the 250th Anniversary of the poet Robbie Burns and finished with a closing reception at Scottish Parliament where a life-size picture of him had been included in the photo exhibit This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.  By the end of the evening, Bill Saunders, giver of the Immortal Memory, had received a bow tie in Burns Check brought all the way from Burns Cottage in Alloway, and almost every guest walked home with a lovely Burns 2010 calendar courtesy of Visit Scotland, which had been shipped from Edinburgh specifically for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner.

The evening started off soon after 6pm, with a piping in of the head table and performers by the Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums, led by pipe major Bob Wilkins.  All the guests rose to greet the procession, as host Toddish McWong, introduced the band and the performers to the audience.

The pipers and the performers stood at the front of the stage. It was an amazing array of colours and costumes as wollen tartan kilts and chinese embroided silk clashed and complimented each other.  

Co-host Tricia Collins dressed in a Saltire blue Chinese silk top and wore our Fraser Hunting Tartan mini-kilt from the Gung Haggis dragon boat team. She shared with the audience how her own Irish-Chinese ancestry came to Canada via Guyana (British Honduras), similar to the first governor of Canada, James Douglas, whom she is writing about for her next project.. 

Joy Kogawa read the "Selkirk Address" to bless our food and dinner.  In 2006, Joy was our featured author and she read a new work then.  The Historic Joy Kogawa House Society is one of the non-profit organizations that receives monies raised by the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.

Joe McDonald performs "The Rap to the Haggis" as he "cut ye up wi' ready slight."  Co-host Tricia Collins looks on, as she witnesses this strange ritual for the first time.

Wong leads a chorus of "Gie her a Haggis" and "Gie Vancouver a Haggis", as she rouses the finale to this rowdy and interactive version of the sacred Burns poem.

5 "men" were selected to recite the Burns poem "A Man's a Man For All That" included "The Bearded Lady".  Left to right included a Judge, Parks Commissioner/teacher Stuart Mackinnon, Kilt afficianado and dragon boater Raphael Fang, The Bearded Lady, and a kilted friend from Richmond.  All stout men who gave good readings of the verse, finalizing with Mackinnon singing the last verse.

Throughout the evening, Wong and McDonald led singalongs of "When Asian/Scottish/Chirish Eyes Are Smiling" and "Loch Lomand."  These singalongs encouraged audience participation and took a warm surprise turn when McDonald had men only singing "Ye take the High Road" chorus of Loch Lomand, immediately followed by an outstanding version of the Women only singers.!  The women were clear winners!

Special poet of the evening was Larissa Lai, who read from her new book of poetry Automaton Biographies.  Each year the Gung Haggis dinner features a different poet.  Larissa also briefly explained how she teaches Burns at University of BC, in her role as an Assistant Professor in the English Department.

Special theatrical performance was done by playwright/actor Marcus Youssef accompanied by writer/comedian Charles Demers.  They did a stage reading of Youssef's critically acclaimed play Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil.  The segment poked fun at Multiculturalism and Scottish history and culture, to great effect.

Birds of Paradox is a musical instrumental trio, featuring Lan Tung (erhu), Ron Samworth (electric guitar) and Nealamjit Dhillon.  Their playing was sublime and took turns highlighting each performer.  It was exciting to see the erhu played with soaring passages, trading phrases with the picking and fretwork of the guitar, all accompanied by the polyrhythms of the tabala drums.  Of note, Dhillon had first performed with Joe McDonald at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in 2001 and 2002 as the musical duo Brave Waves.

Highland Dancing was the surprise hit of the evening performed by Aidan and Alex Huang from Kelowna, sons of drummer Dan Huang.  They are only 6 and 9 years old, but they showed poise and control as the young boys are experienced competitors in Highland Dance competitions.  The boys certainly enjoy their Chinese and Scottish heritage.

Bringing the evening to a more serious tone, Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, gave the Immortal Memory.  He recounted Burns life, from a "ploughman's poet" to the "toast of Scottish high society" in Edinburgh.  He described the values and beliefs of the poet, then went on to postulate what Rabbie would be like today as a poet.  Saunders painted a portrait of a young community activist, fighting for social justice and gender equity, wearing a hoody, criticizing the elite, and protesting against the economic and social conditions that promote and cause homelessness.

Raffle tickets were drawn and the top prizes were quickly given out: Vancouver Opera tickets to Nixon in China, The Monkey King, upcoming productions from Firehall Arts Centre, Neworld Theatre and UBC Opera.  Arsenal Pulp Press and Harbour Publishing had donated books such as Larissal Lai's first novel "When Fox is a Thousand" and Charles Demers' "Vancouver Special" as well as Fiona Tin Wei Lam's "Enter the Chrysanthemum."

The Gung Haggis Pipes and Drums, performed again, first weaving their way through the audience, easily filling the large restaurant space with the skirl of the pipes and the beats of the drums.  They winded their way to the stage, and performed 3 numbers.  Todd and Tricia thanked the volunteers, production coordinators and the audience before leading a singalong of Auld Lang Syne with the first verse in Mandarin Chinese.

The evening ended with lots of smiles and compliments.  Here are some of the comments:

THANK YOU to OUR GUESTS
for attending
Gung Haggis Fat Choy

44 tables were filled for almost 440 guests at the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Our performers put on a great show, and people were on their feet for the Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums.

Special thanks to co-host Tricia Collins, poet Larissa Lai, musicians Joe McDonald, Birds of Paradox (Lan Tung, Ron Samworth and Nealamjit Dhillon), playwight Marcus Youssef, author/performer Charles Demers, The Bearded Lady (Naomi Singer), Immortal Address given by Bill Saunders.

Making it happen were stage manager Charlie Cho, sound engineer Carl Schmidt, seating and volunteer coordinators Debbie Poon and Dave Samis, Ricepaper editor Patricia Lim, our wonderful volunteers from Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and Ricepaper Magazine.

More thanks to our prize sponsors... Vancouver Opera, Arsenal Pulp Press, Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts (Four Brothers Entertainment), Firehall Arts Centre, Newworld Theatre, Harbour Publishing + more...

Pictures are being posted up soon.... I will write a review tonight.

SOLD OUT
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner!

Sorry but there are no more tickets available for Gung Haggis Fat Choy
The Firehall Box Office closed off on tickets sales for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner on Friday Night.
We did take late reservations by phone on Saturday.

For 2010, we redesigned the dinner for only 400 guests - instead of 500+ last year.
The Firehall Arts Centre printed out 345 tickets for our guests + we have performers and volunteers - so we have reached our goal of 400 people.  We hope to have a more intimate dinner party for our 400 best friends for the evening!

But you are unsure of your ticket reservation
- please call me - Todd Wong ASAP
Call 778-846-7090,

Because the nature of the dinner is a 10 course sit down banquet - Advanced reservations is always the best.  We have to have many of our culinary specialties prepared ahead of time. 
We don't like to have to turn away people at the door - but we have to if there is nothing to serve them.
 

What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2010 Dinner

The Arrival

Arrive Early: 

The doors will open at 5:00 pm, All tables are reserved, and all seating is placed in the order that they were ordered.

If you bought your tickets through Firehall Arts Centre, come to the reception marked Will Call under the corresponding alphabet letters.

We have placed you at tables in order of your purchase.  Somebody who bought their ticket in December will be at a table closer to the stage then somebody who bought it on the day before the event.  We think this is fair.  If you want to sit close for next year - buy your ticket early.

The Bar is open at 5:00 and Dinner Start time is 6:00

We expect a rush before the posted 6:00pm dinner time. We have asked that the 1st appetizer platter be placed on the table soon after 6pm.  Once this is done, we will start the Piping in of our performers and head table.  We sing O Canada from the stage, and give welcome to our guests.  Warning: We usually ask you to sing for your supper.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets:

Please buy raffle tickets... this is how we generate our fundraising.  We purposely keep our admission costs low to $60 for so that they are affordable and the dinner can be attended by more people.  Children's tickets are subsidized so that we can include them in the audience and be an inclusive family for the evening. We have some great door and raffle prizes lined up.  Lots of books (being the writers we are), gift certificates and theatre tickets + other surprises.

FREE Subscription for Ricepaper Magazine:

Everybody is eligible for a subscription to RicePaper Magazine, (except children). This is our thank you gift to you for attending our dinner. And to add value ($20) to your ticket. Pretty good deal, eh? Rice Paper Magazine is Canada's best journal about Asian Canadian arts and culture, published by Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop,

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for:

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team continues to promote multiculturalism through dragon boat paddling events. Some paddlers wear kilts, and we have been filmed for German, French, and Canadian television documentaries + other

Since 2001, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, has been a partner in this remarkable dinner event. ACWW works actively to give a voice to ermerging writers.  ACWW is the publisher of RicePaper Magazine.

Histoic Joy Kogawa House committee joined our family of recipients in 2006, during the campaign to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition.  The Land Conservancy of BC stepped in to fundraise in 2005 and purchase Kogawa House in 2006 and turn it into a National literary landmark and treasure for all Canadians. In 2009, we celebrated our inaugural Writer-in-Residence program.

The FOOD

This year haggis dim sum appetizers will again be served. Haggis is mixed into the Pork  Siu-mei dumplings  Last year we introduced haggis pork dumplings (su-mei). This year we are adding vegetarian pan-fried turnip cake to represent "Neeps and Tatties."  The secon

Soon after 6:00 pm the dinner formalities begin. People are seated, and the Piping in of the musicians and hosts begins.  We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give a good welcome to our guests, and have the calling of the clans - all the reserved tables and large parties of 10.  This is a tradition at many Scottish ceilidhs (kay-lees), or gatherings.

From then on... a new dish will appear every 15 minutes - quickly followed by one of our co-hosts introducing a poet or musical performer.  Serving 40 tables within 5 minutes, might not work completely, so please be patient.  We will encourage our guests and especially the waiters to be quiet while the performers are on stage. Then for the 5 minute intermissions, everybody can talk and make noise before they have to be quiet for the performers again.

Check this video from last year's Dinner

The Performances

Expect the unexpected:  This year's dinner event is full of surprises. Even I don't know what is going to happen.  The idea is to recreate the spontaneity of the very first dinner for 16 people back in 1998 - but with 400 guests.  For that dinner, each guest was asked to bring a song or a poem to share.  I don't want to give anything away right now as I prefer the evening to unfold with a sense of surprise and wonderment.  But let it be known that we have an incredible array of talent for the evening. 

Todd Wong and Tricia Collins will be the hosts for the evening.

Todd Wong is the creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy. A 5th Generation Chinese Canadian who played Robbie Burns in the Battle of the Bards for 2008 Celtic Fest.

Tricia Collins is a actor, writer and playwright.  Recently, her one woman play Gravity performed to rave reviews in Vancouver, Montreal and Guyana - home of her ancestors.  Tricia happily brings her Irish-Chinese-Guyanese-Canadian heritage to Gung Haggis Fat Choy! 

Joe McDonald We always delight in having Joe and his bagpipes. Joe has been with us since 2001 and even performed in the 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy CBC tv special.  Joe is a multi-instrumentalist and can perform Chinese tunes on his bamboo flute or his bagpipes.

Birds of Paradox is the new group by erhu virtuoso Lan Tung, Ron Samworth on guitar and Nealamjit Dhillon on tabla drums and saxophone.  Lan is also the leader of the group Orchid Ensemble.

Larissa Lai is our featured author, author of her new poetry work Automaton Biographies, Her novels are When Fox is A Thousand and Salt Fish Girl. Larissa also teaches Burns' work at UBC English Department.

Marcus Youssef and Camyar Chai are the authors of Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil.  This has become a favorite for many Vancouverites, as the play pokes fun at Asian Heritage Month, Multiculturalism and Scottish history.  Charles Demers performs with them

Poetry by Robbie Burns and Chinese Canadian poets.  What will it be?  We often like to read "Recipe for Tea" - a poem by Jim Wong-Chu, about the trading of tea from Southern China to Scotland

Our non-traditional reading of the "Address to the Haggis" is always a crowd pleaser.  But this year, audience members might also be reading a different Burns poem to tie their tongues around the gaelic tinged words.  Will it be "A Man's A Man for All That," "To a Mouse," My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose," or maybe even "Tam O-Shanter?"

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30 pm, with the singing of Auld Lang Syne - with a verse in Mandarin Chinese. Then we will socialize further until 10pm.  People will leave with smiles on their faces and say to each other, "Very Canadian,"  "Only in Vancouver could something like this happen," or "I'm telling my friends."

Zig Zag: The Paths of Burns exhibit, Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow

In 1759, a wee bairn of a boy named Robert was born in a cottage in the village of Alloway, in Ayrshire Scotlandm, on January 25th in the last days of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger.  Four days later on January 29th, Chinese New Year of the Rabbit occurred.

250 years later, Scotland celebrated the year of 2009 as the Year of Scotland Homecoming, from the 250th Anniversary of Burns' birth on January 25th, to November 30th St. Andrew's Day.

Kelvingrove Museum, Glasglow

Something special about Robert Burns and his poetry have endeared him to the people of Scotland and around the world.  He is said to be one of the most translated poets into almost every language around the world.  At the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, we sing the first verse of Auld Lang Syne in Mandarin Chinese.

Do you think the Year of the Tiger qualities fit Robert Burns?

Year of the Tiger qualities

The Tiger is said to be lucky vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle or his undying courage. Maybe he’s so brave because he is so lucky.

The Year of the Tiger seems to have been significant in the development of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner events.

On May 11th, Todd Wong was born in 1960, the Year of the Rat. He is a descendant of Rev. Chan Yu Tan, who arrived in Canada in 1896 as a Methodist Lay Preacher.  Todd is from the fifth generation that his family has lived in Vancouver.

Toddish McWong in 1993

The first time I wore a kilt was in 1993.  Chinese New Year was January 23rd, the Year of the Chicken.  Robbie Burns Day was January 25th. I was to wear a kilt and carry a claymore (Scottish sword) in the Simon Fraser University Burns Day ceremonies.  Realizing that the two most important days in Chinese and Scottish culture were only 2 days away from each other, I coined the phrase "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" and called myself "Toddish McWong."  My picture appeared in the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province... and even though I wouldn't wear a kilt or participate in a Burns ceremony again for years... friends would still tease me about wearing the kilt and call me "Toddish McWong."

The next time Chinese New Year came close to January 25th was in 1998.  The Year of the Tiger began on January 28th.  This was the first Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner on Sunday January 25th.  It was held in the livingroom of a North Vancouver townhouse. My friend Gloria and I invited 14 of our friends to help create a multicultural mixing of Chinese and Scottish traditions... and everything in-between and beyond.  I had never before been to a Burns Supper before, and had to go to the Vancouver Public Library to look up directions.  I brought in poems from the 1998 anthology "Many Mouthed Birds" Contemporary writing by Chinese Canadians.  Even back then, the emphasis was on mult-culturalism and inter-culturalism, as we invited friends to play a song or read a poem.

Here are some of the words from that first invitation:
 

2009 saw the closest occurrence of both Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year, as January 25th fell on Chinese New Year's Eve.  It was also the designated year of Homecoming Scotland, a global celebration to invite all Scots and Scottish descendants home to Scotland to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns.  Chinese New Year ended with the Year of the Rat and welcomed the Year of the Ox.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner was one of several Burns Suppers around the world that received one of 250 specially made bottles of 37 year old Famous Grouse blended whisky.  250 for the anniversary of Burns.  37 for the age of Burns when he died.  These bottles were auctioned off for charity.  We chose to donate 50% of money raised to go to the Burns 250 project, of the Scottish National Trust, for which I discovered that they have a Chinese punch bowl that Robert Burns used at the wedding of his brother Gilbert.
Homecoming Year celebrations went on all through 2009.  In October, I received an invitation to Scottish Parliament for the Closing Reception of the  "This is Who We Are: Scots in Canada" exhibition.  I decided I had to go to Scotland.  On November 28th, I finally arrived at Glasgow Airport for my first trip to Scotland, after spending way too many hours in a plane from Vancouver on January 27th, and a 7 hour stopover in Amsterdam.  Exhibit curator Harry McGrath had told me that my picture was "featured rather prominently" - but he didn't tell me if was life-size!

Toddish McWong in 2009

My visit was only one week, but I saw many Burns exhibits at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgove and the Zig Zag: The Paths of Burns at the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow.  I traveled to Ayr and saw the same Robert Burns Statue that is in Vancouver's Stanley Park.  Further down the road, I visited Burns Cottage where Burns was born in the village of Alloway. Burns National Park contains the soon-to-be demolished "Tam O'Shanter Experience" which is being replaced by the Burns Birthplace Museum. A short walk past the Church is Brig O' Doon - the site of the bridge in Burns' famous poem Tam O'Shanter.

Burns Cottage, Alloway Scotland

And now it is 12 years after that first "accidental" Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  The Year of the Tiger is again coming after Burns Birthday.  But much later in 2010, on February 14th. For the City of Vancouver, this is also the Year of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games (Feb 12 - 28).  What is next for the Legacy of Robert Burns?  Well in 2010 Summer, the Robert Burns National Birthplace Museum will open... in the Year of the Tiger.


Burns Birthplace Museum - opening Summer 2010.


Here's a website for 1645-1899
http://pinyin.info/chinese_new_year/cny1645-1899.html

Year of the Tiger
http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Tiger.htm

What's Happening this Sunday at Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner?

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinners always emphasize BC's cultural and historical past and present. While we acknowledge the Scottish and Chinese pioneers that helped to shape this province of British Columbia, we also look to see where we are going and what kind of cultural fusion is happening.  This year's program is amazing.

Larissa Lai is the featured author (When Fox is A Thousand, Salt Fish Girl + new poetry book Automaton Biographies).  Larissa enjoyed last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner when Rita Wong was the featured author.  Larissa teaches Burns poetry at the UBC English Department.

Lan Tung is the featured musician with her trio Birds of Paradox, with guitarist Ron Samworth and multi-instrumentalist  NealamjitDhillon. Nealamjit has performed at Gung Haggis Fat Choy previously with Joe McDonald's band "Brave Waves."
This will be Lan's first time at Gung Haggis Fat Choy, she is a virtuoso on the erhu, and is well known with her group Orchid Ensemble

Marcus Youssef is featured playwright and will perform excerpt from "Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil" which pokes fun at Asian Heritage Month, Multiculturalism and Scottish history and culture.  Marcus is one of the founders of Neworld Theatre with Adrienne Wong and Camyar Chai.  Adrienne is a perennial favorite at Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  She has co-hosted and last year, she presented a preview excerpt from her Neworld theatre play "Mixie and the Half-breeds."  In May 2009, Marcus and Adrienne co-produced and performed in a reading at the Vancouver Public Library for History Joy Kogawa House's inaugural Writer-in-Residence program with Montreal author John Asfour. This is Marcus's first visit to Gung Haggis Fat Choy, he will be joined by Camyar Chai and Charles Demers.

Tricia Collins, is our Chinese-Irish-Guyanese-Canadian co-host. Her recent one-woman play Gravity played to rave reviews in Vancouver, Montreal and Guyana.  Tricia has performed in many theatre plays, and recently her work was featured at the Whistler Film Festival in

Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums - including Dan Huang - Drum Sgt of the Kelowna Pipes & Drums.

Alex and Aidan Huang - Scottish-Chinese-Canadian Highland Dancers age 6 & 9.

William Saunders, president of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, will give the Immortal Memory about our Ploughman's Poet

Joe McDonald, official bagpiper of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, will help lead some singalongs and special tunes

Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, will read poems, lead singalongs and maybe play some accordion

GREAT PRIZES....
Tix for "Monkey King" at Centre for Vancouver for Performing Arts
Tix for Vancouver Opera's "Nixon in China"
Tix for Firehall Arts Centre "Where the Blood Mixes"
Great Book Prizes:
Jim Wong-Chu - Swallowing Clouds
Larissa Lai - Automaton Biographies
Fiona Tinwei Lam -  Enter the Chrysanthemum
Charles Demers - Vancouver Special
Gu Xiong - The Yellow Pear
Ashok Mathur's A Little Distillery in Nowgong
+ Lots More

Larissa Lai, author of When Fox is a Thousand and Salt Fish Girl - comes to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner

Birds of Paradox brings cultural fusion music to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner for 2010

Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Nealamjit Dhillon make up the cultural fusion trio of Birds of Paradox - photo courtesy of Lan Tung

Lan Tung is a fantastic virtuoso erhu player who has recently toured across Europe and was just in Halifax with Symphony Nova Scotia for a January 7th concert of new music.

For the past few years I have been attending her concerts with Orchid Ensemble as they have explore Ghosts, Origami Paper Folding and Chinese-Canadian history and other special projects.  Lan came to Canada fom Taiwan in 1994, she incorporates Chinese music with contemporary expression in her works. Her strong interest in music outside her tradition has been a major drive in her artistic explorations, crossing the lines between classical, contemporary, folk, blues, creative improvisation, and various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Flamenco and Middle Eastern, to expand the horizons of the erhu.

I am really excited that we can present Lan and her collaborative trio Birds of Paradox featuring Ron Samworth and Neelamjit Dhillon in an exploration of composition and improvisation on the combination of electric guitar, erhu, voice, tabla, flutes and saxophone.

Lan is a dynamic force on the Canadian music scene, serving multiple roles as erhu performer, composer, concert producer, and administrator.  She has toured extensively in North America, working with composers, musicians, dancers, visual and media artists of various cultural backgrounds. She performs regularly in a number of ensembles: the JUNO nominated Orchid Ensemble (http://orchidensemble.com) performs Chinese and western contemporary music in a trio of erhu, zheng/Chinese zither, marimba and various percussion instruments.

Lan Tung
Artistic Director
Orchid Ensemble
Chinese Music and Beyond...
http://www.orchidensemble.com
http://myspace.com/orchidensemble
http://youtube.com/TheOrchidEnsemble

Vice President of
Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra
http://www.vi-co.org

Tandava
http://tandava.com
http://myspace.com/tandavamusic

Trio - Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Neelamjit Dhillon
http://myspace.com/samworthtungdhillon

Special Projects
http://myspace.com/triaspora
http://myspace.com/ghostprojectorchid

http://myspace.com/lantung
http://youtube.com/LanTungErhu

Here are some of the media interviews about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner + other stories

Every year I do media interviews.  On Robbie Burns Day, I was woken up at 7am by a request from BBC Radio Scotland.  Yesterday, I did an interview for French CBC television.  Monday was Epoch Times.  Last week the Georgia Straight did a food feature article.  Somewhere in Scotland there is an interview in the Sunday Post.  Even SFU, Seattle and North Shore News have stories about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner this year.  Check out the links:

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is the ultimate fusion feast

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Celebrates Chinese and Scottish Heritage

Happy Rabbie Burns Day!

Here is the the Robert Burns Statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park, yesterday on January 24th.

The statue overlooks Coal Harbour and Vancouver's West End.

The bronze plaque says the statue was erected on August 25th, 1928 - that's almost 82 years ago.

January 25th was a long day for me.  It started off early with a phone call from BBC Radio Scotland.

BBC Radio Scotland woke me up at 7am for a 9:30 am interview.  There is 8 hours time difference.  After I was woken up, it was hard to get back to sleep, so I got onto the computer and listened to BBC Radio Scotland for awhile.  It's always fun to listen to them both on New Year's Eve and Robbie Burns Day.  Today was dedicated to everything Burns.  They called me back around 9: 25 am and I listened to many different aspects of Burns.  It was the program Drive, as many Scots are making their afternoon commute home. 

Just before 10am PST/ 6pm GMT, they interviewed somebody having a Burns Supper in Antarctica. It was a fascinating story, about how cold it is there, and how their haggis comes in from the supply ship. And then they said they were going to Vancouver Canada, where Toddish McWong organizes a Robbie Burns Dinner with Chines food.  I described the first 4 courses as an appetizer dish with haggis dim sum in the form of pork dumplings (su-mei), pan-fried Chinese turnip cake (for the neeps and tatties), served with honey bbq pork and jelly fish.

Second dish is deep-fried haggis and shrimp won ton, which the radio announcer seemed to like.  Dish 3 is vegetarian winter melon soup, followed by dish 4 - traditional haggis served with Chinese lettuce wrap, so people can put some of the mixed vegetable filling with Chinese hoi sin bbq sauce on a lettuce leaf, then spoon in some haggis, and wrap it up like a hamburger to eat it!

Then they asked if I read any of Burns poetry.  This was the cue for me to perform my "rap version" of "Address to the Haggis"
I rapped the first verse:


I told them that we have 500 people punching their fists into the air, yelling "As lang's my arm" and they had to laugh and say... "That's all the time we have now..."

Darn - way too short!

What is on the dinner menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner?

For 2009, I introduced deep-fried haggis wonton to Visit Scotland CEO Phillip Ridell. In return Phillip gave me one of only 250 bottles of 37 year old special edition Famous Grouse whisky that was auctioned off for charity.  A fair trade dontcha' think?  2009 was Homecoming Year Scotland which started with Robbie Burns' 250th Anniversary Birthday, and ended with St. Andrew's Day (November 30).  I was fortunate to be in Edinburgh for the Finale weekends, as my picture was featured in the This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada exhibit at Scottish Parliament.

There are some changes for the dinner menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.  We try to vary the dinner items from year to year, add some new surprises, take out items we are bored with.  This is a draft menu - subject to change.
See if you can spot the new additions - not repeated from last year.

1. Floata Appetizer Platter
a. Haggis Pork dumpling (Shiu Mai)
b. turnip cake (Lo-bak-goh)
c. Honey BBQ Pork
d. Jelly Fish

2. Deep fried haggis won ton
3. Vegetarian Winter Melon Soup
4. Diced Vegetable with Lettuce Wrap served with traditional Haggis
5. Pan Fried Prawns with Spicy Salt (shell on)
6. Budda Feast with Deep Fried Tofu
7. Gold Coin Beef - Beijing capital style
8. Deep Fried Crispy Chicken
9. Diced Vegetable Fried Rice
10. Dessert: Mango or Coconut Pudding

10-course traditional Chinese Dinner featuring:

1)   Cold platter (Fusion of Chinese and Scottish Appetizers – Won Ton; Haggis Siu Mai; and Jelly fish - Vegetarian spring rolls or BBQ pork).
Dim Sum means "pieces of the heart" or "pieces that touch the heart."  Absolutely delicious morsels of delicacy and succulence... and we stuff them with haggis!  It's either very good or very "offal."  But people are always so hungry they eat it up without realizing they are having haggis.  This year, after experimenting with haggis shrimp dumpling (har-gow) we are limiting the haggis stuffing to the pork dumplings. 
"Neeps and tatties" are a tradition serving at Burns dinners, so we are adding pan-fried turnip cakes - a staple at dim sum lunches... just like my great-grandma used to make.
Honey BBQ Pork - what more can you say? 
Now "jelly fish" -  a strange Chinese delicacy... rubbery... weird... textury... the perfect compliment to haggis.  Photographers can try stuffing their haggis with jelly fish, for a memorable portrait.

This year, the appetizer platter will be served promptly at 6pm.  So we encourage every body to arrive between 5 and 5:45pm, so they can order their drinks from the bar, and browse the silent auction items.  

2) Deep-fried Haggis Won Ton (Shanghai style)
We are combining haggis and shrimp in this dish.  When I created the first deep-fried haggis won-ton in 2003, it was a gift to welcome CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and her Sounds Like Canada crew to Vancouver. The gift was all about food and family connections, which included: Pan-fried Turnip cake (Lo-Bak-Goh) that my great-grandmother used to make for me, Apple tarts like those my father would bring home from Chinatown, and for our future generations we created the now legendary deep-fried haggis wonton.

3)   Vegetarian Hot & Sour soup or maybe Winter Melon soup.
We have served Hot & Sour soup every year at the Floata, so we thought we would try something different. At the very first legendary private Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for 16 friends, I cooked up a Winter Melon soup with lemon grass.  It was wonderful!  It's a good hearty soup full of vegetables that I think Rabbie would enjoy.  Very appropriate for Chinese New Year.   Shark Fin soup is a traditional soup for wedding banquets, and was one of my favorite soups as a youth, but due to its environmental impact of Shark fishing - it is not an option. I now support the movement to ban Shark Fin soup!  

4)   Haggis ( piped in with Scottish bagpipes) served with Chinese Lettuce wrap with diced vegetables
We are moving up the Haggis offering this year.  In past years, it was menu item #6 or #7.  The piping in of the haggis is always an important ceremony at any Burns Dinner.  But too much bagpiping can turn a lot of heads in a Chinese restaurant.  It is also very important to read the Burns poem "Address to a Haggis" prior to the serving of haggis.  So please.... do NOT cut into your haggis, until after we have finished reading the poem.  Oh - by the way... We don't usually do the usual traditional reading of the poem.



How many ways can you serve haggis?  Take a spoonful of haggis, spread some Chinese plum sauce on it, add some crunchy noodles and diced vegetables with water chestnuts, and wrap it up in a delicate piece of lettuce. Magnificient!  Imagine if Marco Polo should have brought back lettuce wrap to Italy instead of noodles?  Or if you are vegetarian - leave out the haggis.

5)  Pan-fried spicy salted prawns (Jew-Yim-Hah). 
This is one of my favorite dishes and is served shell on.  Past dinners have found that while people liked the ginger crab, cracking the shell is kind of challenging and messy.  With the spicy salted prawns, you can just chew through the shell for more taste and roughage.  That's what I do!

6)   Buddha feast
This is an important traditional New Year dish - with long rice vermicelli noodles and lots of vegetables and lotus root.  All the good things that every vegetarian loves.   Long noodles are important metaphor in Chinese cooking... The longer the noodles, the longer the life you hope or expect to have.  The Chinese calendar is based on the 12 animals that came when Buddha called.  The first animal to see Buddha was the Rat, I was born in the Year of the Rat.  The Tiger came third after the Ox.

7)   Gold Coin Beef (Beijing Capital style)
It's an Olympic Year.... in Vancouver!  So Gold Coin Beef is perfect word symetry.  And the last Olympics were in Beijing, the capital of China. I've visited Beijing - it's a big city.  I was on a bicycle.  After pedaling to Beijing University, I felt I deserved a medal.  I also ran the Terry Fox Run in Beijing... 10km!  Terry Fox was definitely worthy of a Gold Medal

8)   Crispy skinned chicken with shrimp chips
Another dish that was a childhood favorite.  Healthier than KFC.  And the shrimp chips were always my favorites as a child. 

9)   Vegetarian Young Chow Fried Rice or E-Fu noodles
This is the dish you eat to fill yourself up, if you are still hungry.  We had E-Fu long life noodles in 2008, but a lot of the Scottish people thought that these traditional delicate noodles were too plain.  There wasn't a strong sauce on them, and they weren't like chow mein noodles... because they were E-Fu noodles!  Maybe it's an acquired taste (like haggis).  For 2008, we went back to Young Chow Fried Rice.  It's still a very special and tasty dish, that everybody likes!

10)  Mango or Coconut pudding
This has been our most popular dessert of the years.  Chinese pastries are okay... but mango pudding is better, but we might try coconut pudding this year... more subtle.. It's always a tradition to have something sweet after the meal.  We thought about having Scottish blood pudding... but there is a reason why we have the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in a Chinese restaurant instead of a Scottish restaurant.  I like Chinese food better, and that includes the puddings!  Julie wants tapioca pudding.  I tried the black sesame pudding but it was very strong - Definitely mango or coconut pudding  is better. 

77 pounds of haggis for dim sum and traditional one pounders, to be served with Chinese Lettuce Wrap


Haggis display at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.  The furry figure top left is described as a "wild haggis".  The bottom right figure wrapped in plastic is described as a "domestic haggis".  - photo T. Wong

There are 77 pounds of haggis that I have just picked up from Peter Black & Sons at Park Royal South in West Vancouver.  I will deliver them to Floata Restaurant tonight, enroute to my appearance to "Address the Haggis" at the Burns Supper for the Vancouver & District Labour Council.

Many people outside of Scotland revile the poor wee haggis.  It is the butt of many jokes.  While in Scotland, I visited the Kelvingrove Museum and even found a display of a "wild haggis."  (see the picture above).  There was an accompanying sign that read: 

A "ceremonial haggis" should be "as lang's my arm" in length.  It is also called a "piper's haggis", because it is piped in at dinners on a large serving plate for everyone to see.
Dim Sum can be translated as "pieces of the heart" or "touch the heart" or "pieces of heaven."  These are small portions of food that are succulent and delicious.  But what happens when you add haggis to this little heavenly morsels?  Will haggis, one of the world's most celebrated and reviled foods ascend to the celestial kingdom?

But you cannot give a proper "Address to A Haggis" if it's already cut up into little wee piece.

Traditional Scots still like to see a traditional haggis at a Burns Dinner.  We serve a one pounder of haggis to each table.  It might be not enough for 10 Scots guests - but it is more than enough for 10 non-Scottish diners.  To solve the problem we encourage people to share.

We also serve a 7 pound banquet haggis that is "as lang's my arm" to our head table.  This ensures that it is pretty in pictures... as well as extra leftovers for any of our guests.


Bagpiper Joe McDonald does the honours at the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner - photo VFK.

Watch Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson cut up the haggis at the 2009 Dinner

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2009 8 min - 29 Jan 2009 www.youtube.com

Now imagine layering a little bit of haggis with Chinese plum sauce, adding crispy noodles, finely diced vegetables and Chinese water chestnuts, and serving on a delicate leaf of lettuce.  This is our Gung Haggis lettuce wrap, a cultural and culinalry fusion twist. But people say they have never seen people eat so much haggis, or eat haggis so quickly!

And what does our traditional haggis maker think of all this?

Peter Black describes himself as a haggis rancher.

In 2006, we were paid a high compliment when haggis rancher Peter Black attended the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner with his family!  Peter loved what we had done with his haggis.

Peter Black & Sons, at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver, is BC's largest producer of haggis.  Peter's haggis is a family secret with extra spices.  It is different from a traditional lard recipe - which I have occasionally gagged on.  I describe a Peter Black haggis to be like a nice liver pate, suitable for serving with crackers at your next Super Bowl party.

Be sure to visit Peter Black & Sons at Park Royal South - because there is an annual display of "live wild haggis."  Often the haggis is sleeping, and you have to be very careful not to disturb it - but if you're quiet, you can sneak up on it.


Peter Black & Sons with family at the 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, linking hands to sing Auld Lang Syne to bring a finale to the dinner event - photo Ray Shum

Here are some of the menus from our past dinners:

2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu revealed... to welcome the Year of the Ox

2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu announced: now with Mongolian Beef to celebrate Year of the Rat

2007 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™:Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

2006 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - Celebrating the Year of the Dog

2005 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy� at Floata Restaurant

What is being served at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner to welcome the Year of the Tiger and Rabbie Burns' 151st Birthday?

The haggis is ordered from Peter Black & Sons @ Park Royal.  Next up is the secret taste-testing dinner which is essential to the planning of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  We we want to make sure the food selection is right.  And it is also a wonderful way to introduce the performers to each other, as we combine our talents and creativity to try out new ideas.  I remember many rehearsal taste-test dinners when the performers brought out their musical instruments and started playing.


Deep-fried haggis dumplings + Spring rolls - from our 2005 menu - photo Todd Wong

Each year we re-adjust the menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  We try to find new ways to eat haggis, and new dishes to introduce to people not familiar with Chinese food. 

For 2010, I am adding two of my favorite dishes that haven't been featured before.  People have enjoyed having deep-fried haggis won ton for the past few years, done both Cantonese and Shanhai styles.  We have served up haggis-stuffed pork dumplings (su-mei) and shrimp dumplings (shrimp dumplings).  When I created the first deep-fried haggis won-ton in 2003, it was a gift to welcome CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and her Sounds Like Canada crew to Vancouver. The gift was all about food and family connections, which included: Pan-fried Turnip cake (Lo-Bak-Goh) that my great-grandmother used to make for me, Apple tarts like those my father would bring home from Chinatown, and for our future generations we created the now legendary deep-fried haggis wonton. "Neeps and Tatties" always accompany traditional Burns dinners - so this year the "neeps" will be found in pan fried turnip cakes, which are usually found at dim sum luncheons.

The other new dish will be Pan-fried spicy salted prawns (Jew-Yim-Hah).  It is one of my favorite dishes and is served shell on.  Past dinners have found that while people liked the ginger crab, cracking the shell is kind of challenging and messy.  With the spicy salted prawns, you can just chew through the shell for more taste and roughage.  That's what I do!

More menu items will be discussed in the coming days...  in the mean time, check out our past menus.

2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu revealed... to welcome the Year of the Ox

Internet Radio blog link to Cultural Connects - Very interesting interview with Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, by Gary Jarvis.   more »

2009 featured photos in exhibits at Royal BC Museum and Scottish Parliament. Other highlights included the inaugural writer in residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa House, and Todd Wong's first visit to Scotland for the finale weekend of Homecoming Year. And there was the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns.    more »

Now Available: Tickets for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

- It's the 12 Anniversary of the "little dinner that could."

January 31st, Sunday 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner has created an awareness of cultural fusion that has spanned international media, and been featured at the 2008 BC Canada Pavillion in Bejing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Royal BC Museum celebration exhibit of the 150th Anniversary of the province of BC, and a 2009 touring exhibition in Scotland titled This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.


Gung Haggis Fat Choy creator Todd Wong at the Scottish Parliament exhibition of THIS IS WHO WE ARE: Scots in Canada.  The exhibition featured a life sized photo of Wong and a video interview about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which features the acknowledgement of Chinese and Scottish pioneer history in Canada and contemporary culinary and cultural fusions.

Tickets are now on sale for the 12th Anniversary Dinner.
January 31st, Sunday, 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Doors open 5pm
Dinner starts 6pm

$60 + $5 service charge
or
$600 per table + $20 service charge
prices for students and children available.

Raffle Prizes are featured, as this dinner has traditionally been a fundraiser for: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/Ricepaper Magazine and Historic Joy Kogawa House.

Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926
Visit the Firehall Box Office, 280 E. Cordova Street.
Box Office hours are: 9:30am - 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

For media information
- contact: Todd Wong 778-846-7090
- email: gunghaggis@yahoo.ca

The origins of the dinner started with 16 people in a living room in 1998.  The next year it expanded to 40 people in a restaurant.  Soon it outgrew the first restaurant and expanded to 220 people in 2002.  Moving to a larger restaurant for 2003, and expanding to a 2-night event in 2004, serving over 500 people.  2005 saw the move to North America's largest Chinese restaurant and present home of the dinner where 570 people were accomodated.

A 2004 CBC telelevision performance special, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, was inspired by the dinner, and received two Leo nominations for best music performance, and best director of music performance.  In 2007, a CBC television documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy featured interviews with dinner creator Todd Wong, and film clips of the dinner.

A wide range of musical performers have been featured over the years including: fusion musicians Silk Road Music Ensemble, Dragon River Chinese Music Ensemble, Blackthorn celtic band, The Mad Celts, Chinese erhu master Ji-Rong Huang; opera singers Heather Pawsey, Veera Devi Khare; Jazz singer Leora Cashe.  Featured poets have included: Joy Kogawa, Rita Wong, Fred Wah, George McWhirter, Fiona Tin Wei Lam, Jim Wong-Chu, Sean Gunn and Tommy Tao.  The past 3 years have also featured sneak previews of Asian Canadian plays including: Mixie and the Half-Breeds, The Quickie, and Twisting Fortunes.

Todd Wong visits Scotland for Homecoming Year, the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

For the 2010 dinner, creator Todd Wong has just returned from Scotland after visiting the birthplace of Scotland poet Robert Burns, and researching the displays of Burns for Homecoming Scotland, and museum exhibits on Scottish history and emmigration to Canada.  Wong is active in Chinese Canadian activities and visited Bejing and Xian in 1993.  He hopes to combine a merger of Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian history and culture in the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Another extravaganza of culinary and cultural fusion are expected for the 2010 dinner.  Details will be released each week leading up to the event.  Special guest speakers, media hosts, poets and musicians are confirmed or being confirmed.  The 2010 dinner will feature old traditions and new surprises, something borrowed and something brewed - especially created for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner.

Tell your friends, and put a table of 10 together to enjoy the singalongs!
or come as a single or a double, and meet 8 brand new best friends for the evening at your table!
It's the most fun and intimate dinner for 500 you will ever attend!

A New Perspective on the Scottish Diaspora Source: www.arts.gla.ac.uk Dr. Leith Davis of SFU Centre of Scottish Studies, writes that "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" bucks the trend of "Scottish Discursive Unconscious." She writes: "In his contribution to the recent volume on Transatlantic Scots, Colin McArthur comments on what he calls the "Scottish Discursive Unconscious," a restricted range of "images, tones, rhetorical tropes, and ideological tendencies, often within utterances promulgated decades (sometimes even a century or more) apart"... "There are indeed traces of the Scottish Discursive Unconscious at work in Vancouver.... "Gung Haggis Fat Choy takes many of the features of traditional Burns nights and gives them a non-traditional twist...The "Address to the Haggis" morphs into the "Rap to the Haggis," featuring Joe MacDonald and Todd Wong with a synthesized beat maker in the background."   more »

This picture was created while Todd Wong was involved with the local CBC television performance special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy", based on the concepts of his annual Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner. This picture was reproduced in the Vancouver Sun today uncredited... even though it was first used by the Vancouver Sun, Dec 21, 2004, in the Mia Stainsby article "Have a taste of 2004". Recently, Jason Kenney waded into the discussion about Canadian identity, and immigration language classes, when he talked with editors at the Calgary Herald: New Canadians, says Kenney, "have a duty to integrate." Further, he says, "We don't need the state to promote diversity. It is a natural part of our civil society."    more »

Todd Wong and Joe McDonald went down to Seattle on February 15th, to take their manic Gung Haggis Rap south of the Canadian border for an exciting Seattle program of Chinese lion dances, Scottish bagpipes, Chinese dancers, Highland dancers, and the Asian Youth Orchesta. It was 5pm at Ocean City Restaurant in Seattle's International District, the day after Valentine's Day. Where were you? Todd Wong, Joe McDonald and Deb Martin, were still driving to Seattle after a 2 hour delay at the US Border. They arrived about 6pm, as the Kenmore & District Pipe Band has just followed David Leong's Bellwon Martial Arts Lion dancers.   more »