The sunshine stayed out - and it was warm!!! no rain in sight... and lots of dragon boaters came out to paddle in the sunshine. We had 28 people show up, so we took two dragon boats out. Gayle Gordon led one boat, and I lead the other. Both Stephen Wong and Stephen Mirowski started steering. Ashleigh and Wendy were lead strokes on the Chinchillas. Tzhe and Keng were lead strokes on the Donkeys. Gayle and I also took some turns at lead stroke as well.   more »

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is spreading to California. 2008 marks a suprise appearance in Santa Barbara. ..... I guess it was a clandestine Gung Haggis Fat California event. I hope I can get invited to the next Santa Barbara "Gung Haggis inspired event." I like Santa Barbara. It's nice and sunny. Okay... I haven't been there since 1989, after driving up the coast from Los Angeles after visiting Disneyland. I wonder if they have any dragon boat races in Santa Barbara? Check out this newsletter and report from: http://www.scottishsocietysantabarbara.org/recent.html   more »

Last week the Vancouver Courier interviewed me for a Celtic Fest story about tonight's Battle of the Bards. Photographer Dan Toulgoet met me at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park, which had been erected 80 years ago. It's always interesting to find out how other people perceive Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and what they think about my persona as "Toddish McWong."   more »

The Brunei Times printed a wire story and titled Gung Haggis bridging the ethnic gap written by Deborah Jones of Vancouver for the Associated Press. And we made the Weyak World News in the Arab Emirates Scottish bagpipese usher in Canada's multi-ethnic Chinese New Year    more »

Ever watch the Tim Horton hockey dad commercial featuring a Chinese Canadian grandpa telling his son that he did pay attention? 

When I first spoke with actor Russell  Jung, I asked him "Who was the first Chinese hockey player in the NHL?"

"Larry Kwong," answered Russell.

Read my 2006 story about my the Tim Horton's hockey dad commercial with a comment by actor Russell Jung http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/17/1769127.html

Kwong played in the 1947 NHL season - 11 years before Willie O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL.  Long before Paul Kariya became the first Asian hockey star player.

The Asian North America Timeline Project lists this under 1947:


Last month Tom Hawthorn wrote an incredible story in the Globe and Mail about the Vernon BC, born Larry Kwong.

Check out Tom's story on his blog "One Minute to Make History"
http://www.tomhawthorn.com/?a=37

Then check out his writing buddy Terry Glavin's blog, about Tom's story. 

I sent back a link to Tom, showing that a Feb 7 wire service story by Deborah Jones was printed in the Brunei Times:  'Gung Haggis' bridging the ethnic gap

Small world, isn't it?

Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner was very cool - CRAZY - CHAOTIC but cool.

We arrived in Seattle's Chinatown, to see men in kilts walking towards a common direction.

We saw a large poster on a street corner with the image of a Chinese Lion Dance Mask headed kilt wearing figure.  Beside the words "Direct from Vancouver - Toddish McWong!"

Gung Haggis Fat Choy II
Sunday, February 24: 5-9 p.m.

Ocean City Restaurant Noodle Cafe
609 S. Weller St.
Seattle, WA 98104

The evening opened with 5 Lion Dancers on the dance floor and stage, with drummers up on the stage.  I haven't yet had a lion dance featured at the Vancouver Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, so this was soooo impressive.  18 people altogether

Next, the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra took over the dance floor while I did the MC thing and welcomed people to the event.  They played a few songs, on Chinese dulcimers, Chinese zithers, and then a song on drums. 15 people altogether

Bagpipes were heard as the Northwest Junior Pipe Band came marching in.  Bagpipes blaring and drums banging - in perfect tune and rhythm.  About 16 altogether.

Amazing entertainment from:
+ MC Toddish McWong and Joe McDonald/flute/bagpipes/singing

More later....

This year's Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner has sold out at over 300 people!
Bagpiper Joe McDonald and myself are going down to give the Seattle folks our double powered duet version of "The Haggis Rap."  Apparently everybody loved the rap version of Robbie Burns' immortal poem "Address to a Haggis" that they were asking the organizers if I was going to be back.  Well, I am. And it's going to be even more powerful this year, especially since Joe and I performed it on Robbie Burns Day for CBC Newsworld on national television.


From the 2007 Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner:  Toddish McWong meets Seattle "Gung Haggis" couple Rory Denovan and Becca Fong.  Rory is Scottish-American and Becca is Chinese-American... and they are a lovely couple! - photo courtesy of Becca Fong.

Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy II
SOLD OUT

Ocean City Restaurant Noodle Cafe
609 S. Weller St.
Seattle, WA 98104
Maps & directions

Sunday, February 24: 5-9 p.m.

The Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner is organized by Bill McFadden of the The Caledonian & St. Andrew's Society of Seattle.  Bill has now attended 2 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in Vancouver.  He completely loves it.  This year we introduced him to the Vancouver crowd and they gave him a big ovation.  Read my article about last year's Seattle Gung Haggis dinner here: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2007/2/25/2764365.html
 
The Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner is a fundraiser for the Seattle area Northwest Junior Pipe band who are raising funds in a bid to attend the World Championships in 2008.  Read about their experience at last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Seattle dinner on the NWJPBlog...

It's going to be a crazy night with both the Northwest Junior Pipe Band performing AND the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra.  Last year featured a young Chinese girl with her brother performing on their traditional Chinese instruments.  This year they are bringing the whole orchestra with them.

Lensey Namioka is a Seattle author, whose book I discovered at the Vancouver Public Library.  Half and Half is about a girl growing up with Scottish-Canadian grandparents in Vancouver, and a Chinese-American grandmother in Seattle.  Yup - this girl is Chinese-Scottish-Canadian-American, and she's going through an identity crisis.  I invited Lensey to the Vancouver Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in 2006, and in 2007 she was our featured author.

Featuring:

from Vancouver - Todd Wong & Joe McDonald

From Seattle

Red McWilliams, "America's Celt"

Master David Leong's Martial Arts & Lion Dance School

Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra

Susan Burk

Don Scobie

Ben Rudd

Lensey Namioka

Melody Dance Group

Back in January, Todd Wong was interviewed by Eric Model for "Conversations on the Road."  Model describes his  show as "journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and the forgotten."

"And today most appropriately takes us into the category of offbeat.  And today's journey we go to Vancouver and we are discussing and event called 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy.'"

It's a very interesting 21 minute and 38 second pod cast with a stimulating conversation about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, early Chinese and Scottish pioneers in the late 1800's, racism, cultural traditions, inter-racial marriage, and the Canadian explorer Simon Fraser who was actually born in Vermont.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gung Haggis Fat Choy - A Unique Scottish-Chinese Cultural Celebration

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a cultural event originating from Vancouver, BC. The name Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination wordplay on Scottish and Chinese words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food and Gung Hay Fat Choy/Kung Hei Fat Choi s a traditional Cantonese greeting (in Mandarin it is pronounced Gong Xi Fa Cai) used during Chinese New Year. The event originated to mark the timely coincidence of the Scottish cultural celebration of Robert Burns Day (January 25) with the Chinese New Year, but has come to represent a celebration of combining cultures in untraditional ways.

In Vancouver, the event is characterized by music, poetry, and other performances around the city, culminating in a large banquet and party. This unique event has also inspired both a television performance special titled Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian Games, organized by the Recreation Department at Simon Fraser University.

In this conversation, we speak with event founder and spearhead Todd Wong. He tells us how it got started, and what it has come to represent around Vancouver and far beyond. 

North Seattle Herald-Outlook has written a story about the upcoming 2nd coming of Toddish McWong to Seattle.  Last year we staged a Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner on Chinese New Year Day in Seattle.  It was a benefit for the Pacific North West Junior Pipe Band. 

Check out my blog report from Gung Haggis Seattle 2007

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!
Feb. 24 event to mark Chinese New Year, Scottish Burns Night

 By Elizabeth Mortenson America has imported its fair share of entertaining goods from Canada, including, but not limited to Celine Dion, hockey and Crown Royal whisky.

However, it's possible the strangest thing borrowed from our neighbors lately is Gung Haggis Fat Choy, the Scottish/Chinese celebration being put on by The Caledonian & St. Andrew's Society of Seattle on Feb. 24.

And if you're thinking to yourself, 'That sounds like a bizarre combination,' you're not alone.

"It's weird - it's totally weird," said creator Todd Wong. Started by Wong as a dinner between friends to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the Scots' Burns Night, the event is now a 400-seat extravaganza in Vancouver, B.C., entering its 10th year.

After a decade and repeated exposure to this odd idea through the media, this cross-cultural experiment has gained some acceptance.

A CROSS-CULTURAL CELEBRATION

In 1998, Wong, a Chinese Canadian, was planning a celebratory dinner for the Chinese New Year. Burns Night happened to fall only two days away from the new year, so he merged them. With this unusual but interesting choice, he became "Toddish McWong."

Burns Night is a traditional holiday in Scotland held to honor the poet and national icon Robert Burns, the man who wrote the ubiquitous-on-New-Year's-Eve "Auld Lang Syne." Celebrated every Jan. 25, the night assumed to be his birthday, Scots hold suppers where people eat, honor his life and read poetry.

The festivals are held around the world, but the haggis-dim sum derivation is McWong's particular hybrid.

Everything from the food to the dress is an intermixing of the two cultures - even the name of the festival. During the Chinese New Year people often say "Gung Hei Fat Choy" to each other, which translates roughly from Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) into English as "Congratulations and be prosperous.

"Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and a perennial favorite at Burns Suppers. "It's like a giant hot dog. It's sheep stomach filled with chopped-up liver, kidneys, spices, oatmeal, and then you boil it," described Diana Smith, entertainment director for the St. Andrew's Society. She added that it was like a "meat pudding" - probably one of the nicer things it's been called.

So "Hei" was replaced with "Haggis," and Gung Haggis Fat Choy came into being.

"I think the Scottish people come to eat the Chinese food, and the Chinese people come for the bagpipes," Wong said.

SPREADING THE WORD

The idea of holding a Gung Haggis Fat Choy event in Seattle was Bill McFadden's, president of the local Caledonian Society in 2007.

According to Smith, their Seattle celebration last year had few Chinese people in attendance. Wong estimates there were four Scots to each Chinese person in attendance in Vancouver.

This disparity could be due to the fact that these events are sponsored by Caledonian Societies, whose purpose is to promote Scottish awareness, are subsequently predominately Scottish in membership. However, all are welcome and invited to attend.

"This year we're trying to get the word out; I've contacted the Asian publications, so we're hoping to have more of the Chinese element.... We'll see what happens," Smith said.

At this year's celebration in Seattle, the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra and Northwest Junior Pipe Band will perform for the anticipated 200 to 250 guests (150 people attended last year's event). Wong, himself, will be there to emcee the event. "It's gonna be a blast," he said.

GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY
Sunday, Feb. 24, 5-9 p.m.
Ocean City Restaurant
609 S. Weller St., Chinatown
Tickets $35
Diana Smith, 523-2618

Our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner always great for incredible images and memorable moments.  Joe McDonald and Todd Wong perform the "Haggis Rap", Catherine Barr leads a kilted male chorus in a "Toast to the Lassies", celtic band Blackthorn perfrom on stage...

a) Children's lion head mask
b) Host and creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy - Todd Wong aka "Toddish McWong"
c) Co-host Catherine Barr and Todd auction off bottles of Johnny Walker Red Label scotch
d) All the performers sing O Canada
e) Hot & Sour soup - vegetarian style
f) Ginger crab
g) Blackthorn celtic band
h) Joe McDonald + Jim McWilliams bagpipe the haggis, while Hareesh drums the dohl drum.
i) Hareesh drums for Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan
j) Joe Mcdonald "raps" and slices the haggis.
k) some of the many tasty and savoury dishes including the haggis lettuce wrap.
l) Grace Chin and Jim Wong-Chu read his poem "Recipe for Tea" - a Gung Haggis favorite
m) Ji-Rong Huang and Todd Wong perform "The Horse Race" on erhu and accordion
n) Catherin Barr poses with her kilted male chorus from the "Toast to the Lassies"

Metro News - Rafe Arnott

Metro News Vancouver posts a story Mixing it up with haggis won tons by Andrea Woo, and a picture by Rafe Arnott.

Andrea and Rafe showed up at Floata Restaurant, as I was up to my eyeballs in challenges as we prepared the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for a 5:00 opening.  They were very patient waiting for me to give some direction to our volunteers from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, then change into my kilt, and my red vest with chinese dragons. 

Andre is Chinese... and maybe Rafe is Scottish... 

Rafe took an amazing picture with the Scottish flag in the background, and me holding a small Chinese lion head mask.  And... I am sporting a goatee beard and moustache.  One of the few times I have ever had a goattee/moustache and dared to wear it in public.  I think it makes me look more Scottish d'ya ken?

Gung Haggis Fat Choy made it to the CBC Blog and

Check out:

As well as being the time of year when kilted men address a haggis, it is also getting close to the time of year when many people say, "Gung Hei Fat Choy," addressing the Chinese New Year.

Todd Wong does both. He's a Chinese Canadian whose family has been in B.C. since the 19th century. Some years ago he was asked to help out with a Robbie Burns day celebration, and this is what it led to -- a fine example of cross-cultural Canadianism, with the annual celebration of Chinese New Year's AND Robbie Burns day, called Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

Last night, Vancouver Poet Laureate George McWhirter read an incredible poem especially for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.  It delves into the rich history of Scots and Chinese Canadians.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Event
7pm Vancouver Public Library
Alice Mackay Room

FREE EVENT

Featuring:

Vancouver poet laureate George McWhirter

Governor Generals Award for Poetry winner Fred Wah,

with other contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets.

Todd Wong's accordion

Joe McDonald's bagpipe

Rebecca Blair's celtic harp

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 10th Anniversary dinner is going to sell out at 400 seats!

We have a limited number of seats left available.
Tickets Tonight stopped sales this afternoon, 24 hours before the event.
Many tickets were sold by the table...

If guests want to purchase tickets at the door, or participate in the silent auction, please bring cash or cheque.

Thank you!

What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2008 Dinner

The Arrival

Arrive Early: 

The doors will open after 5:00 pm, if everything goes well... All tables are reserved, and all tables are placed in the order that they were ordered.

If you bought your tickets through Tickets Tonight, come to the reception marked Will Call - Tickets Tonight

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.

If you reserved a table, then come to the reception marked Will Call - Reserved Tables.  We will give the organizer the tickets to distribute... or check the guests names off as they arrive

The Bar is open:

We expect a rush just prior to the posted 5:30pm reception time.  This is the time to go to the bar and get your dram of Johnny Walker Red or your order of Guinness beer. - specially brought in for tonight's dinner.  Diageo is the distributor of these fine spirits, and we are pleased they have become a sponsor for our event.

Johnny Walker Red is a favorite at Chinese New Year Dinners because the colour red is considered good luck in Chinese Culture. Johnny Walker Green is a special blend of four single malt whiskies: Talisker, Linkwood, Cragganmore and Caol Ila.  Diageo is donating some bottles of Johnny Walker to raffle/auction off, plus a special gift basket.  Please support our sponsor by purchasing their products at the bar.

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 advance regular seats 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.

Click here to see some of the prizes

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,

Kogawa House 1944?

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, and puts a dragon boat float each year in the Vancouver St. Patrick's Day Parade. 

Since 2001, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, has been a partner in this remarkable dinner event.  ACWW are the publishers of RicePaper Magazine.

Save 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 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. Now that the newly registered Historic Joy Kogawa House Society is registered, more money is still needed to restore it to the 1942 qualities when Joy and her family were forced to leave it, as well as create an endowment for future programming.

Please support our missions of supporting and developing emerging writers, organizing reading events, creating a literary and historical landmark in Vancouver,  and to spread multiculturalism through dragon boat paddling!

The FOOD

This year haggis dim sum appetizers will again be on a long buffet table - available at 5:30 pm.  This is going to be culinarily exciting.  We have featured deep-fried haggis won ton since 2004. Last year we introduced haggis pork dumplings (su-mei).  Don't worry - there is also vegetarian spring rolls and shrimp dumplings (haw gow).

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 cailles (kay-lees), or gatherings.

If you want to eat, you have to sing for your supper! (which should appear by 6:30 pm).

From then on... a new dish will appear every 10 to 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.

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. 

We will alternate singalongs, poetry reading, musical performance, movie excerpt, mini theatrical reading, along with a 10 course Chinese banquet dinner.

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, aka Toddish McWong will be the host for the evening.

Joe McDonald and his celtic-fusion band Brave Waves is again our "house band." We always delight in having Joe and his bagpipes.  This year Joe and the band will deliver a Canadian music with a multicultural twist.

This year, Joe and Todd think they have perfected their rap version of Burns' immortal poem "Addres to a Haggis" and performed it LIVE on CBC Newsworld on Robbie Burns Day.  Last year they released an MP3 version produced by No Luck Club's Trevor Chan, which aired on CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Canada International and BBC Radio Scotland.

Blackthorn, the celtic music band, is really looking forward to the cultural fusion mix that Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Vocalist/flautist Michelle Carlisle really loved the taste-testing dinner and played a duet of Loch Lomand with host Todd Wong on his accordion, for Shaw TV's The Express with Sukhi Ghuman.

Vancouver Poet Laureate George McWhirter really appreciates the energy that Gung Haggis Fat Choy brings to Vancouver, and we are honoured he is our featured author.  Born in Ireland, his family ancestors travelled back and forth between Scotland and Ireland.  George has written a poem especially for the occasion of our 10th Anniversary.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by film maker Ann Marie Fleming features a cinematic retelling about her great great grandfather magician.  Fleming is a new board member for Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop - a recipient for this increasingly famous fundraiser dinner.



Generations: The Chan Legacy is a CBC documentary - which features Todd Wong and his Gung Haggis Fat Choy creation.  Wong is a 5th generation descendant of Rev. Chan Yu Tan who arrived in Canada in 1896.

Catherine Barr, media columnist is going to introduce a Burns dinner tradition never before presented at a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Watch out for a Toast to the Lassies and Rebuttal, like you've never seen or heard before.  Definitely YouTube worthy.

A sneak preview of The Quickie, a new play by emerging playwright Grace Chin.  Burns so loved the ladies.  But do Asian ladies prefer Chinese guys or White guys?

The Quickie cast:

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 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?"

I hand-pick members of the audience to join us on stage to read a verse.  Past participants have included former federal Multicultural Secretary of State Raymond Chow, Qayqayt (New Westminster) First Nations Chief Rhonda Larrabee, , a descendent of Robert the Bruce, a doctor from White Horse, a UBC student from Scotland, somebody doing a vocal impression of Sean Connery.

Who will it be for 2008?  We leave it up until the evening to decide.

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."

Todd Wong and Joe McDonald will appear today, January 25th
LIVE on CBC Newsworld at:

12:45pm PST.
(not broadcast later for PST- as previously thought)

This means Todd and Joe will be either the Vancouver Public Library South Plaza or in the CBC studio.

Todd is bringing a haggis... and doing an interview.
Joe McDonald will step in and they will do a rap version of Robbie Burns immortal poem "Address to a Haggis" - 60 second short version 2 verses.

The full 3 minute version is dowloadable on MP3
click here
Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy - Robbie Burns Address to a Haggis set to rap music

This year's dinner will be a mix of announced performers, traditional singalongs, surprise guests, documentary movie excerpts + sneak preview of a brand new Asian Canadian theatre play + lots of raffle prizes.

To recognize our 10th anniversary... we are trying 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.  We will alternate singalongs, poetry reading, musical performance, movie excerpt, mini theatrical reading, along with a 10 course Chinese banquet dinner.

Please read below for descriptions of 2008 performers, and planned events.

Media Alert

January 25th, 2008

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!
Chinese-Scots-Canadians deep-fry Robbie Burns and lettuce rap the haggis.

10th Annual Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner features special guests and surprises... like the anticipation of Vancouver councilor Raymond Louie wearing a kilt!  Mc Louie and McWong will start off Robbie Burns Day by a joint appearance on Rock 101's Bro Jake Show.

January 27th, 2008
5:00 reception, 6:00 dinner
Floata Seafood Restaurant
#400 - 180 Keefer St.
Vancouver Chinatown.

"This is shaping up to the best Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner yet!" states bagpiper Joe McDonald, who has piped in the haggis for 8 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners beginning in 2001.  Joe and organizer Todd Wong will be featured on CBC Newsworld's 6pm tv broadcast to the nation on January 25th, when they will perform a short rap version Robbie Burns' immortal poem - Address to a Haggis.  McDonald and his cross-cultural fusion band Brave Waves provide a sonic setting for many of the evening's singalongs.


Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a dinner like no other.  Jam-packed with cross-cultural references to the Scottish and Chinese pioneer history of British Columbia, it feeds its audience a cultural-fusion cuisine of deep-fried haggis wun tun and lettuce wrap in a 10 course Chinese banquet.  It looks forward to the future of Chinese-Scottish-Canadian mixed DNA, and present-time Hapa-Canadian culture of mixed ethnicity.

Vancouver poet Laureate George McWhirter has written a special poem for the event.  He unveiled it at the Tuesday night rehearsal dinner to a very pleased private audience.



Blackthorn, the celtic music band, is really looking forward to the cultural fusion mix that Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Vocalist/flautist Michelle Carlisle really loved the taste-testing dinner and played a duet of Loch Lomand with host Todd Wong on his accordion, for Shaw TV's The Express with Sukhi Ghuman.



















For more information
Call Todd Wong
h: 604-987-7124
c: 778-846-7090
email: gunghaggisfatchoy.com
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com

Here are the latest media appearance and stories about Gung Haggis Fat Choy:

Friday January 25
Bro Jake Show Classic Rock 101 FM
with Vancouver City councilor Raymond Louie - some time between 7:30am and 8:45am

Friday January 25
The Express on SHAW TV - channel 4
Interviews and footage from the taste-testing rehearsal
at 10am, 11am, 11:30am, 2pm, 3pm

January 25
TIME CHANGE
CBC News World 12:45pm PST
CBC TV 26 - Todd Wong interview + Haggis Rap by Todd & Joe McDonald

Georgia Straight - Straight Choices - Jan 24
King of Culture - page 19

Vancouver Sun - January 23
On the burner - Mia Stainsby,
Gung Haggis Fat Choy: This Scottish-Chinese-Canadian tri-brid event celebrates its 10th year

Georgia Straight - Blog  - Jan 16
I will wear a kilt to Robbie Burns dinner, Coun. Raymond McLouie

Raymond Louie will be kilted for Gung Haggis Fat Choy

News Flash...
Raymond McLouie and Toddish McWong will appear on the Bro Jake Show on Rock 101.
January 25th, Robbie Burns Day
somewhere between 7:30 and 8:45am

The rumours are true.  Vancouver city councilor Raymond Louie will be seen in attire other than his dapper suits. Raymond has supported Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in the past, bringing his family to the 2006 dinner featuring children's entertainers Rick Scott and Harry Wong.

‘I will wear a kilt’ to Robbie Burns dinner, Coun. Raymond McLouie promises Gung Haggis Fat Choy organizer Todd Wong