Gung Haggis Fat Choy in the USA


Here's the information from the Caledonians Website

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!  Huh?!  In 2007 Bill McFadden, President of the Caledonian & St. Andrew's Society, introduced Todd Wong's  trademarked production of "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" to Seattle.  Billed as "A Celebration of Chinese New Year and Robert Burns' Dinner", the laughter-filled evening included haggis, a delicious Chinese dinner, Pipes & Drums (traditional and fusion style), sing-alongs (including "When Asian/Scottish Eyes are Smiling" and "My Haggis/Chow Mein Lies Over the Ocean"), Poems, The Address tae the Haggis (delivered in rap to an enthusiastic and responsive crowd) and Auld Lang Syne sung in both Mandarin Chinese and English.  

For February 21st, 2010 BIll has worked out improvements, and Gung Haggis Fat Choy IV will be the best year!  We will celebrated the 251st Birthday of Robert Burns and Chinese Lunar New Year Year of the Tiger with an 8 Course Chinese Dinner, Haggis, Raffle/Door Prize, and musical entertainment featuring: Emcee "Toddish McWong" and his inimitable "Address tae the Haggis Rap", "Red" McWilliams, Sifu David F. Leong's Belltown Martial Arts,  Kenmore & District Pipe Band, Piper Don Scobie and Asian Youth Orchestra - Warren Chang, Director

     
  Toddish McWong's
2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy IV (Seattle style)
Produced by Bill McFadden

The fourth annual event has been scheduled for
Sunday, February 21st 2010    5-9pm
Ocean City Restaurant
609 S. Weller St.
Seattle, WA

Ticket Price US$35
Reservations required

For tickets and additional information
please contact
Bill McFadden
(206) 364-6025
bill@gunghaggisfatchoy-seattle.com

Please click here to go to the gunghaggisfatchoy-seattle.com web site.

Please click here to view photos in our Gallery from the '07 event in Seattle.

Please click here for a sample of "Toddish McWong's" Haggis Rap!

Please click here for additional information on Todd Wong's annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy held in Vancouver, BC.

"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.
 

The Bar is open at 5:00 and Dinner Start time is 6:00, Buy Your Raffle Tickets, FREE Subscription for Ricepaper Magazine, This dinner is the primary fundraising event for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/ Ricepaper Magazine, Historic Joy Kogawa House Society + Food + Music + Pictures   more »

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 + pictures + more    more »

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..... pictures + descriptions   more »

Last year, Larissa Lai was a guest at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner. She enjoyed the event so much she is coming back... as our featured poet! At a reading event at the Vancouver Public Library, Larissa shared with me that she teaches Robert Burns to her students at University of BC. Wow... Perfect! But Larissa is much more than that... She is an acclaimed poet in her own right, and the author of two novels - When Fox Is A Thousand, and Salt Fish Girl. Both books are in my personal collection. I first met Larissa back in 1994, when I wrote an article for the SFU Student Newspaper, and she was a featured poet for the Go For Broke Festival - the forerunner of Asian Heritage Month..... + MORE   more »

Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Nealamjit Dhillon make up the cultural fusion trio of Birds of Paradox . 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. + PICTURES + MORE   more »

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:   more »

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.... + PICTURES + MORE   more »

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 + PICTURES + MORE   more »

There are 77 pounds of haggis that I have just picked up from Peter Black & Sons at Park Royal South in West Vancouver. + PICTURES + MORE   more »

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 + PICTURES + MORE   more »

Internet Radio blog link to Cultural Connects - Very interesting interview with Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, by Gary Jarvis.Listen to Gary's interview of Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, as he explains the Scottish and Chinese and BC roots of his brain child - a cultural fusion Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.vie...w&friendId=400868504&blogId=526013921   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 »