The Scotsman:

Burns meets the dragon in a Chinese Canadian feast

Piper Joseph McDonald (inside dragon mask) and Gung Haggis Fat Choy organiser Todd Wong. Picture: Jaime Griffiths

Burns meets the dragon in a Chinese Canadian feast

NO MATTER where Scots have settled throughout the world, chances are that as January 25 gets closer many of them will shake out sporrans, dust down kilts and attend a Burns Supper.

From Australia to Alabama, thousands of ex-pat Scots will savour haggis, neeps and whisky while the Bard's immortal words flow through the air. But in Vancouver, British Columbia, there's an annual event that Burns, to many the quintessential everyman, would surely be proud.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a celebration of Burns Night and Chinese New Year created by fifth generation Chinese Canadian Todd Wong, or if you’d rather: Toddish McWong. The event has grown from an intimate merging of the two cultures at a dinner in 1998, to a cultural must-do filled with song, dance, poetry and a feast that in 2005 fed 600 people.

As a piper Joseph McDonald has been involved in many traditional Burns suppers. He likes them, but says that they are not too surprising in terms of what is going to happen next and what food people will dine on. "With this the food is different," says McDonald.

Joseph McDonald on pipes and dhol player Nealamjit Dhillon.

He plays the bagpipes accompanied by an Indian dhol drum and the singer songwriter has been performing at Gung Haggis Fat Choy since 2001. "He[Wong] said, 'I'm having this Gung Haggis Fat Choy. You would fit in.' It’s all about blending cultures," says McDonald.   It has become a tradition to have the bagpipes and the dhol to get the event started and McDonald pipes in the haggis.

"Now it's quite an affair where the waiters are all lined up with quite a few haggises," says McDonald. "It's quite a spectacle."

Read the rest of the article Burns Meets the Dragon in Chinese Canadian Feast