Haggis Completes Scottish Celebration

VisitScotland, the national tourism body, which organised the event, was unable to export haggis to the United States of America due to restrictions on importing fresh products.

Braehead Foods stepped in and managed to source haggis in Massachusetts, for the launch of the US$0.75m dollar campaign by VisitScotland and FlyGlobespan to promote the Scottish airline's new direct flight from Glasgow.

Alistair Maclean, of Braehead Foods, said: "We got a desperate call from VisitScotland trying to find haggis in America for this event. We have a strong US client base, to whom we export game and other Scottish produce, and so we had good connections. Burns Rocks is a major event and excellent promotion for Scotland so we were delighted to be able to help out".

Braehead Foods, which supplies some of the UK's top chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Andrew Fairlie, and who races every year to get the first grouse to the top tables in New York, sourced the haggis to form part of a traditional Burns' Supper to entertain over 100 leading US media and travel experts, as well as the first secretary for Scotland and the British consul general, who attended the event.

Fiona Stewart, at VisitScotland, said: "Braehead Foods were complete stars. We couldn't have done it without them. We encountered unexpected hurdles but the Americans love their Burns' suppers so it was imperative we got hold of the main ingredient, and they didn't let us down."

The event was promoting Scotland as a destination as well as the new direct flights between Glasgow and Boston. Joyce Falconer, who plays Roisin in the BBC soap River City, was the star of the Burns' Night event. As well as her famous TV role, Joyce Falconer is one of the world's leading Burns' exponents, renowned for her contemporary poetry and song in the spirit of Robert Burns which she has performed all over the world.

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