Robbie Burns Day goes on in spite of COVID-19

“One of our amazing regulars asked if we were planning on doing anything for Robbie Burns because they wanted Cock-a-leekie soup and Haggis,” said Sutherland. “I said, ‘of course, I can do that for you’. Then she said you need to advertise this and offer a whole menu.”

Sutherland really didn’t think there would be much of a response for a Robbie Burns dinner during the pandemic, but 93 people placed orders for meals. Even though there would be no piper, no singing, dancing, toasts, or other typical activities associated with a traditional event of this type, people were still determined to celebrate, and they wanted all of the traditional foods.

She decided to go with a very traditional meal – the haggis and cock-a-leekie soup, as well as traditional neeps (turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes), roast beef for those who wanted a hearty protein (but might be a bit leery of the haggis), and a tasty dessert of sticky toffee pudding.

“My dad is Scottish, and he made the soup completely traditional with prunes and all,” she said. “I made the haggis myself from recipes that I grew up with while I lived in Scotland. I also ate Sticky Toffee Pudding everywhere I went in Scotland so that is my all-time favorite dessert to make and eat.

“We have lots of locals with Scottish backgrounds and an amazing friend of ours is involved with the Rob Roy Pipe Band. She shared our menu on their Facebook page so we had an amazing response from them because they couldn’t celebrate with a big event like they normally do.”