The first “Alt-Burns” supper fundraiser was held at Shepherd’s Pub on Jan. 24 with all proceeds from the event donated to the Centre Wellington Community Foundation (CWCF).
The event was a departure from conventional Burns Night suppers in that four local chefs were encouraged to re-imagine haggis, which resulted in an extraordinary array of creative and delicious dishes.
Alt-Burns co-organizers, Athol Gow of Elora and Jason Thompson from Fergus started the evening with a welcome and brief introduction to the night’s events, followed by a description of the work done by the CWCF.
The traditional “address to the haggis” was given by local Elora poet and composer, Peter Skoggard.
The first haggis was created by Derek Vella, a Red Seal Chef and product developer for Loblaws.
Named the “Canadian Foraged Haggis”, it consisted of venison and rye grain in caul fat served on a Scotch pine infused shortbread crumble with cinnamon cap mushrooms.
This was followed by a curried goat haggis prepared by Matt Burn, owner/chef of the Underground Kitchen in Fergus. Burn’s haggis was accompanied by oat chapati (roti).
Chef Ben Sachse, created a vegetarian haggis consisting of bean and grain medley wrapped in savoy cabbage and served on a celeriac puree.
Finally, Mike Scott of Foodplay Catering & Wreckless Eric Cafe in Elora prepared a cajun cousin of haggis – a pork Boudin rouge/noir blood sausage.
The four versions of haggis were paired with unusual whiskies, including an Indian peated single Malt and a Tennesseestyle ‘white dog’ or uncasked, over proof whisky.
The evening ended with recitations of Burns’ poems and songs by Peter Skoggard and internationally-acclaimed Celtic guitarist Tony McManus.
Alt-Burns co-organizers Athol and Jason thanked the four chefs, Vella, Burn, Sachse and Scott, for their amazing creations; Mc-Manus and Skoggard for the poems and music; the Elora Bread Company for providing bread at cost; local businesses Box Social, Fraberts, Santé, the Shepherd’s Pub and Wreckless Eric Cafe for selling tickets; and the Alt-Burns Supper attendees for their willingness to partake in a culinary adventure.
They also thanked Kim, Sarah and Jon of the Shepherd’s Pub for their guidance, patience and support in making the first Alt-Burns
Supper Fundraiser a tremendous success.
The co-organizers announced that $500 will be donated to the Centre Wellington Community Foundation (CWCF).
When asked why the $500 goal, Thompson explains, “CWCF provides mini-grants to various community initiatives and $500 represents one of those grants. So Athol and I see it as a great goal to raise awareness about the local foundation while providing our proceeds to meet the amount of a mini-grant. When it comes to fundraising, I like the mantra, Think Locally, Give Locally.”
Committed to community philanthropy, CWCF is a local volunteer organization that can be seen as the helpful link between donors and the community causes most important to them. For more information visit, cwcfoundation.ca.
