CNN
 — 

Anthony Bourdain loved haggis. But even the late, great American chef, writer and television host recognized that Scotland’s national dish, with its “sinister sheep parts” wrapped in a shroud of mystery and half-invented history, could be a hard sell.

“Don’t let them tell you otherwise, that’s really one of life’s great pleasures,” Bourdain said on one of his gastro-curious pilgrimages to Glasgow. “There is no more unfairly reviled food on Earth than the haggis.”

A mash-up of diced lung, liver and heart mixed with oatmeal, beef suet, onion and assorted spices, haggis was traditionally made by stuffing these raw ingredients into the stomach of a recently slain sheep and boiling the lot to a state of palatability.

Instagrammable is not the word that immediately comes to mind. In our 21st-century world, where “clean” eating and processed pap overlap, haggis can seem like an “Outlander”-style outlier from another age.

Yet, by some alchemy, once cooked to its required “warm-reekin’ (steaming)” state, it adds up to much more than the sum of its modest parts. It’s offaly charm has kept nose-to-tail eating alive among a younger generation of Scots that has largely turned its back on the tripe, liver and kidneys their predecessors enjoyed (or endured).

Carefully prepared, haggis tastes both oaty and meaty; it is dark and crumbly, a little crispy at the edges but still moist; earthy but also savory and spicy; deep-tasting and profoundly warming, the perfect foil for its traditional garnish of floury mashed potatoes and orange bashed turnip.

“It’s like a cuddle for the stomach,” says Nicola Turner, a 35-year-old office administrator from Helensburgh, a town on western Scotland’s Firth of Clyde.

Spice and texture

For children of the 1960s and ’70s, like crime novelist Ian Rankin, haggis meals were a choice between the classic meat-and-two-veg plate and the battered and deep-fried, chip-shop iteration loved by both his friend Bourdain and his quintessentially Scottish detective character, Inspector John Rebus.

Now myriad other treatments have blossomed.

“I’m pretty sure the first time I dined with AB in Edinburgh we had haggis in filo pastry with a jam-style – maybe blackcurrant – sauce,” Rankin recalled. “He was a big fan of haggis and of chip shops. Rebus will have enjoyed the occasional haggis supper from his local chip shop. He was definitely a fan, as am I.”

“It is all about the spicing and the texture,” says the Scottish food writer, novelist and cook Sue Lawrence, a champion of haggis’ adaptability for use in other dishes. “If you didn’t know what was in it, you wouldn’t think ‘oh that tastes of liver or whatever.’ It is all nicely chopped up and the oatmeal gives it a lovely texture. It could easily be a nice, big mince dish.”

Lawrence uses haggis as an alternative to beef and pork ragù in lasagna and in her pastilla, a version of the North African dish in which a hand-made haggis from the Isle of Mull substitutes for the traditional poultry or seafood filling. The filo pastry savory is flavored with the spice blend ras el hanout, apricots, chile, orange zest and almonds before being sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar.

Such cultural crossovers serve as a reminder that haggis could easily be a dish with nothing specifically Scottish about it at all. Records of similar quick and portable preparations of the fast-perishing innards of sheep and other animals date back to ancient Rome and Greece.

Haggis-like combinations of offal and grains are part of the culinary history of several countries. Spain has chireta, Romania drob and Sweden polsa, while chaudin, or ponce, is a rice and meat-stuffed pig stomach that is a staple of Cajun cooking.

In neighboring England, recipes for “hagese,” “hagws of a schepe,” “haggas” or “haggus” pop up in recipe books published between the 15th and 17th centuries, probably preceding written records north of the border.

Etymological evidence points to the term “haggis” having its roots in Old Norse, suggesting an early version of an oat-and-offal sausage might have arrived in Britain and Ireland on a Viking longboat.

But ever since it was first optioned by the poet Robert Burns in the late 1700s, the haggis backstory has been monopolized by Scotland and the Scots, sometimes mischievously.

It is, according to the kind of lore that Burns engendered, the dish a doughty Highlander would carry with him as he drove cattle through the glens to the markets of the central belt or the perfect picnic for a whisky smuggler plying his illicit trade by moonlight.

From such romantic notions it was a short step to turning the haggis into a wee wild beastie, one with longer legs on one side that was thus condemned to run round and round whichever hill it lived on. In 2003, a poll of American tourists in Scotland found that one in three of them believed they might encounter such a confused creature on a Caledonian vacation.

Bourdain, a native New Yorker, may have qualified as haggis’ biggest admirer since Burns, but his compatriots at the US Department of Agriculture remain unconverted to offal-filled paunch. Haggis imports into the United States were prohibited in 1971 as part of a ban on the consumption of all livestock lungs. Authentic versions of old school haggis remain culinary contraband in the US, as hard to lay your hands on as Cuban cigars.

Across the rest of the world, it’s a different story. According to leading producer Simon Howie, haggis is more widely appreciated and consumed now than it has been since Burns improvised his “Address to a Haggis” for the entertainment of well-to-do Edinburgh acquaintances.

Firmly tongue-in-cheek, the poem lauds the “Great chieftain o’ the pudding race,” as exactly the kind of unpretentious, hearty fare required to nourish a nation of braveheart warriors.

In comparison to the enfeebling foreign muck enjoyed by the capital’s claret-quaffing elites of the time – the olio, fricassée or ragoût that would “sicken a sow” – Burns urges his readers to wonder at the magical impact of haggis on his fellow sons of Scotland’s soil.

As the English translation of the original Scots language version puts it:

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed/

The trembling earth resounds his tread/

Clap in his ample fist a blade/

He’ll make it whistle/

And legs and arms and heads will cut/

Off like the heads of thistles

These days synthetic casings have largely replaced stomach but ovine and porcine innards remain at the core of most of the haggis produced in its homeland, said Howie, who estimates that his company Simon Howie Butchers, accounts for around 60% of the roughly two million haggises produced every year.

For Howie, versatility, value for money and convenience explain why this staple of the Scottish larder is thriving. Typically haggis retails in Scotland, which accounts for half of global consumption by volume, for around £6, or $7.70 per kilogram ($3.36/pound). That’s around half the price of less expensive cuts of beef or a third of the price of Scotch lamb while enjoying a fairly similar nutritional and calorific profile.

“You can give your kids a meal that is not full of things you don’t want to feed them – for a few pounds you can feed three strapping lads,” Howie said.

“From a kitchen perspective, it is very simple because when it leaves our factory it is already cooked. So when you or a restaurant owner gets it into the kitchen all you have to do is heat it up to be piping hot. It couldn’t be more basic: a student with no cooking skills or a Michelin-starred chef do exactly the same thing to put it out on the plate.”

Its texture means haggis can also be usefully deployed in fine dining alongside leaner meat like venison or as a stuffing for poultry and game birds. Its spicy intensity means it is also finding uses in canapés and as a crouton-borne garnish for soups.

Buoyant sales are also underpinned by the increasing consumption of haggis in forms inspired by Scotland’s ethnic minorities.

Glasgow’s Sikh community pioneered haggis pakora in the 1990s and samosas, spring rolls and quesadillas have followed in its wake, often using a vegetarian version of the protein in which the offal is replaced by a mix of vegetables, pulses and mushrooms.

Such dishes are more than culinary twists. They are badges of belonging, and an indication that, two centuries after Burns grabbed it for the nation, haggis is as intimately entwined with Scots identity as ever.

Just ask Ross O’Cinneide, a promising 14-year-old fly-half in the junior section of Stirling County rugby club.

“Most of my friends and I like haggis,” he says. “Mum makes it for us sometimes after rugby and it’s got a very nice warming feeling. And it’s nice because it’s purely Scottish.”

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @DeanObeidallah@masto.ai. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

CNN
 — 

Last year, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia spoke at a white nationalist event organized by Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes that caused Republican leaders to denounce her.

Last week, Greene’s Twitter account was temporarily suspended by the Elon Musk-headed platform over a tweet with a graphic referring to a “Trans Day of Vengeance,” as she denounced a planned transgender rights rally.

And come Tuesday, Greene has announced plans to protest in New York City when former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned on an indictment of more than 30 counts, calling the proceedings against him an “unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!”

But on Sunday, Greene was featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview the long-running show promoted on Twitter with the tease: “Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, nicknamed MTG, isn’t afraid to share her opinions, no matter how intense and in-your-face they are. She sits down with Lesley Stahl this Sunday on 60 Minutes.” The images attached to this tweet by “60 Minutes” include Greene and Stahl walking through the US Capitol, taking a stroll outside and Greene showing Stahl something on her phone.

In the segment that aired Sunday night, Stahl noted the congresswoman had moved from the fringe to the GOP’s front row in two years despite a “sharp tongue” and “some pretty radical views” as well as “over the top” comments such as “the Democrats are a party of pedophiles.” Stahl also referred to video of Greene chasing a Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor, still maintaining that the 2020 election was stolen and failing to criticize Trump over spending. (The interview was conducted before news of his indictment.)

But Stahl didn’t mention Greene spoke at a white nationalist event a year ago while a member of Congress or her extreme anti-Muslim views and her defense of January 6 rioters.

Criticism of CBS for amplifying Greene has been swift and well-deserved even before the program aired. Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois tweeted beforehand: “Wow. Insane that 60 min would do this.” (Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator.)

Journalist Molly Jong-Fast also slammed “60 Minutes” with the tweet: “Attention is currency and 60 minutes is spending its currency on the Jewish space lasers woman.” (Jong-Fast was apparently referring to Greene’s past claim that a massive California wildfire was started by “a laser” beamed from space controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family.)

David Hogg, who survived the 2018 horrific school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and has since become an activist against gun violence, responded, “I look forward to your questions about why she thinks school shootings are fake and why she’s supported QAnon.”

Greene amplified the conspiracy theory — two years before being elected to Congress — that the Parkland shooting that took 17 lives was staged. And in 2019, Greene appeared on video confronting Hogg outside the Capitol when he was championing laws to save lives from gun violence, screaming that the then-teenager was a “coward.” She also called Hogg “#littleHitler” on social media.

Greene’s own tweet promoting Sunday’s segment was not filled with her typical smears of “fake news” when she doesn’t like the coverage. Rather, Greene urged people to tune in as she praised “60 Minutes” host Stahl (and misspelled her first name): “It was an honor to spend a few days with the legendary icon Leslie Stahl and talented crew @60Minutes.” Greene added, “Leslie is a trailblazer for women in journalism. And while we may disagree on some issues, I respect her greatly.”

Now, it is true that “60 Minutes” over its 50-plus-year history has featured what the show has dubbed “controversial” guests. These include a 2000 interview with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, whose 1995 terrorist attack left 168 dead, including 19 children. And the show did a 1979 interview with Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Perhaps “60 Minutes” views Greene — who has repeatedly downplayed and even defended the January 6, 2021, attack plus called for the GOP to become the party of “Christian nationalism” — in the vein of its long list of controversial guests. (CBS had not responded to a request from CNN for comment at time of publishing.)

However, the choice of Greene as a guest instantly recalls the comments of then-CBS CEO Les Moonves during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign when he admitted that Trump’s candidacy “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Moonves added, “The money’s rolling in and this is fun. … (T)his is going to be a very good year for us,” concluding, “Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”

Moonves may be gone from CBS, but it appears his mindset continues at “60 Minutes.” And that may be good for “60 Minutes,” but it’s definitely not good for America.

CNN
 — 

Brendan Lawlor is a man of his word.

In October 2020, the Irishman told CNN Sport he hoped to “keep the ball rolling” for the next generation of golfers with disabilities.

Now No. 1 in the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability, Lawlor has driven that ball across the fairway and over the summit – and it doesn’t look like it’s landing anytime soon.

Three years ago, he was acclimatizing to his new life as a professional athlete. Since then, the 25-year-old has become the first golfer with a disability to compete on the European Tour, won three disability events in a row through 2021, and rocketed to the top of the disability golf world rankings.

In recent weeks, he has helped Prince Harry improve his swing and headlined a landmark new Tour for disability golf – yet perhaps Lawlor’s most cherished moment came at the final trials for his country’s disability golf European Championships team.

“It’s pretty crazy – last year in Ireland we had no disability golfers and this year we had a final trial with seven players – all below three-handicap, which is amazing,” Lawlor told CNN.

“They all say, ‘we started this because … we saw you playing The Belfry (on Lawlor’s European Tour debut), we see you doing this,” he added. “It’s a feel-good feeling in your stomach when people try something because you’re creating the path for them.

“I don’t really care about rankings – I just want to go out and win as many events as I can, and change as many people’s lives as I can.”

From his hometown of Dundalk, north of Dublin, Lawlor was chatting ahead of the start of the inaugural Golf for the Disabled (G4D) Tour at the British Masters.

A four-time host of the Ryder Cup, in Warwickshire, England, The Belfry provided an iconic setting for the launch of the Tour, to be contested by the world’s 10 best-ranked golfers with disabilities in seven events across six countries.

Where disability events were once swallowed up between European Tour events, the new G4D Tour will run in association with – and across two days immediately prior to – the European Tour. With each tournament the subject of a full-length broadcast documentary on Sky Sports, disability golf is enjoying more exposure than ever before.

World No. 2 Kipp Popert was victorious in the maiden event, with Lawlor finishing four shots off the Englishman in fourth.

Watch: European Tour CEO on name change to DP World Tour

“If we can keep sending this message, if we can impact even 10 people’s lives, it’s massive,” said Lawlor, who already dreams of expanding the Tour to as many as 50 players. “This is going to have a roll-on effect for disability golf.”

Lawlor’s recent Belfry outing marked a return to the course he made headlines at in 2020 when he competed alongside major winners Danny Willett and Martin Kaymer – as well as former world No. 1 Lee Westwood – at the ISPS Handa UK Championship – the first time a golfer with a disability played in a professional European Tour event.

Born with Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, a rare genetic condition characterized by short limb dwarfism, Lawlor has no knuckles on the top of his fingers. While welcoming his platform as a leading disability golfer and the opportunities it brings, the Irishman is keen for himself and fellow players not to be defined by their disabilities.

“We’re getting these massive opportunities because we’re doing abnormal things – we shouldn’t be able to do what we can do with a golf club or a golf ball,” he said.

“So we’re getting these opportunities because we are disability athletes, but I don’t like it when people categorize you and put you in a disability category, because golf is for all – you play at any level.”

“That’s the beautiful thing about our game,” he added. “Yes, we play disability golf on a disability tour, but if you’re good enough to play on the European Tour with able-bodied golfers, you get that chance.”

Lawlor turned professional in September 2019 and signed with Modest! Golf Management, a company founded by fellow Irishman and singer-songwriter Niall Horan. An advocate for disability golf, the former One Direction star is now a close friend.

“He’s changed my life really – ever since I signed, he’s brought me some incredible endorsement deals and has really embraced disability golf,” Lawlor said. “He’s just a genuinely nice chap and he’d do anything to help you.”

And as if a hugely successful music career wasn’t enough, Horan is also an impressive golfer, currently playing off an eight-handicap.

Horan isn’t the only famous face to have picked up a club with Lawlor. In April, the Irishman dished out swing tips to the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Lawlor was promoting the fifth edition of the Invictus Games, an international event for wounded serving and veteran military personnel, with Prince Harry a Patron of the Games’ Foundation.

Using a golf simulator room, Lawlor spent the day giving lessons to veterans from across the globe who shared their stories of various battles, both physical and mental.

Related: Steph Curry launches all-expenses paid golf tour for young underrepresented players

“These guys were trying out golf for the first time and making contact with the ball,” Lawlor said. “It only takes one person to get involved and start the game and that can get more people into it.”
And how was the Duke of Sussex’s swing? Not bad at all, Lawlor says.

“He grabbed the club and I just tweaked one or two things and he hit it really well,” Lawlor added. “He was a really nice guy.”

CNN
 — 

Lewis Hamilton says he remains undeterred in his fight against racial injustice. His comments came as the FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, announced it will not investigate the Formula One champion for wearing a T-shirt honoring Breonna Taylor at the Tuscan Grand Prix.

Hamilton, a six-time world champion who claimed the 90th race win of his career on Sunday, wore a T-shirt with the words “ARREST THE COPS WHO KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR” on the front, and “SAY HER NAME” above a photo of Taylor on the back, before the race and at the podium ceremony.

Having originally said it would be considering the matter, the FIA will instead clarify its guidelines as to what will be permitted for drivers and teams both pre and post-race.

The FIA is aiming to put these guidelines in place ahead of the next race of the 2020 season which is scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia on September 27.

Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and features

“Want you to know I won’t stop, I won’t let up, I won’t give up on using this platform to shed light on what I believe is right,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.

“I want to thank those of you who continue to support me and show love, I am so grateful.

“But this is a journey for all of us to come together and challenge the world on every level of injustice, not only racial

“We can help make this a better place for our kids and the future generations.”

READ: These were the Black victims Naomi Osaka honored on face masks

Taylor was fatally shot in her Louisville home in March as three plainclothes police officers executed a “no-knock” warrant.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is conducting an investigation into the incident and the FBI is investigating whether Taylor’s civil rights were violated. Taylor’s mother has filed a lawsuit in civil court against the three officers identified in connection with her daugher’s death.

No officer has been charged with a crime. Two of the officers remain on the force, while a third was fired and is appealing to get his job back.

“It’s been 6 months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by policemen, in her own home. Still no justice has been served. We won’t stay silent,” Hamilton posted on Twitter on Sunday, alongside photos of himself wearing the T-shirt.

He also added in a post-race conference: “It took me a long time to get that shirt and I’ve been wanting to wear that and bring awareness to the fact that there’s people that have been killed on the street and there’s someone that got killed in her own house.

“We have to continue to raise awareness … I think we just have to continue to push on the issue.”

The 35-year-old has been a powerful voice during the Black Lives Matter movement by calling on motorsport to do more to combat racism and attending a BLM protest in London earlier this year.

He has also announced plans to set up a commission in his name to increase diversity in motorsport.

Victory at the Tuscan GP means Hamilton is now one short of equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 race wins in F1.