Category Archives: Cultural Fusion

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon will dance with Silk Road Music's Cultural Olympiad show 1:30pm at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens, following Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown

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Silk Road Music's Qiu Xia He is organizing a FANTASTIC show at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Courtyard for Chinese New Year Parade February 1st.  Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon will do a dance!


The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team will bring their team mascot to Chinese New Year's Cultural Olympiad show at 1:30 pm in the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Courtyard, beside the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Classical Gardens, at the Chinese Cultural Centre.  The above picture is their dragon's debut at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.  Michael Brophy holds the head, while Joy, Deb, Hillary and Richard assist. – photo J. Wong

February 1st, Vancouver Chinatown Parade
+ special Cultural Olympiad show at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Courtyard.

This show is presented by the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens, who will be having admission by donation for the day.  There will be Japanese taiko drums played by a Chinese-Canadian, there will be Chinese songs sung by a White-Canadian, there will be African dancing, and classical Chinese dancing, and French-Canadian reels.  If I could have all these performers at a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, I would… if we could fit them in.  But I can't… so I have to come down to Chinatown to see this show.

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members will be performing a dragon dance for the 2nd show in the afternoon, following the Chinatown Parade at noon.  We have some volunteers, who
will perform OUR version of the DRAGON DANCE this Sunday, Feb 1st, at
the Cultural Olympiad show at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Courtyard. (Chinese
Cultural Centre).

Please remember Chinatown will be very busy, and challenging to find parking.  Last year, I parked over by the Beatty St. Armouries.  The Chinatown Parkade is good – but get there early.

Please come down and enjoy the show.  Here are important times.

10:30 am – FIRST Show @ Dr. Sun Yat Sen Courtyard (we aren't in it)

12 noon – Chinatown Parade begins

1:00 – Gung Haggis dragon dancers meet @ Dr. Sun Yat Sen courtyard.    
We will sit near the front row.
         
1:30 – 3:30 Cultural Olympiad Show. We will perform in 1st and last songs. 

This show is organized by Qiu Xia He of Silk Road Music,  and the MC is Dr. Jan Walls, who did a wonderful performance of a Robbie Burns Chinese clapper tale for the recent Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner.

IMG_6604 by stevely27.

Michael Brophy leads the Gung Haggis dragon at the St. Patrick's Day Parade with Hillary and Leanne. – photo courtesy of Steve Duncan.


Todd Wong with a “horse” at the 2006 Chinese New Year parade in Vancouver Chinatown – photo D. Martin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Message from Qiu Xia
of Silk Road Music – the event organizer

Thanks Todd for the great event! and thanks for your great promo on your site!

We
are looking forward to see your team on the Feb 1. Please advise your
team dress warm and bring your own lunch ( there are tea and snack but
not enough for everyone's lunch) When you finish your first set, please
put your dragon back to the office in the garden since the green room
tent is full of people.
We would like to you
to dance with us on the First and last piece in front of the stage( the
stage is too full).  There are dancers and stilt dances happening at
the sometime, please watch where you go, make sure you are safe.
Your cheque will be paid by the garden that day, don't forgot.
Here is the program of PM:
Second show: 1:30-3:30pm (full set)
Happiness (with Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Team,Happy Dancing Group, Still Moon Arts Stilt Dancers)
Better and Better with Speeches(with Katharine Carol/Cultural Olympiad, others)
Happy New Year Song ( Feng jun)
Kang Ding Love song ( with Feng jun and Willy)
MC spot. 
Taiko feature- In Your Dreams (Bonnie and Uzume taiko)
Clouds (with Jesica dance)
Feng Yang Flower Song (Lorita Leong Dancers, Happy Dancing Group and audiences)
Nomad Rustic Song ( with Feng jun and Willy)
The Makala Dancers( or Jacky solo with A pair)
My home town is Beijing ( Feng Jun)
Jessamine Flowers(Feng jun and Willy with audiences sing along)
Lift
your veil ( with Jessica and Chunxin)
The Makala dancers( Jacky with audiences)
Con te Partiro( with Willy and Feng jun)
Gao Shan Qing ( with Feng jun and Willy)
Horse Race( with Jun rong)
MC spot. 
Devil’s reel 
Taiko feature-Matsuri Taiko (Bonnie and Uzume taiko)
Great Race Zodiac Dance finale( with all performers, include DRAGON Mascot)
Last Speech
Thank you again!

Happy Chinese New Year! Gee…. it's a lot like Scottish Hogmanay!

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2009_January 234 by you.
A very multicultural group of poetry loving revelers shared food and drink at Library Square Pub on Chinese New Year's Day. Two international students from Brasil joined us along with Karen, a man from Iran, 5th generation Vancouverite Todd Wong, born in Scotland June Ventners-Clark, Peter Clark, Phoenix and Sherry Shigasu.

After the World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala at the Vancouver Public Library, some of us went to the Library Square Pub.  Monday night appetizers were 2 for 1.  We had nachos, spring rolls, popcorn shrimp and chicken wings.  Our multicultural crowd counted ancestry from around the world: Brazil, China, Japan, Scotland, Iran, Germany, India and more!

There are many similarities between Chinese New Year's Eve and Scottish Hogmanay:

1) Make lots of noise.  Chinese light firecrackers to create loud noises to scare away bad spirits.  Scottish also create loud noise by clanking kitchen pots and setting off cannons and church bells.  Doors are opened to let out bad spirits.

2) Pay off your debts. 
Chinese like to ensure that you start off the New Year with no debts
hanging onto your personal feng shui.  I think the Scots do the
same but especially to ensure that they aren't paying anymore interest.

3) Have lots of good food and visit friends.  Eat lots and be merry.  Both Scots and Chinese enjoy eating, hosting their friends and visiting their friends.  If you spend all your time visiting friends, then you don't have to cook for anybody.  But good guests always bring good gifts too!


4) Party on dude!  In
Asia, Chinese New Year celebrations will go on for days, lasting up to
a week!  Sort of like Boxing week sales in Canada.  In
Scotland, the Scots are proud partyers and are well known for making
parties last for days on end.

World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy performs at Vancouver Library on Chinese New Year Day

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2009_January 230 by you.

Monday night was the 6th Annual World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala.  This event was first created when I noticed there were no readings of Robbie Burns at the library… I contacted Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading series to collaborate for this now popular program.

Just before our 7:30 start time, I chatted with the audience, explaining the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and sharing some of the events that happened the night before at the big Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and at our small ceremony at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park – to celebrate the 250th Birthday of Robbie Burns.

We bring together the elements of Gung Haggis Fat Choy within a world context.  We feature poetry of Robbie Burns, China, as well as contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets.  And sometimes we add in music and dance and of course… singalongs.

This year's program was a lot of fun.  It was hosted by Ariadne Sawyer, Diego Bastianutti and myself.

We featured poet James Mullin and myself reading poetry by Robbie Burns.  I also brought my accordion to play some tunes too.

2009_January 195
Rita Wong, the 2008 BC Book Prize Poetry winner, read from her books
Monkey Puzzle and Forage.  With the World Poetry theme, Rita even read
a poem by Pablo Neruda, which Diego read in Spanish afterwards.

2009_January 197

Tommy Tao, explained how he ended up doing poetry translations of 9th
and 15th Century poetry, and how he has come to love it.  He read a few
poems about food and celebrations.I talked about some of the similarities about Chinese New Year and Scottish Hogmanay. 

2009_January 204

I read the Burns poem “A Man's A Man For A' That”, then later performed “Address to A Haggis.”

2009_January 209

James Mullin led a group of four volunteers to dance my parade dragon around the room while I played “Scotland the Brave” on my accordion.

2009_January 214

There were a number of Korean ESL students in the audience, and they really had a lot of fun.

2009_January 219

My earlier attempt at playing and singing “My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose” was easily redeemed by my playing of Scotland the Brave, and leading the audience in a group singalong of “Auld Lang Syne”

2009_January 225

Evrerybody really got into the spirit of the evening.  This photo features poets James Mullin, Tommy Tao along with a Korean language student and Peter Clark originally from the U.K.

Check out more photos:

World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy @ VPL

World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala

Maclean's Magazine: “Hold the sheep's stomach lining” – mentions Todd Wong and Gung Haggis Fat Choy

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Macleans Magazine cites Gung Haggis Fat Choy's Todd Wong in article about the intricacies of Haggis for Robbie Burns' 250th Anniversary.

RL102 by you.

Deep-fried haggis & shrimp won ton dumplings were served up with some “Famous Grouse” scotch, when Visit Scotland's Chief Executive, Phillip Riddell, came to Vancouver to meet Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy. The special limited edition 37 year blend of Famous Grouse was one of 250 bottles made, and sent to Burns Dinners around the world, to be auctioned off for Charity.  – photo Rich Lam

It was last week when Pamela Cuthbert phoned me up for her story in Macleans Magazine.  She had heard bout the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner and that we served up deep-fried haggis won ton.

“Won Ton is the Chinese equivalent of the Mars Bar,” I joked, making reference to the Scottish predeliction of deep-fried Mars chocolate bars.

I explained how we came up with the idea to create haggis won ton, and told her about the first time we tried haggis won-ton soup.

“We spit it back,” I exclaimed, “It was way too haggis-sy.  But the deep-fried haggis, and the haggis spring rolls were great. 

Today at the Floata Restaurant we will also be serving up haggis & pork su-mei dim sum dumplings.  Everybody remarks that they've never seen people eat so much haggis, especially when they roll the haggis up with the lettuce wrap, with Chinese Hoi-Sin bbq sauce.  It's delicious!

Check out the article below – I am mentioned in the 3rd paragraph.  Click on the link to read the full article.

Arts & Culture – Written by Pamela Cuthbert on Wednesday,

January 28, 2009

Hold the sheep’s stomach lining

It’s the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’s birth: deep-fried haggis won ton, anyone?

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Hold the sheep’s stomach lining

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Now’s the time to toss prejudice aside and try haggis. Never mind
that this humble pie is a steaming mound of ground organs, suet,
assorted spices and oats, all boiled in the lining of a sheep’s
stomach. Ever since Scotland’s bard, Robert Burns, immortalized haggis,
it has become the dish that launched a million parties—and possibly
about as many interpretations. This is the 250th anniversary of the
poet’s birth, so the annual celebration of Burns Night, on Jan. 25, is
promising more invention and revelry than ever.

“The meat in a haggis is brilliant,” says chef Craig Flinn of Chives
Canadian Bistro in Halifax. “It’s like the meat in a tourtière pie.” He
prepared the sausage-like food once, when he cooked in a hotel kitchen,
but then forgot about it. This year, Flinn will serve a Burns Night
appetizer: traditional haggis sausage with tattie ’n neep purée,
caramelized onion balsamic jam and grainy Dijon veal jus that he calls
“a bit cross-cultural.” He’ll use a mixture of lamb and pork trimmings
with back fat and “more palatable” entrails such as lamb kidneys and
pork tongue and cheek.

Todd Wong started the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in Vancouver, a
Scottish-Chinese Burns Night banquet, in the late ’90s. He sees it as
“an integration, a reflection of Canada’s inter-cultural nature.” This
year (which is also Chinese New Year’s Eve), the menu features
deep-fried haggis won ton, lettuce-wrap haggis, and a traditional
variety.

read rest of story: http://blog.macleans.ca/2009/01/28/hold-the-sheep%E2%80%99s-stomach-lining/#comment-86659

Photos from 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy is always a wonderful event for photographs.  Special thanks to our incredible photographers Patrick Tam, Lydia Nagai and VFK.

If you like their photos, please contact them and purchase them.  We have asked them to put “water marks” on their photos, so that we will advertise and promote them.

They help us with our event, because they believe in the community work and social consiousness raising that we do.

DSC_3928_103489 - Mayor Gregor Robertson doing the honours by FlungingPictures.
A wonderful job by everybody last night –
Veteran Gung Haggis performers Joe McDonald and Heather pronounced last
night as “The Best Gung Haggis Dinner yet”

And Dr. Leith Davis
(Director of Centre for Scottish Studies, Simon Fraser University) said it was the best Burns Supper she had ever attended – and she just
spent 2 weeks in Scotland for Homecoming Scotland!

Congratulations
to everybody.  The energy was brilliantly contagious and fun.  There
were lots of nice surprises in the program, with the Mayor reading a
Burns poem, a treatise on the details of scotch drinking, Parks
Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon singing A Man's A Man For A' That, and
hip hop artist Ndidi Cascade coming up from the audience to rap a verse
of Burns' Address to A Haggis.

But it was the performances by
Silk Road, Joe McDonald, Adrienne Wong, Jan Walls, Tommy Tao, Rita
Wong, Catherine Barr, Heather Pawsey & DJ Timothy Wisdom, Bob
Wilkins & the Gung Haggis Fat Choy pipe band,  supplemented by
Alland & Trish McMordie with Don Scobie from Seattle… and an
immortal address by Dr. Leith Davis – that knocked the audience over!

With wonderfully warm co-hosting from Gloria Macarenko and Catherine Barr….

And strong support from stage manager Charlie Cho, and sound technician Carl Schmidt.

Many
Many thanks…. to helping rise funds for Historic Joy Kogawa House,
Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/Ricepaper Magazine and Gung Haggis Fat
Choy dragon boat team.

We will have some pictures available for you soon.

Thank yous and Blessings to
everybody!
Toddish

Patrick Tam – Flunging Pictures 
www.flunging pictures.com

DSC_3928_103489 - Mayor Gregor Robertson doing the honours by FlungingPictures.

661 – 20090125 – Robbie Burns’… – Patrick Tam photo set.

Lydia Nagai – Lydia Nagai Photography
www.lydianagai.com

IMG_0525 by Lydia Nagai.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2009 – Linda Nagai photo set.

VFK Photography

GHFC 2009 VF3_4418.JPG by vfk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157613036584552/

GHFC 2009 VF3_4664.JPG by vfk Silk Road Music performing in front of life-size photos of Nellie McClung, Mungo Martin, Emily Carr and Todd Wong – courtesy of Royal BC Museum.- photo VFK

 Tips To Help You Start Living Healthy In 2022

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Different Healthy Foods

We’re all encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle, but what does that involve and how do we get there? Health doesn’t just entail eating right or exercising. True health incorporates other areas we might not give much thought to, like positivity and self-care. Here, we share with you seven fantastic ways you can get healthy – and stay healthy – in 2022.

1. Follow a Balanced Diet

The saying “everything in moderation” really goes a long way. A healthy diet full of a variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, nuts and healthy fats helps to keep our bodies and minds in proper working order. There are foods you’ll want to limit, though. Processed foods might taste great, but they often carry a hefty amount of salt which can trigger high blood pressure and heart disease.

2. Embrace Positivity

Negative people or situations can trigger disordered eating and low moods. Look at the people in your life and the things that take up your time, and if something or someone brings you a lot of negative feelings, it might be a sign you need to cut ties. At the same time, work to let go of negative self-talk. A positive self-regard leads to a more positive lifestyle. Visit https://www.wtkr.com/brand-spotlight/best-weight-loss-pills.

3. Keep Moving

Exercise has been proven to lower the risk of disease, increase bone density, and even help us live longer. But how much is enough? The general recommendation is to engage in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity every day.

4. Know Your Stats

Having an idea of your overall health can help you identify areas you might need to improve. A blood test is a simple way of pinpointing any concerns. Your doctor can recommend particular things you might need to monitor or check, like your blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol.

5. Stay Hydrated

Without enough water, our bodies are unable to function normally, remove waste, and transport nutrients and oxygen. Adults need, on average, three litres of water a day. If you lose more water due to exercise, heavy perspiration or frequent urination, you will need to drink more regularly.

6. Talk About It

With mental illnesses like depression on the rise, more people find themselves feeling isolated and alone. Talking to a trusted friend or health professional about how you’re feeling can offer you the help you need to restore positive mental health.

7. Stop Smoking

Smoking is an addictive behaviour that carries no health benefits. Smokers are at greater risk of serious health issues, including lung disease, heart attack and stroke. Your family and friends can also be affected by inhaling second-hand smoke. It’s never too late to quit, and there are many support options available to help you give up smoking.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens celebrates Yearof the Ox on February 1st.

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In Vancouver Chinatown, the Chinese New Year Festivities always take place on the first Sunday following Chinese New Year Day.

This year, Chinese New Year Day is on Monday, January 26th…. so on Sunday February 1st, come to Vancouver Chinatown.

One of my new favorite activities starting last year…. is to visit the Dr. Sun Yat Sen courtyard at the Chinese Cultural Centre because my friend Qiu Xia He of Silk Road Music is organizing a special Cultural Olympiad show for Chinese New Year.

Last year, I was fascinated by the show, which brought together many musicians and performers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds: African, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, French-Canadian, and Celtic.  Oh my goodness… but her programming was a like fantastic dream team that I wish I could bring together for Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

But this year, we will be adding something new… a dragon dance by the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team!

Feb 1. 09 Sunday. Free public performances.
10:30-11:30 first show
12-1:30pm Chinese New Year Parade
1:30-3:30pm second show


Performers:
Qiu Xia He 何秋霞 – Silk Road Music Artistic Director and Chinese Pipa 
Andre Thibault –  Program assistant and Guitar, Oud and flute 
Jun Rong 戎峻 – Chinese Erhu
Jian Min Pan 潘建明 – Chinese Dizi
Pepe Danza – World instruments and percussion
Bonnie Soon and Uzume Taiko – Japanese drum and percussion
Feng Jun Wang 王凤君 – vocal
Willy Miles – vocal and bass guitar
Jan Walls 王健– Bilingual MC and Chinese Kuai Ban storyteller
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat Team
Still Moon Arts Stilt Dancers
Mt. Pleasant Neiboughood Happy Dancing Group
Jacky Essombe & The Makalas- African Dance
Jessica Jone 钟捷茜, Chengxin Wei 魏成新 and The Lorita Leung Chinese Dance Academy.
More details on the show in Chinese and English:
Check out the following from the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens website:

http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com/calendar/2007/2007_feb.htm

Chinese New Year
Celebration at the Garden
Sunday, February 1
10am-4pm, by donation

Join us as we celebrate the Year of the Ox!
On January 26, 2009 Chinese people around the world will celebrate a
new year, according to the Lunar calendar. Join us at the Garden for a
day of family fun and activities. We will have fortune telling, live
music, face painting, storytelling, red envelopes, pin wheel making,
stilt walkers, and more!
Enjoy a fabulous day of live entertainment and welcome the Year of the Ox!

A Celebration in the Courtyard
February 1st, 10:30-11:30am and 1:30-3:30pm

The
Garden is pleased to co-present the Chinese New Year Celebration in the
Courtyard as part of the 2009 Cultural Olympiad. The event is quickly
becoming a part of the Chinese New Year parade day celebration. Join
Silk Road and Friends as they sing, dance and play music under a big
tent and take part in the fun art and crafts projects available in the
small tents scattered around the Courtyard.

The
courtyard-fair atmosphere, coupled with the cross-cultural
performances, provide an opportunity for artists from Vancouver’s
different cultural backgrounds to display their creativity and
collaborate to create new sounds for a traditional festival. We invite
Vancouver to celebrate Chinese New Year with a world vision!

Westender: Gung Haggis celebrates Canadian interculturalism – article by Jackie Wong

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West Ender newspaper celebrates Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day with a profile on Todd Wong aka “Toddish McWong”

Jackie Wong interviewed me last
week, and asked me about my early years growing up in East Vancouver
and North Vancouver. This is a very nice interview that addresses some
of the cultural identity issues I faced growing up, that has led me to
creating Gung Haggis Fat Choy as an expression of BC's Scottish and
Chinese pioneer history.

Todd Wong established the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner — a merging of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day celebrations — in 1998. It now draws over 500 people. “People leave [the dinner] saying, ‘That is so Canadian,’” he says.

Todd
Wong established the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner — a merging of
Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day celebrations — in 1998. It now
draws over 500 people. “People leave [the dinner] saying, ‘That is so
Canadian,’” he says.

Credit: Doug Shanks

NEWS: Gung Haggis celebrates Canadian interculturalism

http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/gung-haggis-celebrates-canadian-interculturalism

Posted By:
Jackie Wong

01/22/2009 12:00 AM

Growing
up in East Vancouver in the 1960s, Todd Wong was one of many children
who had a surname in common with his classmates at Laura Secord
Elementary School. But when his family moved to North Vancouver when he
was 14, Wong’s Chinese ancestry distinguished him from his classmates
for the first time. “Suddenly, the only other Wong in the entire school
was my brother,” the 48-year-old librarian recalls over tea at a
Chinatown diner. “The other kids would ask if I was Chinese or
Japanese, because they didn’t know the difference at the time. I kept
being asked about Chinese culture because nobody else knew about it.”

Wong’s family has lived in Vancouver for five generations, and he
was raised in what he describes as a “Canadian” household. But it was
his immediate family’s move to North Vancouver that spurred him to
further explore his ancestry. His great-great-grandfather, Reverend
Chan Yu Tan, immigrated to Canada in 1896, and was part of Canada’s
vast pioneer history in which Chinese-Canadians are frequently
overlooked. “I’m one of the invisible-visible minorities,” he says.
“The Chinese culture I grew up learning from my families really doesn’t
exist anymore. [My ancestors] came over when China was still an
Imperial Qing dynasty.”

Wong’s curiosity about his family history led him to start
introducing Chinese New Year celebrations to uninitiated friends as
early as Grade 12. Years later, in 1998, he hosted a private dinner
that combined celebrations for Chinese New Year and for Robbie Burns
Day, the annual Scottish celebration marking the birthday of that
country’s national poet. The event gained momentum over subsequent
years as a restaurant-hosted fundraiser for Wong’s dragon boat team.

Word of the innovative celebration travelled fast, and within a few
years an annual inter-cultural celebration known as Gung Haggis Fat
Choy became a highlight on Vancouver’s cultural calendar, and has grown
to host as many as 590 attendees.

In 2008, Wong received a B.C. Community Achievement Award from
Lieutenant-Governor Stephen Point and Premier Gordon Campbell, and, as
part of B.C.’s 150th anniversary celebration, a life-sized photographic
rendering of Wong, also known as “Toddish McWong,” was installed at the
“Free Spirit” exhibition at the Royal BC Museum. Previous to earning
provincial recognition, Gung Haggis Fat Choy was the inspiration for an
annual cultural festival on SFU’s Burnaby campus, and was the subject
of a 2004 CBC television special.

“The Gung Haggis dinner is inclusive and it recognizes every part of
every person, and I think that’s important,” says Wong. “We don’t have
to be one or the other. We can be everything, all at the same time. I
don’t think we have a lot of events that speak to that.”

This year’s event, on January 25, rings in the Year of the Ox at
Floata Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown. Inter-cultural dinnertime
performers include the Scottish/Chinese Silk Road Ensemble,
multilingual opera soprano Heather Pawsey, DJ Timothy Wisdom, and
rapping bagpiper Joe McDonald. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner is a
10-course traditional Chinese banquet that also features haggis, the
traditional Scottish dish that is a Robbie Burns Day favourite.
Proceeds from ticket sales go to the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society,
the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop/Ricepaper magazine, and the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

“It’s about hybridization — Haggis wonton, haggis lettuce wrap —
where we purposefully put haggis in Chinese cooking,” says Wong.
“People leave saying, ‘That is so Canadian.’”

While Wong often finds himself “running to catch up” with the
momentum Gung Haggis has created over the years, the event shows no
signs of slowing down. It’s even spread to Seattle’s Chinatown, where
150 attended the first event there in 2007. “People are continuing to
discover the spirit of Gung Haggis Fat Choy,” he says. “It’s something
everyone can participate in. I would like to see Gung Haggis dinners
across the country. I think that’s how you contribute to Canada being
better. It’s the good-heartedness of how you describe Canadians, and
that openness to other cultures.”

The “good-heartedness” Wong describes as a trademark of his event
also translates to political points on the municipal scene. At the 2008
Gung Haggis dinner, Wong notes that the 10 Vancouver city councillors
who were later voted into office in the November municipal election
were at the event, including Gregor Robertson and a kilt-wearing
Raymond Louie. This year’s special guests include Musqueam elder Larry
Grant; Leith Davis of the SFU Centre for Scottish Studies; Jan Walls,
formerly of SFU’s International Communications program; and
poet-translator Tommy Tao. This year’s Gung Haggis dinner is also the
only dinner in the province to feature one of 250 limited-edition
bottles of 37-year-old Famous Grouse scotch, made in a limited batch
for Robbie Burns celebrations around the world.

“We’ve always attracted people who are good-hearted and open to
interculturalism,” Wong says proudly. “That’s the Vancouver I see. We
want to create the Vancouver we believe in.”

For more information on Gung Haggis Fat Choy and to buy tickets, visit www.GungHaggisFatChoy.com 

CBC TV's Gloria Macarenko to co-host Gung Haggis Fat Choy! Where is Clan Macarenko from?

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What Scottish clan is CBC TV News anchor Gloria Macarenko from?

Celebrity Media co-hosts are confirmed!
Gloria Macarenko, CBC TV News anchor “Vancouver at Six”
Catherine Barr, Metro News / Radio 650 AM



Gloria Macarenko from CBC TV's “Vancouver at Six”
Gloria first got to learn about deep-fried haggis won ton when I
brought some down to her newscast, when CBC was promoting the 2004 Gung
Haggis Fat Choy television performance special.


View Clip

I'm really happy that CBC TV news anchor Gloria Macarenko is coming to co-host the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner with myself and Catherine Barr.  It turns out that Gloria and Catherine also know each other and are really looking forward to having some fun at the Gung Haggis dinner.

I looked in a tartan clan wesbite and found MacA'chailles, MacAchounich, MacAdam, MacAdie, MacAindra,  MacAldonich, MacAlduie,  MacAlex,  MacAlister, MacAllen, MacAndeoir, MacAndrew, MacAngus,  MacAra, MacAree, MacAskill, MacAslan, MacAuselan, and MacAy… but no MacArenko!

Gung Haggis 2008 Dinner 152

What clan is Catherine Barr from?  I found there are clans named Barrie and Barron, and of course there is MacNeil of Barra, or the Barra MacNeils.  I know that Catherine's family has a family tartan… In fact, it was
her father Robert Barr that introduced me to the Burns Club of
Vancouver about 5 years ago.  Last year Cat managed to get 10 kilted men on stage all singing a “Toast to the Lassies” – what will she lead us into this year?

Special musical performers:

Silk Road Music Ensemble:
Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault have become good friends since I first met them on the set of the 2004 CBC television performance special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”  I really appreciated what they were doing musically, and they really appreciated what I was doing.  They have performed at the Gung Haggis dinner in 2004, 2007.  Qiu Xia plays virtuoso pipa (Chinese lute) and Andre can play fiery flamenco music – but they also play scottish and french-canadian reels and jigs too!  For their 2009 Gung Haggis performance they are adding a Scottish-Canadian percussionist, Liam MacDonald.

2008_Oct 009

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Pipe & Drums
Last year, Bob Wilkins approached me with the idea of creating a Gung Haggis Fat Choy pipe band… with lion dancers and chinese drums.  Okay… I was hooked.  Our paths have crossed in our mutual appreciation of BC Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories, and Bob has a vision of a multicultural pipe band that could also incorporate BC's Chinese cultural history and traditions. Okay… we have the pipers but are still searching for Chinese lion dancers.


Heather Pawsey opera soprano
Heather sings in Mandarin, Cree, Italian, French, German, Spanish and probably Russian and Scottish too!  Heather has graced stages with Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Symphony and many other ensemble and chamber groups throughout BC. She always lights up the stage when she comes to Gung Haggis dinners, such as 2004 and 2007.  Heather grew up wearing kilts on the Saskatchewan prairies, and she really loves the Gung Haggis concept.  In 2008 she was paired with DJ Timothy Wisdom to create something new and exciting.  She called me up and said “Todd – I've got something for you and Gung Haggis!”

Timothy Wisdom Promo 2007

Timothy Wisdom DJ
I only met Timothy last week, when he came to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy rehearsal dinner on January 11th.  He brought with him a dvd of his performance with Heather Pawsey.  What was on it?  Opera with hip hop beats… Scottish and Chinese musical notes and references…  And hopefully Timothy will spin some tunes after the Gung Haggis dinner, so we can party until midnight for a countdown to Chinese New Year! “Best Party Rockin DJ in Vancouver…a sonic genius” – Vancouver Folk Festival  “so much exhilaration in his sets…slaying audiences” – E13 Records

Joe McDonald, our “rapping bagpiper”
I first met Joe McDonald when he performed with a South Asian tabla drummer in 2001.  I saw the kind of world music sounds they were creating and three weeks later, his music ensemble Brave Waves was performing at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Joe has performed at every Gung Haggis dinner since, including the Gung Haggis Fat Choy CBC television performance special too!  A few years ago, we starting “rapping” the Robbie Burns immortal poem “Address to a Haggis.”  We created an MP3 file with Trevor Chan of the No Luck Club… and it is going to be played on BBC Radio Scotland's Robbie Burns radio special on January 25th for Burns' 250th birthday – Woo-hoo!

Adrienne Wong – Neworld Theatre actor/writer for “Mixie and the Half-Breeds“
Adreinne is a long time friend of Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  She co-hosted the 2004 dinner, and in 2003 she paddled on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  Growing up with Chinese and French ancestry, heritage and culture, Adrienne knows what it's like to walk in both worlds, as well as in-between.  She's written a new theatrical play called “Mixie and the Half-Breeds.”  We think it's perfect for a Gung Haggis Fat Choy world… and she's going to give us a sneak preview before the show opens later this year. I saw Adrienne give a stage reading of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” last fall – fantastic!

Special guests include:The Famous Grouse whisky 37 year old blend
Larry Grant, Musqueam Elder
Rita Wong, 2008 BC Book Poetry Prize winner “Forage”
Dr. Leith Davis, SFU Centre for
Scottish Studies
Jan Walls, former SFU Director of International Communications
Tommy
Tao, poet translator
Chuck Lew QC, keeper for the flame for 49 years of Burns Dinners for the Vancouver Chinatown Lions Club.
+ 1 bottle of 37 year old Famous Grouse scotch – one of only 250 made to be featured at Burns Suppers around the world.

2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu revealed… to welcome the Year of the Ox

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What is being served at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner to welcome the Year of the Ox?

Last week we did a menu tasting rehearsal dinner.  This is essential to the planning of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, because we want to make sure the food selection is right.  And it is a perfect way to introduce the performers to each other, and we can work out possible ideas.


Deep-fried haggis dumplings + Spring rolls – from our 2005 menu – photo Todd Wong

Each year we re-adjust the menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  We try to find new ways to eat haggis, and new dishes to introduce to people not familar with Chinese food.

For 2009, I think we have come up with some real winners.   After having deep-fried haggis won ton for the past few years, I have asked for won ton dumplings that were made in 2005.  My friend Judy Maxwell and I had dim sum today at Floata, and tried these fancy shrimp dumplings stuffed with green vegetables.  Delicious!  I think people will be very happy! 

The other new dish will be Pan-fried sliced squid and sliced chicken in a Tarot Basket.  It was a big hit at our rehearsal dinner.  The squid will be our seafood representative, as we will not be having ginger crab this year.  I heard more comments that it was messy and hard to eat, instead of that they LOVED eating the crab.

Below are the dishes currently planned for the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner – subject to change!

10-course traditional Chinese Dinner featuring:

1)   Cold platter (Fusion of Chinese and Scottish Appetizers – Won Ton; Haggis Siu Mai; and Jelly fish – Vegetarian spring rolls or BBQ pork).
For the past two years, we had a buffet set up with haggis dim sum.  This was to encourage people to get up and move around the restaurant instead of just sitting down.  The inspiration was to have  a cocktail hour with appetizers – just like at a Western style dinner reception.  But the result was also long lines.  2009 also marks the return of jelly fish to the menu… a strange Chinese delicacy… the perfect compliment to haggis.  Photographers can try stuffing their haggis with jelly fish, for a memorable portrait.

This year, the appetizer platter will be served promptly at 6pm.  So we encourage every body to arrive between 5 and 5:45pm, so they can order their drinks from the bar, and browse the silent auction items.  

2)   Dried scallop, chicken and squash soup or vegetarian Hot & Sour soup or maybe Winter Melon soup.
We have served Hot & Sour soup every year at the Floata, so we thought we would try something different.   We tried a fish maw corn soup at the rehearsal dinner – but it lacked pizazz.  Shark Fin soup has been one of my favorite soups since I was a child.  But due to its expensive cost and the environmental impact of Shark fin fishing – it is not an option.  At the very first legendary private Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for 16 friends, I cooked up a Winter Melon soup with lemon grass.  It was wonderful!  Hmmm…. that might be another option.  I like the way the soup can be served in the melon!!!  Very appropriate for Chinese New Year.



3)   Haggis ( piped in with Scottish bagpipes)
We are moving up the Haggis offering this year.  In past years, it was menu item #6 or #7.  The piping in of the haggis is always an important ceremony at any Burns Dinner.  But too much bagpiping can be turn a lot of heads in a Chinese restaurant.  It is also very important to read the Burns poem “Address to a Haggis” prior to the serving of haggis.  So please…. do NOT cut into your haggis, until after we have finished reading the poem.  Oh – by the way… We don't usually do a traditional reading of the poem.  In years past, we selected members of the audience to each read a verse in their best gaelic english.

4)   Lettuce wrap with diced vegetables
How many ways can you serve haggis?  Take a spoonful of haggis, spread some Chinese plum sauce on it, add some crunchy noodles and diced vegetables with water chestnuts, and wrap it up in a delicate piece of lettuce. Magnificient!  Imagine if Marco Polo should have brought back lettuce wrap to Italy instead of noodles?  Or if you are vegetarian – leave out the haggis.

5)   Pan-fried sliced squid and prawns in a Tarot “Bird's Nest” Basket
We tried roasted fish with a spicy sweet and sour sauce at the rehearsal dinner – but it was voted down.  A long time ago, we used to have a scallop and mixed vegetables dish served in a potato nest… back in the early days when our guest total was 60 or 100.  This dish was a big hit at the rehearsal dinner.  After seeing the Bird's Nest stadium during the Beijing Summer Olympics – I think people will be inspired to quickly empty the squid and vegetables and turn the taro basket upside down, to see if it really does look like the Beijing Bird's Nest stadium.  Fish is a Chinese New Year's Dinner staple, because the prounciation of the word “Fish” in Chinese sounds similar to the words for “Good luck.”  But that probably depends on how good your pronounciation is, and if you speak Chinglish or not.

6)   Beef tenderloin with black pepper
It's the Year of the Ox… and we thought of having Ox-Tail soup…. and then said “Nah…”  We wanted a very tasty and special Beef dish to welcome in the Year of the Ox, and we found it.  Last year we had Mongolian Beef, recognizing that the Mongols traveled as far West as Hungary… or was that the Huns?  I have trouble telling the difference sometimes.  But you won't have any trouble deciding that this beef dish will be tender and peppery!

7)   Buddha feast
This is an important traditional New Year dish – with long rice vermicelli noodles and lots of
vegetables and lotus root.  All the good things that every vegetarian
loves.   Long noodles are important metaphor in Chinese cooking… The longer the noodles, the longer the life you hope or expect to have.

The Chinese calendar is based on the 12 animals that came when
Buddha called.  Feb 7th starts a new 12 year cycle that begins with the
Year of the Rat – the first animal to see Buddha.  I was born in the
Year of the Rat. 

8)   Crispy skinned chicken with shrimp chips
Healthier than KFC.  And the shrimp chips were always my favorites as a child. 

9)   Young Chow Fried Rice or E-Fu noodles
This is the dish you eat to fill yourself up, if you are still hungry.  We had E-Fu long life noodles last year, but a lot of the Scottish people thought that these traditional delicate noodles were too plain.  There wasn't a strong sauce on them, and they weren't like chow mein noodles… because they were E-Fu noodles!  Maybe it's an aquired taste.  For 2009, we are going to go back to Young Chow Fried Rice.  It's still a very special and tasty dish, that everybody likes!

10)  Mango pudding
This has been our most popular dessert of the years.  Chinese pastries are okay… but mango pudding is better. It's always a tradition to have something sweet after the meal.  We thought about having Scottish blood pudding… but there is a reason why we have the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in a Chinese restaurant instead of a Scottish restaurant.  I like Chinese food better, and that includes the puddings!  Julie wants tapioca pudding, but I think the mango pudding is better.