Who Dares Question the Scottish-ness of Haggis?

Not Scottish novelist Alexander McCall Smith. He's defending the offal dish in yesterday's New York Times. Apparently, someone found a haggis recipe in a 17th century English cookbook. But is that proof that the English came up with haggis before the Scots? McCall Smith:

"Of course there was no published Scottish recipe for haggis before then, for the simple reason that it would have been quite unnecessary for Scots to publish a recipe for something that everybody in Scotland knew how to make. Why state the obvious? It’s as simple as that."

He continues, saying that Scots well know that it was their culture that came up with television, golf and whiskey (not the American, Dutch, or Irish cultures).

I should note that there are some who claim that it was the Chinese, those creators of noodles, the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing who invented golf. And maybe skiing, before the Norwegians.

It's a matter of pride to me that my people, the Minnesotans, invented the post-it note, scotch tape and masking tape, water skiing, frozen pizza, indoor shopping malls, spam, roller blades and the snowmobile.

Haggis, which is traditionally sheep's offal with spices and oatmeal stuffed into a sheep's stomach, is one of my favorite culinary treats.