I’m interrupting this week’s series of posts on Florida trains to remind you that today is the 264th birthday of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. On this day, Scots traditionally have a Burns supper, a meal that is centered on haggis, which is made from sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs wrapped with oats and spices in a sheep’s stomach. Though it sounds unappetizing, it is supposed to have a “nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour” (as cited by Wikipedia).

Click image to view and download a PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

Although Canadian Pacific was headquartered in French-speaking Montreal, its heritage was more Scottish than anything else. Nearly all of its founders, including George Stephen, Donald Smith, Duncan McIntyre, John Kennedy, Richard Angus, and James J. Hill were either born in Scotland or (in Hill’s case) born in Canada to Scottish parents.

Probably more important was that the first European port-of-call to Canadian Pacific’s eastbound Atlantic steamships (and last to westbound ships) was in Scotland. In any case, today’s Empress of Australia menu from Burns’ 171st birthday featured a Burns supper with haggis, and those who didn’t appreciate haggis could select instead a baron of Scotch Beef.

One of the seafood options was langoustine, a smaller relative of lobster caught off the West Coast of Scotland. The musical program also featured Scottish melodies and songs, although it isn’t clear from the menu whether these songs were played on bagpipes, which was another Burns supper tradition.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Canadian Pacific’s steamships featured a series of menus commemorating various artists, one of which was Robert Burns. This menu, being much older, is not part of that series, though it may have helped inspire that series.