The first international competitor at the World Scotch Pie Championships couldn’t bring his American creations to Scotland due to strict EU import laws.
Californian Kevin Haggard, 56, believes he is one of only four Scotch pie producers in the US.
He claims his recipe is just as good as anything produced in Scotland but revealed European regulations meant he had to do his cooking locally.
Thankfully he brought a ready mixed blend of spices and baked his pies at the premises of Stuart’s of Buckhaven.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I was going to win – if I did the marketing would be phenomenal,” he said.
“I couldn’t bring any meat products in and I couldn’t bring any dairy products in.”
Mr Haggard was bitten by the baking bug when he travelled around the UK as a young college student in the early 1980s.
“We travelled around and, being students, we lived on pies,” he said.
He went on to train as a baker, first in a pie shop in Australia and then under the supervision of two Scots in British Colombia.
As the proprietor of the Sunblest bakery, he runs a lucrative business providing Scotch pies for Highand games in America.
“There’s a lot of ex-pat patronage,” he added.
The contest in Dunfermline on Wednesday saw 100 butchers and bakers compete for coveted awards in 11 categories, with nearly 500 products tested by the judging panel.
This year, the macaroni pie was given its own category.
With best football pie among the prizes up for grabs, former Celtic player Simon Donnelly and Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell were invited along to judge the savouries at Carnegie Conference Centre.
Also on the judging panel was Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Donald Wilson.
The event is run by Scottish Bakers to promote the bakery trade.
Scottish Bakers chief executive Alan Clarke was delighted the contest had attracted international interest.
He said: “It has always been the World Scotch Pie Championships. We welcome pies from anyone who makes Scotch pies.
“We’ve had entries from England and Ireland but this is the first time we’ve had an entry from America.
“We call it the world championships so why not make it international?
“It means butchers and bakers are benchmarking themselves against the world’s best.”
