Irish cuisine is a style of cooking originating from Ireland or developed by Irish people.
It evolved from centuries of social and political change. The cuisine takes its influence from
the crops grown and animals farmed in its temperate climate. The introduction of the
potato in the second half of the 16th century heavily influenced Ireland's cuisine thereafter
and, as a result, is often closely associated with Ireland. Representative Irish dishes
include Irish stew, bacon and cabbage, boxty, coddle, and colcannon.
History
There are many references to food and drink in Irish mythology and early Irish literature
such as the tale of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Salmon of Knowledge The old stories also
contain many references to banquets, although these may well be greatly exaggerated and
provide little insight into everyday diets. Honey seems to have been widely eaten and
used in the making of mead. There are also many references to fulacht fiadh, which may
have been sites for cooking deer, consisting of holes in the ground which were filled with
water. The meat was placed in the water and cooked by the introduction of hot stones.
Many fulacht fiadh sites have been identified across the island of Ireland, and some of
them appear to have been in use up to the 17th century.
Excavations at the Viking settlement in the Wood Quay area of Dublin have produced a significant
amount of information on the diet of the inhabitants of the town. The main meats eaten were beef,
mutton, and pork. Domestic poultry and geese as well as fish and shellfish were also common,
as was a wide range of native berries and nuts, especially hazel. The seeds of knotgrass
and goosefoot were widely present and may have been used to make a porridge.
From the Middle Ages, until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, the dominant
feature of the rural economy was the herding of cattle. The meat produced was mostly the
preserve of the gentry and nobility. The poor generally made do with milk, butter, cheese,
and offal, supplemented with oats and barley. The practice of bleeding cattle and mixing
the blood with milk and butter was not uncommon. Black pudding is made from blood, grain, and
seasoning, and remains a breakfast staple food in Ireland.
Potatoes form the basis for many traditional Irish dishes. The potato was introduced into
Ireland in the second half of the 16th century, initially as a garden crop. It eventually
came to be the main food crop of the poor. As a food source, the potato is extremely
valuable in terms of the amount of energy produced per unit area of crop. The potato
is also a good source of many vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin C when fresh.
Potatoes were widely cultivated, but in particular by those at a subsistence level; the diet
of this group of this period consisted mainly of potatoes supplemented with buttermilk.
Potatoes were also fed to pigs, to fatten them prior to their slaughter at the approach
of the cold winter months. Much of the slaughtered pork would have been cured to provide ham
and bacon that could be stored over the winter. Fresh meat was generally considered a luxury
except for the most affluent until the late 19th century and chickens were not raised
on a large scale until the emergence of town grocers in the 1880s allowed people to exchange
surplus goods, like eggs, and for the first time purchase a variety food items to diversify
their diet. The reliance on potatoes as a staple crop
meant that the people of Ireland were vulnerable to poor potato harvests. Consequently several
famines occurred throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The first Great Famine of 1739
was the result of extreme cold weather but the famine of 1845 to 1849 was caused by potato
blight which spread throughout the Irish crop which consisted largely of a single variety,
the Lumper. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated
from Ireland. Modern era
In the 21st century, the usual modern selection of foods common to Western culture has been
adopted in Ireland. Common meals include pizza, curry, Chinese food, and lately, some West
African dishes and East European dishes have been making an appearance, as ingredients
for these and other cuisines have become more widely available.
In tandem with these developments, and led by Myrtle Allen, the last quarter of the 20th
century saw the emergence of a new Irish cuisine based on traditional ingredients handled in
new ways. This cuisine is based on fresh vegetables, fish, oysters, mussels and other shellfish,
traditional soda bread, the wide range of cheeses that are now being made across the
country, and, of course, the potato. Traditional dishes, such as Irish stew, coddle, the Irish
breakfast, and potato bread have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Schools like the
Ballymaloe Cookery School have emerged to cater for the associated increased interest
in cooking. Fish and chips take-away is popular. The first
fish and chips were sold in Dublin in the 1880s by an Italian immigrant from San Donato
Val di Comino, Giuseppe Cervi. His wife Palma would ask customers 'Uno di questa, uno di
quella?' This phrase entered the vernacular in Dublin as 'one and one', which is still
a common way of referring to fish and chips in the city.
In much of Ulster, fish and chips are usually known as a 'fish supper'.
The proliferation of fast food has led to increasing public health problems, including
obesity, where it was reported that as many as 327,000 Irish children are now obese or
overweight and in response the Irish Government is now considering introducing a "Fast Food
Tax". Government efforts to combat obesity have also included television advertising
campaigns and education programmes in schools. Common foods
Dairy: butter, milk, buttermilk, cheese Grains: barley, oats, wheat
Freshwater fish: trout, salmon Meat: beef, chicken, goose, lamb, mutton,
pork, offal Seafood: mackerel, cod, shellfish
Vegetables: cabbage, curly kale, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onions
Fruits: apple, pear, plum, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb
Traditional foods
Breads Barmbrack – a kind of currant cake which
contains a golden ring. Traditionally eaten around Halloween.
Blaa Goody – a dessert dish
Soda bread – a popular yeast-free bread Wheaten bread
Potato bread Veda bread
Pork dishes
Bacon and cabbage Black pudding – a traditional dish made
from pigs blood, barley and seasoning Coddle – main ingredients: pork sausage,
back bacon and potato Crubeens – pig's trotters
Skirts and kidneys – a kind of pork stew Potato dishes
Boxty – a kind of potato pancake Champ – main ingredients: mashed potato,
scallions, butter and milk Colcannon – main ingredients: mashed potato,
kale or cabbage, and butter Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie – main ingredients:
mashed potato, minced lamb/beef, and vegetables Seafood
The eating of seafood, particularly shellfish has always been very popular in Ireland, especially
in coastal cities like Galway and Dublin. Such is the impact of shellfish in Irish culture
that in Dublin the fish seller is celebrated in the traditional folk song Molly Malone
and in Galway the international Galway Oyster Festival is held every September. An example
of an Irish shellfish dish is Dublin Lawyer. Salmon and cod are perhaps the two most common
types of fish eaten. Carrageen moss and Dulse are commonly used in Irish seafood dishes.
Others Drisheen – a kind of black pudding
Irish breakfast Irish stew – a kind of lamb and mutton stew
Oatmeal Traditional beverages
Alcoholic Whiskey such as Jameson Irish Whiskey, Paddy
Whiskey and Bushmills Porter or Stout such as Guinness, Murphy's
Irish Stout and Beamish stout Irish red ale such as Smithwick's
Lager such as Harp Lager Irish coffee – made with black coffee, whiskey
and whipped cream Irish cream such as Baileys
Irish Mist Mead
Poitín – a very strong spirit made from potatoes or barley.
Cider, such as Bulmers Non-alcoholic
Brown lemonade Red lemonade
Cavan Cola McDaid's Football Special
Irish breakfast tea Cidona
Tanora Club Orange
Irish chefs
See also
List of Irish dishes Northern Irish cuisine
St. Patrick's Day Notes
References Davenport, Fionn, Ireland, Lonely Planet,
ISBN 1-74104-696-3 Mitchell, Frank and Ryan, Michael. Reading
the Irish landscape. ISBN 1-86059-055-1 National Museum of Ireland. Viking and Medieval
Dublin: National Museum Excavations, 1962 – 1973..
External links Wikibooks Cookbook