Irish cuisine
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[[Image:stout.jpg|thumb|right|A pint of stout and some [[soda bread|wheaten soda bread]]]]
'''Irish cuisine''' can be divided into two main categories – traditional, mainly simple dishes, and more modern dishes, as served in restaurants and hotels.
[[Colcannon]] is a good dish made of potato and one of wild [[garlic]] (the earliest form), [[cabbage]] or curly [[kale]], (compare [[bubble and squeak]]). [[Champ (food)|Champ]] consists of [[mashed potato]] into which chopped scallions ([[spring onion]]s) are mixed.
Other examples of simple Irish meals are [[Irish stew]], and also [[bacon]] and [[cabbage]] (boiled together in water). [[Boxty]], a type of potato pancake, is another traditional dish. A dish mostly particular to [[Dublin]] is [[coddle]], which involves boiled pork [[sausage]]s. [[Ireland]] is famous for the [[Full breakfast|Irish breakfast]], a fried (or grilled) meal generally comprising [[bacon]], egg, sausage, black and white pudding, fried tomato and which may also include [[fried potato farls]] or fried potato slices.
While [[seafood]] has always been consumed by [[Irish people]], shellfish dishes have increased in popularity in recent times, especially due to the high quality of shellfish available from Ireland's coastline, e.g. [[Dublin Bay Prawn]]s, Oysters (many oyster festivals are held annually around the coast where oysters are often served with [[Guinness]], the most notable being held in [[Galway]] every September ) as well as other [[crustaceans]]. A good example of an Irish dish for shellfish is Dublin Lawyer - Lobster cooked in whiskey and cream. [[Salmon]] and [[cod]] are perhaps the two most common types of fish used.
Traditional Irish breads include [[soda bread]], [[wheaten bread]], soda farls, and [[blaa]], a doughy white bread roll particular to [[Waterford]].
==Food in early Ireland==
There are many references to food and drink in early [[Irish literature]]. [[Honey]] seems to have been widely eaten and used in the making of [[mead]]. The old stories also contain many references to banquets, although these may well be greatly exaggerated and provide little insight to every diet. There are also many references to [[fulacht fiadh]]. These were sites for cooking [[deer]], and consisted 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 [[cattle]], [[sheep]] and [[pig]]s. [[Poultry]] and wild [[goose|geese]] as well as fish and shellfish were also common, as were 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 latter half of the 17th 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 (not unlike the practice of the [[Maasai]]) was not uncommon<ref>[http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishIndependence/26.php Ireland:State of the Nation, 18th Century]</ref>. [[Black pudding]], made from blood, [[grain]] (usually barley) and [[seasoning]] remains a breakfast staple in Ireland.
==The potato in Ireland==
[[Image:Potatoes.jpg|thumb|right|200px|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]] (especially when fresh).
Potatoes were cultivated by much of the populace at a subsistence level and the diet of this period consisted mainly of potatoes supplemented with [[buttermilk]]. Potatoes were also used as a food for [[pig]]s that were fattened-up and slaughtered at the approach of the cold winter months. Much of the slaughtered [[pork]] would have been [[Curing (food preservation)|cure]]d to provide [[ham (meat)|ham]] and [[bacon]] that could be stored over the winter.
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 1846 to 1849 (see [[Great Irish Famine]]) was caused by [[potato blight]] which easily spread throughout the Irish crop which was heavily dependent on a single variety, the Lumper. Nearly 1,000,000 people died and another 2,000,000 emigrated, and some 3,000,000 people were left destitute.
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.
Traditional foods such as stews are sometimes disparagingly referred to as "famine food" – suitable for basic sustenance only.
==Food in Ireland today==
{{Life in the Republic of Ireland}}
In the 20th century the usual modern selection of foods common to [[Western culture]] has been adopted in Ireland. Europe's dishes have influenced the country, along with other world dishes introduced in a similar fashion to the rest of the western world. Common meals include pizza, curry, Chinese food, and lately, some West African dishes and East European (especially Polish) dishes have been making an appearance. Supermarket shelves now contain ingredients for traditional, European, American (Mexican/Tex-Mex), Indian, Chinese and other dishes.
The proliferation of [[fast food]] has led to increasing public health problems including [[obesity]], and one of the highest rates of [[heart disease]] in the world. Traditional Irish food and diet is also somewhat to blame, with a large emphasis on meat and [[butter]]. Government efforts to combat this have included television advertising campaigns and education programmes in schools.
In tandem with these developments, the last quarter of the 20<sup>th</sup> 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 (especially [[salmon]] and [[trout]]), [[oyster]]s, [[mussel]]s and other shellfish, traditional soda bread, the wide range of hand-made [[cheese]]s that are now being made across the country, and, of course, the potato. Traditional dishes, such as [[Irish stew]], [[coddle]], the [[Full breakfast|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.
==Misconceptions==
While [[corned beef]] and cabbage is a traditional [[Easter]] dish in Ireland, bacon and cabbage was historically more commonly had among the Irish not of noble rank due to pork's greater availability than beef to most Irish. Corned beef, rather than bacon, became far more popular in [[Irish-American]] households than it ever was in Ireland since beef was more readily available than it would have been in [[Ireland]] and immigrants had difficulty obtaining bacon or pork.<ref>[http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/CornedBeef.htm The History of Corned Beef] - The Kitchen Project(on-line) Accessed: 25 January 2007</ref>
==References==
'''Print'''
*Mitchell, Frank and Ryan, Michael. ''Reading the Irish landscape'' (1998). ISBN 1-86059-055-1
*National Museum of Ireland. ''Viking and Medieval Dublin: National Museum Excavations, 1962 - 1973''. (1973).
'''On-Line'''
{{Reflist}}
==See also==
*[[Baileys Irish Cream]]
*[[Black and Tan]]
*[[Black Pudding]]/[[White Pudding]]
*[[Full breakfast#Full Irish breakfast|Irish breakfast]]
*[[Irish Coffee]]
*[[Irish Mist]]
*[[Irish whiskey]]
*[[Saint Brendan's]]
*[[Stout beer]]
*[[Full breakfast#Ulster fry|Ulster fry]]
{{ Cuisine}}
[[Category:Irish cuisine| ]]
[[Category:Irish culture|Cuisine]]
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