Nutrition And Culinary Features In Ireland

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Video: Nutrition And Culinary Features In Ireland

Video: Nutrition And Culinary Features In Ireland
Video: TP OH 2021 [Diploma Talk] Food, Nutrition & Culinary Science 2024, November
Nutrition And Culinary Features In Ireland
Nutrition And Culinary Features In Ireland
Anonim

Outside of Ireland it is often thought Irish food consists only of potatoes and mutton. How wrong. Food and cooking in Ireland are steeped in history and heritage, and Irish food is based on the richness of ingredients offered by the sea, land and pastures. Home and family in Ireland play an important role in Irish food and cooking and cooking is still the heart of every home.

History of Irish food

Countless influences have left their mark on Irish food over the centuries since the arrival of the Celts in Ireland from 600 to 500 BC, during the Vikings and the English colonization of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Cattle played an important role in Irish food from the Middle Ages until the arrival of potatoes in Ireland in the 16th century. Meat was mainly food for the rich, along with dairy products, cheese and butter, which were supplemented with cereals such as barley.

Potatoes in Ireland - a blessing and a curse

Potatoes arrived in Ireland in the middle to the end of the 16th century. The humid cool Irish climate and soil conditions proved to be perfect for potatoes, and they quickly evolved from ordinary garden vegetables to a staple food for both humans and animals, as they were cheap to grow and even a small plot of land could produce abundant harvest.

Irish pancakes
Irish pancakes

The high content of minerals and vitamins in potatoes also made them a perfect, inexpensive food for the poor in Ireland and they were a welcome change from the cereals on which people depended.

However, addiction to potatoes as a staple food also proved to be a curse for the Irish potato starvation in Ireland. The first, in 1739, was the result of cold weather, but the famine of 1845-49 in Ireland was caused by potato disease: a rapidly spreading disease that destroyed potato crops and killed more than 1,000,000 Irish people. Of the survivors, more than two million emigrated (many to the United States and Britain), and the rest in Ireland became very poor.

However, potatoes remain a staple food in Ireland, served almost daily as part of the meal.

Unlike other countries, boiled potatoes are served here in their skin, which is removed from the table. This ensures that most of the nutrients remain in the potatoes during cooking.

Food in Ireland today

Like the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe, Ireland has a thriving modern culture of eating, fast food and ethnic restaurants located mainly in the big cities. Younger chefs have adopted the legacy of their food and often work with familiar recipes, which, however, they create in new ways.

Irish bread with chocolate
Irish bread with chocolate

Photo: Stella Tserkovska

Meat

The pig is the oldest domestic animal in Ireland and its presence is still widespread in the food and cooking in the country with sausages, bacon, which appear in many recipes.

Irish beef is world famous and nothing can be complete without beef or Celtic steak (fried steak with Irish whiskey).

Fish and seafood

Surrounded by the sea, with rivers and lakes, fish and seafood naturally play an important role in Irish cuisine. Oysters, crabs, lobsters and lobsters, mussels, white fish, fresh and smoked salmon are easily found and used throughout Ireland.

Irish cheese

In the early 20th century, Irish cheese had a slightly bad reputation, as most cheeses came from large producers. All this changed in the 1970s, when enterprising dairy farmers returned to artisanal cheese production and revived long-lost art in Ireland. Today, Irish cheese is known worldwide for its quality and distinctive taste.

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