Half-Baked

No, the title of this blog entry does not come from my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor of ice cream, if you must know, I was a “One Sweet Whirled” fan but I believe that flavor has been discontinued. This title comes from the way I have been doing quite a few things in my life lately. Don’t worry; I am beginning to see that doing things in a “half-baked” manner is not always the best way to proceed. Things are beginning to turn around though. Today I turned in course approval forms for the classes I took in Ireland (they only should have been submitted months ago…) and right now I am beginning the process of getting back on track with this blog. Since I have not done the best job with making posts on a regular basis, I figured it was only fair I admit to you that this blog is somewhat “half-baked.” You know what else is half-baked though, the history of Irish cuisine. Thus, we have our blog topic folks!

Now I know what you are thinking: “Maura, have you not ever had corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day? What about a delicious Guinness stew?” I would like to counter the thoughts you may or may not have just had with these little anecdotes. When my friend from home Bridget asked my roommate Fiona (via Skype) if she ate corned beef and cabbage often, Fiona responded with “What is that?” When Lindsay asked our roommates where we could find good, traditional Irish food at a restaurant in Cork, they told us that no such restaurant would survive if their menu was based on Irish dishes. Apparently the Irish are not particularly fond of the food we Americans have come to associate them with.

Reasons for this phenomenon? Perhaps you are familiar with the event textbooks love to include as the main element of Irish history. The Great Famine. I think we have all learned about the Great Famine at one point or another. Usually textbooks stress the main point of the famine as a period of time when potatoes in Ireland were affected by a disease known as blight, leaving many Irish people hungry. The more accurate telling of the story includes the fact that potatoes were not actually native to Ireland, more than one spell of blight occurred, and it was the Irish’s extreme reliance on one crop as a main food source that ultimately made the blight result in such catastrophe. The effects of the famine lasted for years after the last season of potato crops were affected by blight. The Irish population was drastically reduced as thousands died from starvation, malnutrition, and diseases that preyed on weakened, hungry individuals.

One of the other effects of the potato blight that I know was never discussed in any of my lower level history classes was its effect on the food history of Ireland. When you think about it though, it makes complete sense. It basically paused the development of any type of cuisine for years in Ireland. Food is such a large part of culture too. Pasta – Italy. Croissants – France. Waffles – Belgium. Bratwurst – Germany. The list could go on and on. The Irish really do not have a large association with any one type of food though. Yes, parts of Ireland are ideal for raising cattle for beef and cows for dairy products, and the rest of the world may make the association of potatoes and Ireland but really there is no strong cuisine that comes out of Ireland.

I am not saying this is a necessarily good or bad thing. Really it is convenient for all of us living today. While other countries have maintained roughly the same cuisines for centuries, the Irish are able to create their own now, in a world where food technology is far more advanced that ever before. Our advantage is that we get to enjoy the benefits of such development. It may be impossible to know exactly where the cuisine in Ireland will end up going but it is exciting to know that we will all get to watch firsthand as it develops and who knows, perhaps students I studied with at UCC who are in the Food Science department will even play key roles in aiding the development.

As a note, I would like to acknowledge, thank, and credit the lecturers of the “Introduction to Irish History for Visiting Students” module at UCC. The series of lectures provided me with an excellent base in multiple and varying aspects of Irish history and enabled me to write this blog as an informed student.