Cabbage and Potatoes ? Haute Cuisine in Pre-Potato Ireland

Historians, Archeologists and Scientists have teamed up under the aegis of the European Research Council to work on the Food Cult Project. Hosted by the Trinity College Dublin School of Histories and Humanities, the objective is to figure out what was on the table in Donegal, Mayo and Galway in 1635.

The census opinion is that the potato first made its appearance in Europe about 1570 by the Spanish. The potato being one of a number of innovations flooding into Europe in the wake of Spain’s conquests. “Traditional wisdom has it that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the crop to Ireland about 1585. As a staple diet for the native population, it proved to be ideal.”

But what did the Irish eat before the potato ?

The Irish Times have shed some light on the 5-year study into what the Irish ate in the 16th and 17th centuries: “ Using food as a way of exploring the past is in itself a new research area, but what marks out this project is the cross-referencing of knowledge and data that will be used to find out more about how people lived in this period.”

Highlights from the study include:

• Beer was a significant source of nutrition across Europe in the 16th and 17th century
• The Food Cult researchers are interested in finding out if the daily diet varied depending on whether people lived in coastal or inland parts of Ireland.
• Historical records point out that Irish people didn’t eat much meat – they ate salty bacon, peas, beans, butter and cheese

During this period elite groups wanted to distinguish themselves from the peasants, and food was one of the ways to do so. Historical records point to these elite groups eating ‘white foods’ which included all kinds of domesticated fowl and wild birds.

The Food Cult project is ongoing and intends to create a dietary map of everything that links different communities to what they ate during the period. A spokesman stated: “ We will be able to extract information on hops, barley, cooking pots, knives, clay pipes and plot this information all over Ireland.”

Read the full article in Irish Times and get information on the Food Cult Project using the links provided below.

https://foodcult.eu/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-short-history-of-the-potato-1.107295

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/what-was-the-food-culture-in-ireland-before-the-potato-1.4245606