Irish cuisine - Knowledge

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presence of Ireland's largely acidic soils. However, available archeological evidence of food remains, together with discoveries of Mesolithic food-harvesting tools and the relationship of local environments with settlement sites, provide an understanding of what may have eaten. Settlement sites, in particular, have supported notable insight into the dietary habits of the Mesolithic Irish. For example, the proximity of Mesolithic settlements to water systems point to groups or individuals who ate marine species. The predominant location of Mesolithic Irish settlements are close to water systems, and therefore suggests a diet rich in vegetation, marine life, and smaller mammals, as distinct from their British and Native American contemporaries whose settlements further inland influenced a diet more substantive with meat. For example, deer features minimally in archeological discoveries, thought to be particularly due to the infrequent presence of deer along coastal regions, bays, and estuaries.

2344: 2172:, apple, and haws as present in Medieval cesspits. Apples are frequently mentioned in Medieval texts of various kinds, particularly in reference to sweet varieties as valuable and rare offerings to nobles and lords, and sour breeds as used to make cider, verjus, vinegar, and medicine. That theological and dietetic discourse affected these texts also affected the corresponding behaviors by which certain foods were consumed—to eat apples raw, for example, was frowned upon by medieval physicians and so apples were generally cooked into puddings, or fermented into drinks. 3040: 270: 255: 980: 2653: 7152: 12696: 282: 2718: 7163: 1732: 2144:, according to recipe books of the 13th and 14th centuries. Pulses and legumes also did not grow well in wet, acidic soil, and were generally avoided as a crop, but the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, their new method of crop-rotation, and the coinciding increase of pulse production in Ireland at the time signals the growing of pulses as a means to improve conditions for wheat crops (a crop which thrives in the nitrogen-rich soils left over by a previous crop of pulses or legumes). 2096:

highest-ranking nobleman, though cow and goat milk were considered higher-ranking milks than sheep's. Common and small birds were afforded to be eaten by commoners, whereas larger or rarer birds such as swans were reserved for royalty (queens, particularly, in the case of swans). Larger eggs of larger birds species were also permitted only to high class individuals for the basic reason that things of greater quantity or volume were given first to people of higher class status.

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herbs and small amounts of butter. Free married women were generally entitled to half of what their husbands were entitled to, but it was considered a punishable offense to deny a pregnant woman of any food she craved. This was thought to have been designed in part to protect women from miscarriage. Further dietetic rationale within these laws deemed only soft foods permissible to feed children, including soft eggs,

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held large quantities of food. The laborious nature of preparing food, in addition to that of building these hearths would likely have required multiple actors working over long periods of time to finalize a meal, which suggests that cooking food would have been a social activity, likely with roles of responsibility distributed among the workers and hence a social structure.

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grades of semi-free peasants—with these grades often further subdivided—in order to help guide judges through cases based on customary law. As it was often difficult to distinguish one's class based on looks alone, food was used as a social cue so people could distinguish another's social position, and therefore accommodate them with the appropriate reception.

2132:; a thin, white wafer. This monastic bread was typically made from barley, oat, and pulse flours baked on ashes or dried into biscuits, but the making of a special wheat-based wafer was reserved for Sundays. As a sacred and rare food, wheat production was a heavily monitored and controlled operation, and wheat products were sometimes used as currency. 1433:

was a preferred medium given the placement of troughs over or near natural springs, and for their close proximity to irrigation channels carved into the earth which could have assisted in draining the pit after it was used. Other pits, such as those dug into sand or removed from water sources, are thought to have been used as subterranean ovens.

1208:, and caching nuts and seeds. As various plants are fertile only biannually, and the migratory patterns of animals can change over time, these food-gathering activities would have been significantly varied and as such, would have required attention and understanding of environmental and animal behaviours. 2254:

Fresh meat was generally considered a luxury except for the most affluent until the late-19th century. A pig was often kept for bacon and was known as the "gentleman that pays the rent". Potatoes were also fed to pigs, to fatten them prior to their slaughter at the approach of the cold winter months.

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Fragile plant life erodes and disappears quickly compared to grain chaff that fossilizes easily, what evidence is recovered may present a distorted assessment of what ratio of cereals to plant life was consumed at the time only because there is no empirical data of such eroded materials. The presence

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to certain foods consequently constructed the perspective of certain foods as being luxurious, and others as being common, but also created distinct nutritional staples for different levels of this stratified society. For example, the lowest-class free commoner was liberally entitled to barley, oats,

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with some minor attention to free married women, but they do not describe what foods were entitled to peasants. This is because peasants were considered only semi-free (accommodated and thus 'owned' by their landlords) and were therefore not entitled to hospitable offers of food or beverage. There is

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During the Middle Ages in Ireland, laws were written to allow only certain foods to certain classes of people. As the accommodation of guests and its embedded acts of hospitality including the offering of food was a strong social convention of Ireland during this time, people entertained at the homes

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was compulsory on all free landowners to welcome kings, bishops, or judges into their homes, with a wider superstitious fear held by the Irish of the consequences of turning away anyone. Much evidence for early Irish food exists in the law texts and poetry which were written down from the 7th and 8th

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were established in low-lying agricultural lands and similar environments not supportive of optimal hunting conditions. As well, the faunal remains recovered from such sites are typically feature the long, upper limb bones of domesticated livestock, archeologically associated with animal exploitation

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The starving people tried eating the potatoes, and became extremely sick from eating them. They began eating a diet of eggs, birds, and plants like nettles and chickweed. Many farmers bled their cattle out and fried the blood rather than eat their meat. With the cattle as malnourished as the people,

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Distinct from preceding eras, the Middle Ages ushered the development of dense urban centers that dramatically affected preexisting food systems by changing both physical and societal infrastructures. The spread and increasing normalization of a new type of civilian who did not produce or hunt their

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were returned to and used often, but that they were fixtures of social gatherings both large and small. This is furthered by the presence of large assemblages of animal bones, as well as the mounds' notable distance from developed settlements, and the substantive size of the troughs—expected to have

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also suggests a greater consumption of domestically farmed animals, and might also imply fish were cooked differently or respective of livestock. Many sites feature indications of stake-hole clusters that may have once supported tripods and spits used for draining the blood from- or cooking recently

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It is understood that both direct and indirect cooking methods were important features of Irish cuisine during the Bronze Age (2000—600BCE). The former used open fires to cook foods supported by ceramic vessels, spits, or surface griddles, while the latter used methods to heat surrounding mediums of

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The potato was first 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

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meats were likewise considered low-class foods as wild animals derived from ungoverned lands were considered accessible to all classes and thus common. This was contrary to cattle which belonged to the lands of respective lords and made beef a privatized, restricted, and thus more coveted food. The

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for the purpose of extracting their natural oils which would have accumulated atop the water's surface, then skimmed and used or stored. Boiling is thought to have been a choice cooking method during the Bronze Age; the method provided good retention of calories in foods. Boiling meat, for example,

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are understood to have been brought to the island from continental Europe, in addition to red deer, which marked new and increasingly significant species in the Irish diet. For example, evidence of enclosures couching large assemblages of charred cattle bones suggests the cooking and consumption of

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such as lipid and plant residues preserved in the clay matrix of pottery vessels observe a diversity of plant- and animal-life in the diet of the Neolithic Irish, including berries, leafy vegetables, tubers, legumes, meats, seafoods, and nuts. These in combination with the agricultural developments

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of the prehistoric Irish can be difficult to capture, especially given the island's temperate climate and prevalence of wet, acidic soils that are quick to erode organic material, but thanks to extensive evaluation of biochemical and isotopic signatures recovered from human bone and pottery sherds,

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where ash, burnt shells, fish, and pig bones were discovered in a dug-out depression, the diminutive size of the fish bones suggests they were cooked on skewers or directly on hot rocks. The presence of burnt mounds of stones indicate cooking methods likely focused on direct heating methods such as

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and cockles, and rocky shorelines for limpets so different harvesting strategies would have been required to harvest and profit from different varieties of shellfish. As well, that freshwater, coastal, and in-shore marine life features greater than deep-sea species in archaeological evidence of the

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and birds of prey (remains of which have been found in Mesolithic bone assemblages, but are otherwise absent in isotopic analysis of human bones) suggests a particular understanding of certain animals as sources of food, others that served symbolic or medicinal purposes (as they were in other parts

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in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which introduced a new agro-alimentary system of intensive grain-based agriculture and led to large areas of land being turned over to grain production. The rise of a commercial market in grain and meat altered the diet of the Irish populace by redirecting

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Carden, R. F., McDevitt, A. D., Zachos, F. E., Woodman, P. C., O’Toole, P., Rose, H., ... & Edwards, C. J. (2012). Phylogeographic, ancient DNA, fossil and morphometric analyses reveal ancient and modern introductions of a large mammal: the complex case of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Ireland.

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would only surface later in Ireland during the 14th century, and because ale had a short shelf-life that did not import or export well, ale-brewing was a significant industry in urban centers for providing what was then valued as a nutritious dietary staple. Cheap and widely available, oat was the

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The meat was generally cooked fresh and unspiced, or salted and was boiled in a cauldron. Sometimes it was flavored with honey, sometimes supplied at the table in a dish for dipping. There are many descriptions of meat boiled in a cauldron in a form of stew. One recipe appears to have used "purple

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are typically found lined with insulating materials like stone, timber, and other organic materials, and divided with partitions suspected to have been intended to separate the hot stones from edible materials, or to divide different types of foods. It is thought that the use of clean, fresh water

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in medieval texts refers to the direct cooking of food on a spit, it is thought that its origins reside in such Neolithic sites that may have been chiefly used for indirect cooking methods involving hot stones, suggesting at least that the term and its derivatives refer to the activity of cooking.

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The introduction of agricultural management greatly influenced new dietary staples of the Irish communities. While attention on farming crops witnessed a decline in the consumption of wild forage, changes in the landscape also offered new foraging opportunities for wild plant life which would have

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The sizable presence of hazelnuts in many archaeological assemblages in both Mesolithic Ireland and Britain suggests the nut was important, and may have even been used as a form of currency, as acorns were for Native Americans of California during the same period. There is an indication that these

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Irish women in domestic service later gained the experience with ingredients abundant in America and altered Irish cuisine to be foods for pleasure. In Ireland food was designed based on caloric intake, instead of for pleasure, such as foods in America. Traditional Irish dishes started to include

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The specificity of these foods was precise and provided such laws that decided, for example, to whom individual sections of beef were entitled, or in what quantities food was expected to be given and to what kind of person. These 7th- and 8th-century law texts describe 7 grades of commoners and 3

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While burnt mounds of similar natures have been discovered around Europe, Ireland hosts the greatest number of these sites, which suggests that indirect cooking methods were significant in Irish cuisine during the time. These mounds tend to feature a notable amount of stones, thought to be due to

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Irish were a hunter-gatherer society that ate a diet of varied floral and faunal sources. Discoveries of food byproducts such as bone fragments and sea shells are key indicators of the dietary habits of the Mesolithic Irish, as immediate food products have long since decomposed —especially in the

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Based on dietetic rationale, certain foods could travel between ranks under special conditions, such as during injury, pregnancy, menstruation, and illness, when individuals were understood to require more substantial nutrition. All free people during sickness were, for example, permitted garden

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are structures made principally to facilitate the indirect cooking of food—methods significantly slower and longer than direct heating applications—provides further reasoning that these mounds were places for special occasions where people chose to spend long periods of time eating and communing

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suggests the consumption of marine life, what archeological evidence of food has been recovered points to a sharp decline in the consumption of aquatic species, converse to the notable consumption of marine life by the Mesolithic Irish. The advancements of farming during the Neolithic period are

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This in combination with the prevalence of settlements along waterways suggests key dietary staples of the Mesolithic Irish were marine and floral sources of food. Additionally, that boar was brought to Ireland by early Mesolithic colonists and features frequently in archeological assemblages of

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Additionally, Ireland's position as an island and thus the unique composition of biodiversity and geography suggests its Mesolithic people enjoyed a somewhat dissimilar diet to their proximal contemporaries. For example, prehistoric Ireland's paucity of small mammals, and its absences of species

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Quickly-perishable foods, and those not grown at a commercial scale, such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables are underrepresented in historical records, but archeological evidence suggests such foods were nonetheless important seasonal supplements to the Irish diet. As evidence suggests most urban

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emerged in response to the newfound importance of livestock. This is further compounded by the scarcity of game animal remains throughout all sites, and otherwise prevalence of sheep, pig, and cattle bones. This is not to discredit the lesser though still significant presence of red deer bones.

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in the 12th and 13th centuries ushered a population boom that brought with it new foods born of foreign trade and new methods of production. The Anglo-Normans in particular propagated a commercial economy that encouraged urban settlement and the steady trade of local and foreign commodities by

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Though the Mesolithic Irish were a hunter-gatherer people, such assemblages as middens, discoveries of lithic tools and technologies, and seasonal organization of animal remains alludes to understandings of environmental management to meet subsistence needs. For example, the transportation and

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As religious doctrine heavily influenced these law tracts, Sundays were observed with greater leniency and some foods typically reserved for higher classes were shared with those of lower status. Cow, goat, and sheep milks were staple foods in all classes, from the lowest free commoner to the

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Irish-owned shipping was severely restricted under English governance from the late 16th century on. Ireland was traditionally a cattle-based economy and fish was associated with religious fasting. It was the traditional food of fast on Fridays, in common with other Catholic countries. Also,

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Tea was introduced during Ireland's time as part of the United Kingdom and became increasingly popular, especially during the 19th century. Irish people are now amongst the highest per capita tea drinkers in the world. Tea is drunk hot and with milk at all times of the day. Slightly stronger

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Documentary data such as medieval law tracts, literature on the lives of saints, as well as early records of land holdings provide insight into how food was grown and distributed among society. As such documents were generally concentrated on the literate upper classes of Ireland, additional

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faunal bones, points to another noteworthy staple in the Mesolithic Irish diet. Despite the scarcity of plant-based artifacts in light of Ireland's wet weather and acidic soil, biochemical assessments of human bone have been used to provide evidence for a variety of floral sources, including

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Archeobotanical evidence from the Bronze Age is hard to recover due in part to Ireland's temperate weather and acidic soils, but fossilized hazelnut shells have survived at sites, as well as evidence of elm bark, which is supposed to have been used as feed for livestock and people alike.

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are scarce in archaeological assemblages, and understood to have been generally avoided as a source of food, as they were in most contemporary Mesolithic Europe. Likewise, while cereals were unlikely to have been yet consumed due to the processing required to make them digestible,

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their repeated use over hundreds of years, and for the volume of stones needed to heat water to adequate cooking temperatures. Such technology could likely have facilitated a dual purpose for the use in building steam lodges, which were common in parts of Europe at the time, but

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of others expected the service of specific foods. Consequently, if a guest was 'entitled' to a certain food and did not receive it during their accommodation, they could justly accuse their host of failing to meet their obligations of hospitality which was a punishable offense.

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seafood—particularly shellfish—became associated with the poor and the shame of colonisation. However, seafood has remained an important part of the diet in coastal communities, and the consumption of fresh fish and seafood is now undergoing a resurgence all over Ireland.

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This was problematic at first due to Irish women clinging to foods and ingredients common in Ireland. This caused much prejudice towards Irish women and many would mock the Irish's lack of cooking skills without considering the famine and poverty Irish women grew up with.

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Gary Conboy, 'A report on the archeological excavations at Inchirourke, Co. Tipperary', unpublished report, Valerie J. Keeley on behalf of Tipperary County Inchaquire, Co. Kildare', unpublished report prepared for Headland Archeology on behalf of Kildare County Council,

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and dairy products, whereas then penultimate low-class commoner was allowed this in addition to baked breads, though neither were permitted to goods derived of rye or wheat as such cereals were rare in Ireland (and thus privileged only to upper classes of people).

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The consumption of seafood, despite Ireland's enormous coastline, is not as common as in other maritime countries. Irish people eat seafood well below the European average. It may have been more common in the past but declined markedly in the last few centuries.

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and culling techniques suggests a food source potentially purposefully semi-domesticated, as well as a species important to the Mesolithic communities of Ireland. Research into the composition of middens, as well, suggests that these Irish communities understood

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The fundamentally seasonal nature of the Mesolithic diet and the various seasonally-conscripted food-gathering activities affected the time and social organization of the Mesolithic Irish during the year. Such activities would have consisted the hunting and

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Ireland, with grass growth ten months of the year and no need to shelter cattle in extreme winter conditions, has always produced quality dairy products. Dairy was an important part of the ancient Irish diet, and this is backed up by archaeological record.

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Despite Ireland's coastal geography, there is no evidence of seaweed collection among the Mesolithic Irish in archaeological remains, as well as little evidence of deep-water ocean species. However, the presence of shellfish and in-shore fish—particularly

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in Irish, that are understood to be the remnants of burning and/or cooking sites. Yet, despite all such advancements, there was a noticeable absence in the presence of cutlery, cooking, or other eating implements among recovered archeological artifacts.

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that causes potato blight. This had turned their potatoes diseased and useless, putting many who are already in poverty into deeper poverty. The crop had failed due to potato blight in 1845–46, had little success in 1847, and failed once again in 1848.

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to escape poverty, and were exposed to new ingredients and foods not common in Ireland, such as a greater variety of meats and produce. Entering domestic service in America, they had to adapt their cooking to please the upper-class in America.

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The perishable nature of fruits and vegetables also changed the ways in which they were consumed by challenging consumers to develop methods of preserving them. Cooking and fermenting are already examples, but fruits were also commonly dried,

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Nakazawa, Y., Straus, L. G., González-Morales, M. R., Solana, D. C., & Saiz, J. C. (2009). On stone-boiling technology in the Upper Paleolithic: behavioral implications from an Early Magdalenian hearth in El Mirón Cave, Cantabria, Spain.

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typically feature significant assemblages of charred faunal remains, which argues they were used predominantly as cooking sites. It has been considered that these sites were impromptu cooking locations used particularly by hunters, but most

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Both written record and archeological data indicate that sheep, cow, and goat milks made for the staple source of protein for most people, while oat, barley, and rye cereals comprised the typical source of carbohydrate, consumed usually as

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Vegetarian diets were known among the strict monastic orders, but it was not compulsory. However, those that did eat meat were only permitted to eat wild pig or deer. Monks lived on a staple gruel made with water or milk and meal known as

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The early agricultural utilization of the Irish landscape: the last word on the elm decline? T. Reeves-Smith, F. Hamond (Eds.), Landscape Archaeology in Ireland, Oxford: British Archaeological Reports International Series 116(1983), pp.

2198:, made with oatmeal and herbs served to sick was one such dish accompanied by a fruit relish, notably on Sundays. The recovery of several fruit presses also suggests that fruits were pressed into juices, though only at a domestic scale. 1367:, charred mounds of stones in close proximity to the remains of domesticated livestock, in addition to being accompanied by pits understood to have held water. Stones belonging to these mounds, the majority of which are large pieces of 4304:

Whitehouse, N. J., Schulting, R. J., McClatchie, M., Barratt, P., McLaughlin, T. R., Bogaard, A., ... & Bunting, M. J. (2014). Neolithic agriculture on the European western frontier: the boom and bust of early farming in Ireland.

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meat were forbidden. Fowl in general does not seem to have featured much in the diet. There is also evidence for taboos related to totem animals amongst certain groups or tribes for whom consumption of these animals was forbidden.

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A. Bogaard, T.H.E. Heaton, P. Poulton, I.Merbach The impact of manuring on nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals: archaeological implications for reconstruction of diet and crop management practices J. Archaeol. Sci., 34 (2007), pp.

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The situation changed for the poor, who made up 75 percent of the population of around nine million by 1840. Potatoes formed the basis of many Irish dishes and were eaten both by the Anglo-Irish gentry and the mass of the people.

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As ritual sites were often marked by the production and display of commemorative items, the suggestion that these sites were sometimes spaces of notable communal gathering is further substantiated by the discoveries of monuments,

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the meat was not fit for consumption, so they resorted to using the blood mixed with herbs, garlic, oats and butter, to use as a subsistence meal. The extremely desperate and malnourished ate rats and worms found off the street.

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assumed to have influenced this decline, in tandem with the heightened consumption of farmed animals, cereals, and the very influential introduction of dairying, which coincided similar advancements in other Neolithic societies.

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offer further insight into less-common foods such as wild forage, foreign imports, and garden-grown goods that supplemented the diets of upper-class people, and substantiated those of whom could not afford food from the market.

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In tandem with these developments, 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 (especially

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The dominant feature of the rural economy was the herding of cattle. Cows were not generally slaughtered for meat unless old or injured, but male cattle, if not destined to be oxen, were often slaughtered at one or two years.

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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 of food items to diversify their diet.

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large quantities of beef, potentially during large communal gatherings. As they were during the Mesolithic period, hazelnuts were still prevalent discoveries at many Neolithic sites, though their presence declines toward the

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Beer was a prerequisite of a noble's house and was usually brewed from barley, although a wheat beer was also made. Malting kilns are a common find in archaeological digs in Ireland and appear from early Christian times on.

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Cramp, L. J., Jones, J., Sheridan, A., Smyth, J., Whelton, H., Mulville, J., ... & Evershed, R. P. (2014). Immediate replacement of fishing with dairying by the earliest farmers of the northeast Atlantic archipelagos.

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likewise suggests their roles in the construction and maintenance of basic food procurement technologies like fish traps. There is even some suggestion of the Mesolithic Irish being actively engaged in land snail farming.

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bark is also suspected to have been a prized source of food for being particularly rich in nutrients, as well as featuring in the diets of other northern Mesolithic European communities, the Scandinavian in particular.

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as well as fish and shellfish were also common, as was a wide range of native berries and nuts, especially hazelnuts. The seeds of knotgrass and goosefoot were widely present and may have been used to make a porridge.

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Traditional porridge was cooked from oats, barley or wheat meal mixed with water, buttermilk or new milk and cooked to a smooth consistency. This was accompanied by either heavily salted butter, fresh butter or honey.

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Warren, Graeme; Davis, Steve; McClatchie, Meriel; Sands, Rob (9 October 2013). "The potential role of humans in structuring the wooded landscapes of Mesolithic Ireland: a review of data and discussion of approaches".

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was stored for safety and allowed to ferment by being buried in bogs which provides a stable temperature in an anaerobic environment facilitating the aging process. The end product may have been something similar to

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Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Mukherjee, A. J., Dudd, S. N., Straker, V., Payne, S., & Evershed, R. P. (2005). Dairying in antiquity. III. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Neolithic.

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Wheat was difficult to grow in Ireland's wet, acidic soils, but the Anglo-Normans nonetheless worked to intensify its production as it was a coveted grain to the upper-classes, and vital in the creation of the

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Ripper, S., Beamish, M., Bayliss, A., Ramsey, C. B., Brown, A., Collins, M., ... & Greig, J. (2012, January). Bogs, bodies and burnt mounds: visits to the Soar wetlands in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. In

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Until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, grains such as oats, wheat and barley, cooked either as porridge or bread, formed the staple of the Irish diet. The most common form of bread consisted of

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Due to Ireland's geography and the locations of Mesolithic settlements, the variety of food sources available to the Mesolithic Irish was consequently unique. Outside of boar, large predators including the

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Contrarily, while highly-accessible oats were considered 'poor' food, they were also valued as nutritious and easily-digestible, and thus made a staple for children, as well as cheap fuel for horses. Oat

1573:. While oats were the most commonly used grain, bread made from wheat was regarded as a luxury of the aristocratic class. Bread and milk formed the staple of the Irish diet for millennia. From Latin came 1166:—in the Irish Mesolithic diet is impressive. The absence of evidence for seal is a notable contrast with Mesolithic Scotland, where archaeological sites demonstrate the significant exploitation of seals. 4638:

Manuring and stable nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals and pulses: towards a new archaeobotanical approach to the inference of land use and dietary practices. J. Archaeol. Sci., 38 (2011), pp. 2790-2804

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McClatchie, M., Bogaard, A., Colledge, S., Whitehouse, N. J., Schulting, R. J., Barratt, P., & McLaughlin, T. R. (2016). Farming and foraging in Neolithic Ireland: an archaeobotanical perspective.

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was made by kneading grains and butter together into a type of paste and was known for its medicinal qualities, especially for monks on strict penitential diets. It may have been an early form of

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when fresh. Potatoes were widely cultivated, but in particular by those at a subsistence level. The diet of this group in this period consisted mainly of potatoes supplemented with buttermilk.

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Krause-Kyora, B., Makarewicz, C., Evin, A., Flink, L. G., Dobney, K., Larson, G., ... & Nebel, A. (2013). Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe.

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are usually known as a "fish supper". The restaurant from which the food is purchased and the food itself is often referred to as a "chippy" throughout many northern regions of the country.

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The deliberate positioning of such settlements also suggests a cultural preference for particular foods. Also unique to settlements positioned close to water systems are large mounds of

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Grindon, A. J., & Davison, A. (2013). Irish Cepaea nemoralis land snails have a cryptic Franco-Iberian origin that is most easily explained by the movements of Mesolithic humans.

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Fruit and herb consumption in the medieval period was particularly encapsulated in a medicinal fervour as unique fruits were prescribed and avoided for reasons concerning health.

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of vegetables, in particular, is therefore minimal in archeological assemblages, but fruit—via fossilized seeds and pits—consequently features more frequently, with evidence of

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in Irish, are understood to be the remnants of cooking sites in Ireland that emerged in the early Neolithic Period but came to prominence during the Bronze Age. While the word

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is thought to have been a preferred cooking application for both helping to retain moisture in lean meats, for rendering fatty deposits in coarser cuts, as well as extracting

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behaviours, and optimal harvest periods for respective marine species. Different species of shellfish require different environmental conditions, such as intertidal flats for

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Viner-Daniels, S. (2013). The archaeology of Livestock and cereal production in early medieval Ireland, AD 400-1100 de F. McCormick; T. Kerr.; M. Mcclatchie y A. O' Sullivan.

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dwellings were furnished with gardens, the growth and harvest of a variety of fresh fruits, herbs, and vegetables would have provided variety of the diets of urban dwellers.

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While most foods would have been eaten raw and out-of-hand, archaeological evidence has provided insight into Mesolithic food processing techniques, such as crude forms of

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Pulses such as peas, broad beans, and lentils were grown and dried since early medieval times, becoming common with the Normans. Berries and nuts were extensively eaten.

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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,

1297:, and dryland grasses were introduced to Ireland in only recent centuries, and were therefore absent from the diet of Neolithic Irish. Likewise, although the remains of 2481:

considered introducing a fast-food tax. Government efforts to combat obesity have also included television advertising campaigns and educational programmes in schools.

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Mac Con Iomaire, M. (2008) "Searching for Chefs, Waiters and Restaurateurs in Edwardian Dublin: A Culinary Historian's Experience of the 1911 Dublin Census Online" in

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appears to have been grown as a root vegetable, but this is no longer used. Watercress, sorrel, parsley, and nettles were picked wild and eaten raw or added to broth.

4248:

Pilcher, J. R., & Smith, A. G. (1979). Palaeoecological investigations at Ballynagilly, a Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

1253:

The cultivation and processing of cereals, as well as the maintenance of livestock in farming scenarios saw the significant consumption of new foods, particularly

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which means "abounding in shells", references the area's historic plenitude of shellfish in the river and its estuary, as well as the middens common to the area.

10147: 9690: 8613: 5917:

McCormick, F., Kerr, T., McClatchie, M., & O’Sullivan, A. (2011). The archaeology of livestock and cereal production in early medieval Ireland, AD 400–1100.

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McClatchie, M., Whitehouse, N., Schulting, R., Bogaard, A., & Barratt, P. (2009). Cultivating societies: new insights into agriculture in Neolithic Ireland.

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begin to describe the dramatic changes in the dietary practices and eating behaviours of the prehistoric Irish people, distinct from their Mesolithic ancestors.

4839:

Movius, H. L. (1966). The hearths of the Upper Perigordian and Aurignacian horizons at the Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies (Dordogne), and their possible significance.

4168:

Hodgson, S., & Quinn, T. P. (2002). The timing of adult sockeye salmon migration into freshwater: adaptations by populations to prevailing thermal regimes.

8710: 3888:

Amkreutz, L. W. S. W., & Corbey, R. H. A. (2008). An eagle-eyed perspective. Haliaeetus albicilla in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Area.

2208:

There is also documentation of a wine trade between Ireland and Biscay from the 7th century, as well as early Irish texts that reference a wine imported from

852:. It has developed from antiquity through centuries of social and political change and the mixing of different cultures, predominantly with those from nearby 1675:

Both domestic pig and wild boar were eaten. The pork was probably the most common meat consumed in Ireland. Pigs were fattened on acorns in the forests. The

4830:

Margaret McCarthy, 'Animal bone report from excavations at Balgeeth, Co. Meath', unpublished report, CRDS Ltd. on behalf of Meath County Council, 2010, 38.

6812: 8087: 5630:

Con Manning,'The excavations of the Early Christian enclosure of Killederdadrum in Lackenavorna, Co. Tipperary', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy C

1035:

in Ireland and advances in farming technology, archaeological evidence such as the discovery of stone tools, bone assemblages, archeobotanical evidence,

4496:

Walsh, F. (2011). Archaeology of Two Townlands (Part I): from Stone Age settlers to 19th-century farmers at Monanny and Cloghvally Upper, Co. Monaghan.

1204:

of seasonal plants and animals when they were at their most abundant, as well as storage-related activities such as preserving meat and seafood through

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Chaix, L., Bridault, A., & Picavet, R. (1997). A Tamed Brown Bear (Ursus arctosL.) of the Late Mesolithic from La Grande-Rivoire (Isère, France)?.

2212:

specifically for church feasts, bolstering substantial evidence of wine trade between Ireland, France and England between the 12th and 15th centuries.

2039:

society as a whole. Together, these findings and records play a significant role in interpreting urban food consumption behaviors of Medieval Ireland.

1835:) is often found on pre Norman archaeological sites and appears to have been an important part of the diet, as it still is in Northern India. Skirret ( 1301:

were discovered, their minimal quantity at sites indicate that it was a wild plant, and not yet cultivated. New domestic livestock including beef and

8706: 3963:

Hamilton, A., Bannon, D, Monk, M.A., and Pals, J.P. (1985). The Botanical Remains in P.Woodrnan (ed.), Excavations at Mount Sandel 1973-77 (Belfast).

2015:

own food and was thus reliant on foreign market trade and import from rural farms made the need for accessible and consistent sources of food vital.

7826: 6613: 3972:

Rankine, W. F., Rankine, W. M., & Dimbleby, G. W. (1960, December). Further excavations at a Mesolithic site at Oakhanger, Selborne, Hants. In

3825:

Yalden, D. W., & Carthy, R. I. (2004). The archaeological record of birds in Britain and Ireland compared: extinctions or failures to arrive?.

4407:

Woodman, P., & McCarthy, M. (2003). Contemplating some awful (ly interesting) vistas: importing cattle and red deer into prehistoric Ireland.

1971:

Ovens for baking were used in the towns. Evidence for cherries has been found in 11th-century Dublin. Bread was sometimes flavoured with aniseed.

9552: 6109:

Woolgar, C. M. (1992, October). Household accounts from medieval England, part 1: introduction, glossary, diet accounts (i). The British Academy.

3742:"Sligo Ireland: Origins of Sligo/Slicech/Sligeach names for County Sligo; History, Heritage, Irish Folklore, and News from County Sligo, Ireland" 2120:

preferred grain for this industry up until the 14th century until it was replaced by barley which was considered superior, though not as good as

1646:

berries" to color the meal. There are also descriptions of meat being parboiled and then roasted over a fire on wooden spits somewhat similar to

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Thoms, A. V. (2008). The fire stones carry: ethnographic records and archaeological expectations for hot-rock cookery in western North America.

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and other shellfish, traditional soda bread, the wide range of cheeses that are now being made across the country, and, of course, the potato.

1808:

Honey seems to have been a precious but abundant commodity, with beekeeping particularly associated with the church and much used in medicine.

1216: 8772: 7760: 7605: 6904: 2821:

Seaweed, by contrast, has always been an important part of the Irish diet and remains popular today. Two popular forms are dillisk (known in

1600:. This could have other ingredients added such as egg yolks making a highly nutritious food that could also be dried and stored over winter. 4381:

Sheridan, A. (2007). From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig Hill? New information on the 'Carinated Bowl Neolithic’in northern Britain. In

9724: 7530: 4228:

Murray, E., Sloan, B., Hamilton-Dyer, S., & Wouter, W. (2011). A late Mesolithic shell midden at Kilnatierny near Greyabbey, Co. Down.

2006:, roasts and sauces. The Normans may also have introduced the making of cider. Oysters and scallops were another favourite of the Normans. 1998:

culture developed in the Norman settled areas and towns. The Norman cuisine characteristically consisted of spicy meat and fowl along with

1679:

of bacon suspended on a hook is frequently mentioned in sources. Sausages made of salted pork are mentioned. Two types of sausage known as

824: 4634:

R.A. Fraser, A. Bogaard, T. Heaton, M. Charles, G. Jones, B.T. Christensen, P. Halstead, I.Merbach, P.R. Poulton, D. Sparkes, A.K. Styring

2343: 12410: 8891: 8315: 8227: 7595: 7590: 1007:. They contain many references to banquets involving the heroes' portion and meat cooked in cauldrons and on spits. Irish mythology is a 4151:

Dennis, F. G., & Neilsen, J. C. (1999). Physiological factors affecting biennial bearing in tree fruit: the role of seeds in apple.

3985:

Mellars P.A. (1976). Fire Ecology, Animal Populations and Man: A Study of Some Ecological Relationships in Prehistory, P.P.S.,42, 15-45.

2422:—an early protagonist of such attitudes and methods—went on to play a crucial role in their development and promotion. Schools like the 1510:(relish, condiment) usually of vegetables, salted meat or honey, but could be any variety of seasonal foods. At the public guesthouses ( 12536: 9738: 2251:

where it was plentiful and used as a replacement for the bacon in bacon and cabbage. However, it was not traditional fare in Ireland.

1014:

tradition and shares many foods with other cultures' stories. For example, honey has always been valued and was used in the making of

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Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín. (2013) "Public dining in Dublin: The history and evolution of gastronomy and commercial dining 1700-1900."

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Hazelnuts, having been an important Irish food from prehistory, were still common in the medieval era, and ground into a meal called

2099:

As written records generally focused on storehouse inventories and staple commodities, archeobotanical remnants recovered from urban

5673:

Kenward, H., & Hall, A. (1997). Enhancing bioarchaeological interpretation using indicator groups: stable manure as a paradigm.

3718:

Little, A. (2005). 104. Fishy settlement patterns and their social significance: a case study from the northern Midlands of Ireland.

9811: 9557: 8193: 7726: 4469:

Finbar McCormick, 'The animal bones from Kilshane', in Finola O'Carroll, Matt Seaver, Richard Clutterbuck and Donal Fallon (eds.),

2266:

The over-reliance on potatoes as a staple crop meant that the people of Ireland were vulnerable to poor potato harvests. The first

1948:

in which English influence was strongest, where a hybrid food culture developed consisting of Norse, English and Irish influences.

778: 17: 11672: 4937:

Wandsnider, L. (1997) The roasted and the boiled: food composition and heat treatment with special emphasis on pit-hearth cooking.

4351:

Richards, M. P., & Schulting, R. J. (2006). Touch not the fish: the Mesolithic-Neolithic change of diet and its significance.

1329:

Approaches to agriculture, like those elsewhere across northwestern Europe, were focused on long-term plot management rather than

10673: 10442: 10116: 9729: 8753: 8542: 8034: 8029: 7875: 7194: 5664:

Mitchell, G. F., Dickson, C. A., & Dickson, J. H. (1987). Archaeology & environment in early Dublin. Royal Irish Academy.

1702:

describes the roasting of pieces of beef, mutton, and ham on spits of whitebeam. The meat was marinated in salt and honey first.

1363:

Contrary to Mesolithic sites featuring burnt mounds, post-Mesolithic sites are significant for featuring significant remnants of

706: 7166: 8903: 8787: 8447: 6436:

Hall, A., & Kenward, H. (2004). Setting people in their environment: plant and animal remains from Anglo-Scandinavian York.

2224:

This was unusual as the potato was shunned in most of Europe for centuries after its introduction, particularly by the elites.

1625:

The Irish thralls found the expedient of kneading meal and butter and said it would quench the thirst. They called it minapak".

1087:

would have contributed to unique dietary habits and nutritional standards. The persistent evidence of certain species, such as

2187:

using brine and honey. Their omnipresence consequently precipitated the convention of eating many sweet and savory foods with

12490: 10467: 9705: 8736: 7983: 7951: 7615: 6962: 6944: 6539: 5405: 5372: 5225: 1694:

Salted beef was cooked in a cauldron where different forms of stew were commonly made. The meat was also barbecued on spits (

6745: 4211:

Little, A. (2014). Clonava Island revisited: a story of cooking, plants and re-occupation during the Irish Late Mesolithic.

1994:

The Norman invasion marked the beginning of both the English and French presence in the country which continued as a unique

1416:

There is thought that hazelnuts were used to produce oil, whereupon the nuts would have been boiled in the heated waters of

202: 12740: 9607: 8990: 8876: 7610: 7580: 6078:

Three Irish Glossaries: Cormac's Glossary Codex A. O'Davoren's Glossary and a Glossary to the Calendar of Oingus the Culdee

3238: 1750: 1277:

was assumed to be a preferred crop for its resilience to wet Irish weather and soil, but evidence of other cereals such as

7025:

Danaher, Pauline. "From Escoffier to Adria: Tracking Culinary Textbooks at the Dublin Institute of Technology 1941–2013."

174: 8945: 8858: 8815: 8009: 7144: 2477:, and it was reported in 2012 that as many as 327,000 Irish children had become obese or overweight, and in response the 4539:

Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and Frances Healy, 'Gathering Time: the social dynamics of change', in Alasdair Whittle,

2435:

is popular. A fish and chip in Ireland is most commonly referred to as a chipper. The first fish and chips were sold in

2383:) dishes have been making an appearance, as ingredients for these and other cuisines have become more widely available. 12108: 10223: 9837: 9710: 9474: 9377: 8871: 8782: 8557: 8360: 8320: 8308: 8303: 8291: 8219: 7750: 7631: 7554: 6589: 5525:

Lyons, S. (2015). Food plants, fruits and foreign foodstuffs: the archaeological evidence from urban medieval Ireland.

4617:

Richards, M. P., Schulting, R. J., & Hedges, R. E. (2003). Archaeology: sharp shift in diet at onset of Neolithic.

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Bishop, R. R., Church, M. J., & Rowley-Conwy, P. A. (2009). Cereals, fruits and nuts in the Scottish Neolithic. In

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MacLean, R. (1993). Eat your greens: an examination of the potential diet available in Ireland during the Mesolithic.

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Mac Con Iomaire, M. (2011) "The Changing Geography and Fortunes of Dublin's Haute Cuisine Restaurants 1958-2008," in

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Zohary, D., M. Hopf & E. Weiss. 2012. Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Peters, C. N. (2015). 'He is not entitled to butter': the diet of peasants and commoners in early medieval Ireland.

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O'Connell, M., & Molloy, K. (2001, December). Farming and woodland dynamics in Ireland during the Neolithic. In

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century AD onwards. The arrival of Christianity also brought new influences from the Middle East and Roman culture.

12500: 10300: 10288: 9733: 8757: 8389: 8332: 8272: 7523: 4600:

Dudd, S. N., & Evershed, R. P. (1998). Direct demonstration of milk as an element of archaeological economies.

2331:, published articles which contained prejudice towards Irish women for seemingly being unable to know how to cook. 2316: 1389:

for meat, and also suggestive of animals being previously processed, or slaughtered, butchered, and eaten on site.

817: 7109: 6878: 3767: 1436:

The typically large scale of these mounds and their perpetuity in the landscape not only suggests that individual

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Broadway, Michael. "Implementing the Slow Life in Southwest Ireland: A Case Study of Clonakilty and Local Food."

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