[Sca-cooks] Irish food

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

And for the medieval side....
 
Right off, St. Pat himself was a Briton, so there's a whole other path to  
follow there. Otherwise...
 
We know something about what Irish monks ate - they founded several  
monasteries in Gaul, along with rules defining meals. One modern French writer  
sums the latter up as "vegetables with a little peas and beans, flour mixed 
with  water, a small slice of bread." All fairly common fare for monks in Gaul.
 
The same author adds this delightful note: "The use of certain fermented  
drinks was not absolutely forbidden."
 
_http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/abpo_0003-391x_1932_
num_40_4_1709?_Prescripts_Search_tabs1=standard_ 
(http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/abpo_0003-391x_1932_num_40_4_1709?_Prescripts_S
earch_tabs1=standard) &
 
 
I know of no contemporary accounts of the early Irish, but I would guess  
they were much like the early Scots (both essentially lived in the 
wilderness).  Froissart says that the latter when hunting would drink river water and 
cook  animals in their own skins (a technique it seems used in several parts 
of the  world). The only food they carried with them was oatmeal and a hot 
stone. Having  eaten their "half-cooked" meat, they would then mix some 
oatmeal with water and  cook the resulting thin paste on a stone (the bannock in 
its most primitive  form).
 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=37SRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=bread+stone++inaut
hor:froissart&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MPFDUe2yMIr-rQG6tIGQDw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage
&q=bread%20stone%20%20inauthor%3Afroissart&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=37SRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=bread+stone++inauthor:froissart&hl=en&sa=X
&ei=MPFDUe2yMIr-rQG6tIGQDw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bread%20stone%20%20in
author:froissart&f=false) 
 
A later writer says they were still eating freshly killed game raw, but not 
 if (like some Germans in Tacitus' time) they first pounded the meat to 
remove  all the blood (and not incidentally tenderize it).
 
The Irish certainly ate beef - one of their famous tales is of a cattle  
raid. In one classic epic, both cattle (and their milk) and roast pigs are  
mentioned. Though it is sometimes questioned as classical bias, a commonplace 
of  descriptions of all the early forest-dwelling groups (Germans, Gauls, 
Irish,  etc) was that they lived largely on meat and dairy.
 
One nineteenth writer suggested that some Irish heated stones by a stream  
and then boiled the water in a trough by throwing them thus boiling the  
meat.
 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242-IA1&dq=people+having
+lighted+a+great+fire,+the+stones,+made+red-hot+thereby&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_RDUa
CAK8K6yQH0pIHgDw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242-IA1&dq=people+having+lighted+a+great+fire,
+the+stones,+made+red-hot+thereby&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_RDUaCAK8K6yQH0pIHgDw&ved=0
CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false) 
 

The same writer describes food found at the site of an Irish lake  dwelling:
 
"The food on which the lake dweller existed appears to have been plenteous: 
 fishing implements are found in abundance ; he slew cattle—wild as well as 
 domesticated—pigs and deer; and, in one refuse-heap, traces of megaceros 
were  discovered. Immense quantities of carbonized vegetable remains were 
found on a  crannog site in Meath. The barley was of the same small size as is 
found in  Swiss lacustrine sites; grains of oats not larger than hayseed, 
hazel- and  oak-nuts, sloes, and walnutshells were found at Lough Nahinch, and 
cherry-stones  at Ballinlough."
 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA231&dq=inauthor:martin+T
he+food+on+which+the+lake+dweller+existed+appears+to+have+been+plenteous:+fi
shing+implements+are+found+in+abundance+;+he+s
lew+cattle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XPVDUaHKJbKEygGGlYCgCQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA231&dq=inauthor:martin+The+food+on+which+the+
lake+dweller+existed+appears+to+have+been+plenteous:+fishing+implements+are+
found+in+abundance+;+he+slew+cattle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XPVDUaHKJbKEygGGlYCgCQ&ved
=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false) 
 
 
Otherwise, several modern works look at the Irish medieval diet. This book  
has a whole chapter on food:
The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland By  Nancy Edwards
_http://books.google.com/books?id=m5O0Z7UjgwoC&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:%22Nancy+
Edwards%22+intitle:Ireland+food+and+farming&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ofZDUdaUBYrgyQG9i4
CwDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=m5O0Z7UjgwoC&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:"Nancy+Edwards"+intitle:Ireland+food+and+farming&hl=en&sa=X&ei=
ofZDUdaUBYrgyQG9i4CwDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA) 
 
The details are towards the end.
 
Two Celtic encyclopedias have pages on the same subject:
 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=kVslRbrSH7QC&pg=PA219&dq=Irish+medieval+fo
od+seaweed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-fZDUYXzGsGnqgGI8YGQCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=
Irish%20medieval%20food%20seaweed&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=kVslRbrSH7QC&pg=PA219&dq=Irish+medieval+food+seaweed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-fZDUYXz
GsGnqgGI8YGQCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Irish%20medieval%20food%20seaweed
&f=false) 
 
_http://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA764&dq=medieval+food+int
itle:celtic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8vdDUbSMFsi9rQGx4YG4BA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q
=medieval%20food%20intitle%3Aceltic&f=false_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA764&dq=medieval+food+intitle:celtic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8vdDU
bSMFsi9rQGx4YG4BA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=medieval%20food%20intitle:celt
ic&f=false) 
 
As you might expect, grain and dairy played a large part; some at least ate 
 beef and pork. But if you want something truly unique to the isle, you 
might try  some cockles with dulse, a seaweed still eaten in Scotland at least.
 
There is also this 11th century Middle Irish poem, painting an image of  
what was apparently considered plenty:
 
"The door of dried meat, 
The threshold of dry bread,
The walls of  soft cheese,
Smooth pillars of old cheese,
And juicy bacon joists
Are  laid across each other
White posts of real curds,
Supported the  house.
A well of wine just behind,
Rivers of beer and bragget."
 

Certainly then beef was eaten - though probably not corned -, though  pork 
may indeed have been more available to the Irish in later centuries. And,  
of course, no potatoes....
 
Still modern revelers seeking medieval authenticity can take heart in one  
respect:  "The use of certain fermented drinks was not absolutely  
forbidden."
 
 
Jim  Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste  Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France  

 
In a message dated 3/15/2013 12:37:20 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
ranvaig at columbus.rr.com writes:

In honor  of St. Pat's, anyone want to talk about period Irish  food?