Exploring evidence of lost and forgotten Irish food traditions in Irish cookbooks 1980-2015

Abstract

A study by the Irish Food Board, Bord Bia, in 2008 outlined some lost and forgotten food traditions in Ireland based on the evidence from a pre-selected expert group. This paper explores the inclusion of traditional Irish foods within seventy-nine Irish cookbooks, published between 1980 to 2015. Extant academic and grey literature on food traditions and cookbooks, together with the content of the cookbooks, identified a gradual decline in the presence of certain traditional Irish foods, to the point where they could be deemed lost or forgotten. The study, however, also finds a re-emergence in the most recent period. A notable omission in both the corpus of cookbooks, highlighting their aspirational function, and the Bord Bia report, was bacon and cabbage, a traditional dish closely associated with Ireland. This paper outlines the importance of documenting food traditions in order to pass on this knowledge to future generations. KEYWORDSIreland; cuisines; culinary traditions; heritage; cookbooks as sources Nordic Food Movement. However, this was not always the case. During the 1980s and 1990s 'fusion' and 'ethnic' foods were extremely popular, along with the dominant presence of French haute cuisine internationally. 2 In Ireland, the threat to 'lost and forgotten foods' and 'traditional foods' were clearly credible enough in 2008 for Bord Bia 3 to carry out the in-depth study that included two hundred expert participants. The Bord Bia study group included representatives/experts from Teagasc (the Agriculture and Food Development Authority), The Irish Seed Savers Association, The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, The Irish Countrywomen's Association, and Slow Food Ireland. The purpose of the investigation 'was to build an authentic general picture of food production techniques in the era before the forces of modernisation would change Irish society fundamentally.' 4 Lost and forgotten traditional foods and skills are distinguished and characterized as being food of Irish cultural identity, that have become neglected, are in decline or are extinct.Lost and forgotten Irish food traditions were categorized as outlined in Figure 1, and examples of products considered unique were documented within each section. These CONTACT Diarmaid Murphy

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