IRELAND PROJECT

THIS IS OUR PROJECT: IRELAND

IRISH FOOD AND DRINK:

Representative traditional Irish  usually dishes include Irish stew (made with lamb, mutton, or beef), bacon and cabbage (with potatoes), boxty (potato pancake), coddle (sausage, bacon, and potato), colcannon (mashed potato, kale or cabbage, and butter), and, in Ulster, the soda farl.

1.    Soda bread:

Every family in Ireland has its own recipe for soda bread, hand-written on flour-crusted note paper and wedged in among the cookery books. However, the basic ingredients don’t change (bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk form the raising agent, which is mixed in with flour) and nor does the way it’s eaten: sliced and spread liberally with butter.

2.    Shellfish:

Shellfish abound in Irish cuisine, from clams in Connemara to Molly Malone’s famed cockles and mussels, and Dublin Bay prawns, which have their own festival held in Howth.

3.    Irish stew:

One-pot cooking doesn’t get much simpler than Irish stew, traditionally made with mutton, onions and potatoes. To avoid the stew being watery some recipes recommend adding pearl barley, a spoonful of roux or sliced potatoes, while others reduce the liquid by leaving the stew to simmer.

1.    Guinness:

You’ll see this on almost every tap in every pub.  The thick, smooth stout goes down easy.  If you find yourself in Dublin be sure to visit the Guinness Storehouse where you’ll get a taste directly from the Guinness factory and learn to pull the perfect pint.

2.    Black ‘n black:

Guinness with a shot of blackcurrant, it’s usually for people who want to try Guinness but don’t like the porter bite.  It takes the bite off.

HISTORY OF IRELAND:

Ireland's first inhabitants landed between 8000 BC and 7000 BC. Around 1200 BC, the Celts came to Ireland and their arrival has had a lasting impact on Ireland’s culture today. The Celts spoke Q-Celtic and over the centuries, mixing with the earlier Irish inhabitants, this evolved into Irish Gaelic. This language and their culture created a divide between the Irish Celts and the rest of Europe. 

One of the biggest events in Ireland’s history over the last 200 years was ‘The Great Famine’. And if you are American and have Irish roots, you could probably trace your ancestors to this period in Irish history. 

The late 1800’s saw another push for Irish independence from England with the rise of Charles Stuart Parnell (1846 – 1891), one of Ireland’s greatest politicians. 

In 1916, Easter weekend, the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army launched an uprising. Britain was in the middle of World War 1. 

The momentum now began for Irish Independence. The next few years saw the rise of Michael Collins (1890 – 1922) and Eamon De Valera (1882 – 1975).