Flavors of Ireland

The cuisine

Traditional food of Ireland

Irish cuisine was born in the countryside and the sea: potato, lamb, pork, dairy, bicarbonate bread and fish from the Atlantic coast. Irish stew, colcannon and soda bread are found throughout the country. Some recipes, however, became tied to a city or a county and are still remembered by the place name today.

In Dublin, the coddle is the stew of the working-class neighborhoods: sausage, bacon, potato and onion slowly cooked in a covered pot. The city’s public library describes it as working-class food, and it appears in references to Dublin in James Joyce’s work.

For centuries Cork was an export port for meat, and offal remained in the city’s kitchen. Tripe cooked in milk with onion, served with drisheen, a blood pudding, is one of the traditions associated with the English Market, the covered market in the city centre.

In Waterford, the blaa is a soft white roll dusted with flour, which local tradition links to Huguenot refugees from the late 17th century. It has had European Union protected geographical indication since 2013. In County Kerry, the small lamb pies accompanied August fairs and religious festivals and are still made for the Pattern of Castlegregory.