Don’t eat corned beef
and cabbage
A favourite beef of mine (sorry). This most un-Irish of
dishes came to my attention in our first year living in the Big Apple and I
assumed it was simply because corned beef was readily available as a stalwart
in Jewish cuisine. However the Big Onion, in all its Chirish-ness, is no
different which got me wondering.
A few google searches later and I discover the most traditionally Irish thing about corned beef was the beef itself. Back in the 17th to 19th
centuries, it was a big industry in Ireland, either traded via the Atlantic
or used by the British armed forces. But, as you can probably guess, Irish
people themselves couldn’t afford it - until they emigrated to America, that is. So it really is an O'Bama-style traditional Irish dish.
The true culinary companion to cabbage (and not to found in Jewish cuisine) has to be ham, either boiled or baked. But then we're back to the old American bacon versus
Irish bacon dilemma. Except we've solved that one by getting Male Mini-Me a DIY
curing kit for Christmas so now there are two males bringing home the bacon in this household.
And then there’s lamb. You really can’t get more Irish than
Irish stew but trying to track down some reasonably-priced lamb is like trying
to catch a haggis on a Scottish mountain (you know, the creatures with one set
of legs shorter than the other so it can run quickly around the hillsides).
If that seems like a tall story to you, I’m seriously
beginning to wonder if all the sheep here only comprise of legs as a) that’s
all I seem to be able to buy in the shops and b) it would account for why it
costs an arm and a leg to buy them.
Don’t imagine it’s
always been a big parade day in the Emerald Isle
The first St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin was only held in
1931. Given the man himself died on March 17, 461, it has taken a while for
the whole green-shamrock-beads-in-the-shops thing to catch
on.
In my wee corner of Ireland (where the great man is actually
thought to be buried), it took us even longer to jump on the parade
bandwagon, with our first parade in Belfast only taking place In 1998. Support
at that time was, shall we say, mixed, despite it trying to be very much a
cross-community event - which in Norn Iron usually just means one or other of the two
communities is cross.
Today, I am proud to say, the Belfast “carnival parade” is
very much cross-community, with this year’s line-up including a "Manchester-born
winner of the UK X-Factor", the Tir na N’Og Irish dancers and the South Asian
Dance Academy
Don’t wear green but
blue instead
Only kidding on that one although apparently St Patrick was
originally associated with the colour blue. Even today, St Patrick’s blue is a sky blue
used by the Order of St Patrick in the UK or a dark
blue in Ireland as seen in the Irish Presidential Standard
Don’t expect to be
served a drink in a pub on St Patrick’s Day
Again, only kidding although in Ireland, it was true for over 30 years last century. That was because the very nice man who made St
Patrick’s Day a national holiday in 1903 also instigated a law closing pubs for
the day in 1927 for fear of excessive alcohol consumption on a religious
holiday. The law was repealed in 1961 but during that time, the only place to
drink legally in Dublin was the Royal Dublin Society Dog show. Surprisingly
attendance shot up. No doubt they all needed the hair of the dog come March
18.
Don’t go on the go
unless you want to be fined up to $1,000
And here I’m not joking! We all know that what goes in has
to come out sometime and there is a fair amount of imbibing of many dubious
liquids on March 17. In order to avoid
dubious liquids of another sort, Chicago’s City Council last April doubled the
maximum fines for both drinking and tinkling in public to $1,000.
Given this will be the first St Patrick's Day under the new ruling, it brings a whole new meaning to the traditional pot of gold!
Given this will be the first St Patrick's Day under the new ruling, it brings a whole new meaning to the traditional pot of gold!
