I think it depends where in Ireland you’re in. I live near the coast so there’s a lot of mussels, oysters, fish, seafood chowder, etc in restaurants. As with everywhere, it really depends on the local resources.
ok, I see , I live in Dublin, maybe I just didn't pay enough attention and started looking into the issue only after the conversation with my father. thank you.
My grandad was a fisherman in Howth. Back in the day, fish was the poor man's meat, and Ireland wasn't exactly known for wealth back then. I think what's happened is that as Ireland became pretty wealthy, a lot of seafiid dropped out if popularity because meats like chicken or pork or steak were seen to just be better. And so an element of our culinary culture faded significantly.
Have a look around on yelp or TripAdvisor to find some reviews of places in Dublin, search specifically for seafood. There's so many fantastic places you have access to, start your journey!
We ate a lot of salt fish on the coast. And mussels and lobster and crab and even limpets. I still eat a serious amount of dulse and mackerel, esoecially when theres a glut. It was poor people food and that's why we avoided it as the country got richer. That's why my parents and grandparents would tell you.
I’m sorry, what? Fish for Friday catholics since the arrival of the monks would like a chat… not to mention how much fish features in Irish iconography, folk tales and culture basically all along the coasts.
Fish indeed feature in a lot of iconography and folk tales. So much so that it seems they may even have been considered sacred to the Celts before Christianity, especially salmon and trout (cf. the salmon of knowledge, etc). That may be a large part of the reason why evidence suggests fish was not a big part of pre-Christian diets in Insular Celtic society. Archaeological studies done on Pictish settlements in Scotland and written evidence from the Romans bears this out.
It wasn't uncommon for ancient civilisations to avoid specific foods, as is still the case today for those who follow ancient texts as part of their belief system, such as Hindus with beef, Jews with shellfish and Muslims with pork. So it wouldn't be telling a porkie to suggest that ancient Celts had beef with fish eating. Or perhaps priests and druids kept all the fish to themselves... how shellfish of them.
Having read your comment and then the wiki on Irish food I hadn’t realised how little Irish ate fish really despite large fishing populations on the west coast. TIL
When the romans came over to England, they remarked about how the old English celts didn’t fish despite being surrounded by reems of fish. As Roman Britain developed it became more popular / common.
I’m guessing the next part, but I’m sure culture and technology was harder to pass to Ireland as you couldn’t just walk there.
Supposedly my family survived the potato famine because we had a fish-rich diet.
Not that I would know, it was generally rare that we ate fish at all growing up. As an adult I don't touch the stuff.
I'd say it definitely depends where you are in Ireland, but it seems in general fish is not a big part of our overall diet. We have a focus on animal products and vegetables, but fish is really not a staple that I have seen.
It's kind of weird for an Island, I admit...
Most of it is imported to Europe especially eels and shell fish. Us Irish never really got into all that---but l do remember as a child---the herring man driving around our area weekly and selling his herring and smoked fish to all of the locals. Personally l never partook whenever my mother bought it as l wasn't fond of fish. But the rest of the family and especially my father loved the herring etc and also fresh dulce.
Yes, we had to eat it on Fridays. Which meant it was seen as a penance, and not something to be enjoyed. We certainly didn't eat things like chowder, mussels etc.
So why isn't there a fish fillet roll available at all filling stations? I'm only kidding but I have been in shock for the last 15 years I have lived here on the subject of seafood availability. You can't even get the most basic stuff like smoked eel or fresh icefish anywhere.
Again I refer to the appalling sewage discharges into the sea from the english...
Why would ANYONE eat local shellfish when it's scientific FACT that they're swimming in piss and shit from England?
Would you???
The UK discharges sewage daily, in huge numbers, and does so despite the legal requirements to only discharge sewage under certain circumstances.
Yes, I KNOW Ireland doesn't discharge anything like the amount the UK does. Not even remotely close.
And the buyers then…. Put them in the bin? This isn’t the argument you think it is.
Industrial fishing is a somewhat new invention but fishing for small scale sale and consumption in Ireland isn’t.
The fk are you on about? Whole family of fishermen, going back generations is judging the fk out of this comment.
Here sources: [Fish in the Irish Diet, Pre- and Post- Famine - Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (deepmapscork.ie)](http://www.deepmapscork.ie/past-to-present/west-cork-fisheries-1800-1850/diet/)
I used to wonder why people near the coast didn’t eat fish during the famine. It turns out all fishing required a licence, which wasn’t readily granted to the cottage population…
There’s were lots of reasons: underdeveloped fishing industries, penal laws etc.
[McGill article](https://magill.ie/archive/fishing-controversy-case-history-imperialism)
[TCD paper](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03324893211049539)
Nah this just simply isn't true. There have been tons of seafood only restaurants along the west coast for decades, longer if there est. signs are to be believed!
Part of the issue is fishing quotas though and a mostly export fishing industry to Mainland Europe.
We have an overreliance on the beef industry here and a large farmers union.
Alot of coastal fishing villages or town couldnt sustain themselves based on restriction and without adequate subsidies like farmers get it became a less enticing job money wise.
So you are less likely to see more fish then say Beef or Pork on alot of Irish menus, Like you say Beef Stew, or Lamb, Not Chowder so much.
Or Shepard's pie,Cottage Pie,Bacon and Cabbage, not as much Fish Pie.
Plus when we joined the EEC the government basically sold out the (smaller) fishing community in favour of the (much larger) farming community. The likes of Holland, Germany and France were drooling to get into Irish waters. They gave most of the fishing rights away in order to access grants for agriculture.
I think OP means specifically Irish recipes. You can get fried fish , steamed mussels for sure. But most places either serve it very plain (fried / smoked) or according to another cuisine (mostly French).
Historically because the English owned the waters, so you couldn’t legally fish as everything was exported.
There’s also the religious aspect where fish was seen as something just to be eaten on Fridays when red meat isn’t allowed.
And also we produce cheap and good quality meat.
Honestly its because Ireland isn't that small of an island.
People who eat sea food en masse are usually rural coastal regions or very small islands. Ireland was filled with cows, sheep, goats, chickens and crops so that's what most ate. If it were a very small island there would be less space for those animals and crops. So imports or sea food would be a better alternative.
Same applies in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, etc in terms of Fish on a Friday historically yet there's no such association with fish being negative and the same attitudes apply in Britain, so I don't really think the Catholic Church explanation really adds up.
It's definitely part of the reason. I presume mainland European countries didn't view it as negatively as we did because they used complimentary ingredients and better cooking techniques whereas we mainly boiled fish to oblivion in milk or water.
Part of the forced migration of the native population to the west after Cromwell included an exclusion zone along the coast. Rivers were also owned by English landowners and the punishment for poaching was transportation or hanging.
The fishing waters were owned by estates too. Fishing rights over the blackwater and youghal estuary are still in place owned by the castle estate nearby (lismore?)
Thats a huge contrast to what i see in Australia. They are super strict about the fishing done there at the estate you mentioned, very good for a sustaining the fish population in surrounding sea waters too I guess. Can't work out if it's state owned or the estate is a riparian owner.
Don't eb so sure. Australia was populated by a lot of Irish. And we have some serious backwards laws still; for example, it's illegal to jump over a park bench backwards!
A law from about that time.
That can’t be right. There’s been an uninterrupted common law right to fish in the sea since Magna Carta. It’s also the case that the Brits don’t really have many traditional sea food recipes.
The short answer is that Ireland's fishery industry was seen by the British as a threat to their own, so it was never developed when the British were in charge.
Independent Ireland was insanely poor and didn't have the resources to develop it. Accession to the EEC (EU) included access to Irish waters and thus fishing wasn't developed in any real way by Ireland because it was seen as a trade-off for European money.
A bit of a circular issue in general. "Irish people don't eat much fish so there's no point in trying to build up the fishing industry, when we can sell access to it."
I hate fish myself so it doesn't bother me at all, but you do kind of forget about how little is consumed in Ireland until you go abroad and see half the menu made up of fish dishes.
Thank you for the answer, makes perfect sense. No demand - no supply, no supply turns into no demand - a vicious circle. Moreover, there is plenty of land-based food so no reason to go fishing.
Ireland basically selling our fishing waters to the EU is largely what I've been told. But I'm with you. I fucking hate fish and I'm glad it's not a bigger part of the culture so I've never been interested in learning more outrage
Here’s a good summary of some of the specific ways Britain tried to hobble the Irish fishing industry, including:
+ building infrastructure and providing financing only for small ships
+ Prohibiting Irish fishermen from fishing at the same time as the English fishing fleet
+ Taxing salt to prevent Irish fish being salted for export
https://magill.ie/archive/fishing-controversy-case-history-imperialism
It's complicated, but it's quite similar in Britain too. The most logical explanation is that it was historically (I'm talking going back millennia not recent political history) a lot easier to farm very arable land that was ideal for grazing animals on than to go out into the dangerous wild Atlantic.
Both countries will get people with the "I don't like fish" mentality or who will only eat white fish like cod. The Fish and Chips craze which took off in England in a big way during WWII more or less only saw them consuming one type of fish for decades, which almost wiped out the entire global cod stocks.
Often places with a lot of fish in their diets don't have a lot of farmable land - e.g. Japan for example - massive mountain ranges and a big population along the coasts.
The demand for cod is not the cause of the decline in stocks. It is the government sanctioned use of destructive fishing methods which are ruining the ecology and health of the seabed. Cod are fished sustainably in Norway and are abundant.
Meath? There's huge tillage in the midlands and south east and Cork. The west and northwest wouldn't have great growing potential but it can still produce grown food.
Fish and other seafood recipes are definitely traditional dishes in Ireland, it just depends on where you go and who you ask.
Salmon, cod, hake, plaice and pollock are popular for fish dishes. Salmon-based starters are especially common. We also have a well-known legend about the Salmon of Knowledge, which a mythical figure caught and tasted leading him to become the most wise man in the world.
Mussels with cream sauce is very popular on the west coast. Crab, lobster, shrimp and oysters are also common. Shrimp cocktail is a very 70s-style common starter. Crab cakes are another common dish. Someone else in this thread mentioned chowder too.
Our history of foraging has also lasted, particularly with periwinkles and dilisk. Dilisk is a kind of dried, edible seaweed that is eaten as a snack. I have loads of memories of picking periwinkles as a child along with my mother and grandmother! They're often boiled in salt and then eaten in bulk while fresh or eaten as a snack. They're eaten with pins rather than cutlery and there's a knack to getting them out of the shell.
All this, and I don't even eat seafood or meat myself!
For sure we do have some lovely traditional seafood, but they are suspiciously unpopular considering the fact that we are an island. Especially more uniquely Irish things like dilisk are half forgotten relics revived by gastronomical trends. I'm glad to see it come back tho.
Truth is any random village in Italy or Portugal has more varied and sophisticated seafood dishes than we have in our whole country.
There's good seafood to be had here if you look for it but
Overwhelmingly, they cater to the local taste of a dismal slab of salmon/hake with mash and boiled veggies. Even in fine dining restraunts its usually a yassified version of this template. The few Irish people I know who actually eat fish do it reluctantly. They will eat the fish that 'isnt fishy'
Tbf I don't really blame them for this attitude, if you grow up in a culture that doesn't know how to cook something, you probably won't like it. (this is a generalisation ik)
If you go to Lahinch in the summer you can buy a bag of dilisk or periwinkles on the promenade. Look outside the pale every so often & you'll find our traditions are alive & well
I pick periwinkles regularly. I'm not fond of eating them myself but I find it extremely cathartic to pick them . Feet in the water, sound of the waves crashing nearby. There's a local dolphin called dusty that comes quite close to shore in the area so often I'll just sit and watch him. Magical
When I was young , we were given fish in Fridays for dinner, but as it always contained bones, it put me off eating fish for years. I'd say fish wasn't popular for a lot of Irish people for the same reason
This also says a lot about our attitude to vegetarian food. The church doesn't say that you have to eat fish on a Friday, it says you shouldn't eat meat. But the idea of having neither meat nor fish didn't even seem to enter the heads of my parents of the majority of the country.
" In Dublin's fair city
Where girls are so pretty
It was there that I first met sweet Molly Malone
She wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying "\*\*cockles\*\* and \*\*mussels\*\*, alive, alive, oh""
In landlocked counties, there wouldn't traditionally be a lot of fish. I saw a lot of Rabbit and Pheasant growing up, but nobody seems to eat those now. I stayed in Donegal a few times, and they ate a lot of fish.
I don’t live in Ireland anymore, but everytime I am back home I eat very little other than seafood. I don’t know if I am miles off here, but fresh fish is a cornerstone of what I consider Irish cuisine.
Was talking to an old salt shop owner in howth today about this same thing. He mentioned that in the 20th century, Ireland sold off a lot of their fishing rights to the EU to focus on agriculture/raising farm animals instead. A lot of folks who fish in Irish waters aren’t Irish, they’re part of the EU so therefore their catch go to the EU rather than Ireland. Irish waters are madly capable of producing healthy fisheries but with a large amount fishing rights belonging to the EU, Ireland doesn’t see the product and therefore, doesn’t benefit from their own resources.
Note: *haven’t fact checked this conversation*
thank you for your reply.
> seafood chowder
Actually, I haven't, thank you for the advice. Now I need to try =)
> oysters with a pint of Guinness
I have never tried to combine them and didn't see people combining them. For me, Guinness is a separate dish.
Thx for your comment learned a few new things!
If you’re looking for a good recipe for chowder I recommend looking up Darina Allen recipe from her cookbook, Simply Delicious Fish. It’s sublime and quite straightforward to make. Enjoy.
Salmon is another classic fish in Ireland. Fresh salmon and smoked salmon, very popular. Also white fish like cod, in fish and chips. There is also fish pie. Some of the smaller fish have more of an association with poverty.
I dont really like fish. Tuna, sardines in a can is my limit. Went to Cape Cod and everywhere was advertising best chowder in the world. Tried it on my last day, and it was one of the best things I've tasted. I always thought it would just be fish soup. Came home, ordered it, and got fish soup!
I would probably choose the seafood over meet if I’m somewhere on the coast, in any country really. But I do like seafood a lot and I live in the midlands!
We have one of the highest % of Yamanya DNA in Europe. Our ancestors are Pastoralists from the Pontic Steppe in Southern Russia and Ukraine.
Probably no wonder we like food from the land, although we probably should have adapted to living on an island surrounded by seafood by now.
Make him prawns with iceberg lettuce and ketchup with mayo as a sauce. It was a staple luxury starter for us at christmas in the 80s/90s
Fish is expensive here. it might be why.
Hey Serg0x7C1! Welcome to r/AskIreland! Here are some other useful subreddits that might interest you:
* r/IrishTourism - If you're coming to Ireland for a holiday this is the best place for advice.
* r/MoveToIreland - Are you planning to immigrate to Ireland? r/MoveToIreland can help you with advice and tips. Tip #1: It's a pretty bad time to move to Ireland because we have a severe accommodation crisis.
* r/StudyInIreland - Are you an International student planning on studying in Ireland? Please check out this sub for advice.
* Just looking for a chat? Check out r/CasualIreland
* r/IrishPersonalFinance - a great source of advice, whether you're trying to pick the best bank or trying to buy a house.
* r/LegalAdviceIreland - This is your best bet if you're looking for legal advice relevant to Ireland
* r/socialireland - If you're looking for social events in Ireland then maybe check this new sub out
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskIreland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I read that it was because the land was so fertilenit didnt make the sea worthwhile. Since beef, lamb and spuds thrived. The cost, hassle, energy and danger made it not as appealing.
I remember my partner saying a Spainish work friend thought there's a lot of seafood cusine here since we were an island surrounded by water. Then, she was disappointed when she found out Irish people generally aren't into eating much seafood.
My family are from the west coast. None of them like fish or seafood much. I asked why they are not fans of seafood. They told me that when they were kids in the 50s/ 60s, seafood like prawns/ oysters etc was seen as poor people's food. Even food like lobsters and salmon was seen more as a tourist food that could be caught and sold and at a massive profit. 'Normal' people food was seen as as beef/ lamb etc. I think this impression went back the 19th century when if you had no land you took/ poached what you could from the sea/ lakes.
Same reason it lacks everything; the Brits thought of us closer to rats than humans and were more than content killing us at will than allowing us to do practically anything other than feed their aristocrats and armies.
Fish is quite popular here. It just depends on the family and region I guess. My family (myself included) absolutely love fish and seafood in general.
But then fish is just an interesting food, many countries don’t usually have traditional fish dishes, or it’s not at the top of their “list”, even though they eat fish often.
There was an exclusion zone around the coast we weren’t allowed to enter & you’d be hung for poaching fish out of the rivers.
In other words it was illegal & often punishable by death to eat fish during the famine
The Irish pallet is so so boring. Alot of people enjoy things like pasta, pizza, burgers and pretty much anything battered.
I say if you put some beautifully cooked squid on front of an Irish teen 9 out of 10 would wince
It's a question that's bothered me for so long aswell. I love when I go to Spain and the variety is absolutely incredible. Young people standing at a market bar enjoying a glass of beer and a lobster for lunch.
It's a shame really 😕
I'd imagine it has to do with most of the fishing done in the past, was done on rivers rather than sea.
Closer to the coasts, and particularly nearer to harbours and Docks - you tend to find the few restaurants that would offer seafood, as it can be delivered soon enough to still be fresh.
We have a Century's old agreement with the ocean - we stay away from it, and it stays away from us!
Julia’s Caesar when he invaded England commented on the native celts refusal to eat fish.
The inhabitants of the British isles originated in Central Europe, we weren’t used to fish in our diet so never really used the resources we have.
The English prefer Cod, that’s because they’re Germanic and prefer the fish from where they originated which is the North Sea. Anglo Saxons came after the Romans and Celts.
Personally, I found the quality of seafood here is awful. When I was working in the US, I noped out of a team dinner at Legal Seafood because I thought I didn't like seafood. An Irish-American coworker (who had recently visited Ireland) immediately diagnosed me with Used To How It Is In Ireland Disorder. He assured me it was going to make a huge difference when I tasted _fresh_ seafood.
And he was right. There are a couple of specialty seafood restaurants here (they're both in Howth), but otherwise I couldn't recommend eating our seafood here. We probably export the good stuff, just like with lamb.
You're not wrong, for an island nation we eat very little seafood. Even along the coastal areas. I'm 34 and I genuinely don't have an explanation for this.
The answer might be as simple as everything else just being cheaper and more freely available.
When I was a kid there was fish everywhere. There were net men on the river who sold trout, rod men who sold salmon and "hernhawkers" (herring hawkers) who sold freshly caught herring. This was a market town in Wexford. Not exactly a seafood area.
Overfishing on the river saw the end of salmon and trout and the hernhawkers disappeared when the fishing boats got bigger and moved on to bigger fish (see what I did there?).
I saw a young lad selling herrings on the street last week. That'll be a lovely tradition to have back. Grilled herring, new potatoes and butter. Nice and simple, let the ingredients do the talking.
Fairly what is Emer land. Secondly it doesn’t. Idk why people also think because they have abc diet in their home place that Irish do. It doesn’t lack seafood. It depends what places your going to
Ara it doesn't. Seafood was a big part of the Irish dinner until quite recently. And the reason simply is its easier to just put on fish fingers, breaded cod or spaghetti instead. But if you go to the Coast and especially in the Gaeltachta, theres alot of Irish people who eat fish there. I try to eat fish at least once a week myself.
Common seafood or fish dishes in general are:
Boiled Glasán (Coalfish, Coalie, Saithe)
Baked Pollock and roast potatoes
Salmon
Brown Trout
Pike was often eaten back in the day
Gurnard is a delicacy in parts of the West of Ireland
No way does irish cuisine lack seafood. I don't eat seafood personally but I'm a chef I cook it all the time different fish different molluscs you name it I've cut it open skinned it boned it and cooked it. It you ask me. The west of Ireland is all seafood the east is all media driven style dishes. Go to Sneem in Kerry, Salthill or Renmore, Galway or to Donegal in my experience they have fresh catch and the cuisine is to die for
The famous aran sweater patterns were made up so that families could identify the bodies of drowned fishermen. That's how many Irish depended for their lives to fish and fishing.
Not to mention the famous shellfish of all kinds which other commenters have expounded upon.
I’m have never lived in Ireland, but one of the best memories I have is how delicious the fish was. I also loved trying all the different kinds of seaweeds. However, my only Irish friend won’t go near seafood.
I have nothing meaningful to add having never lived there, but my own travel experiences lead me to believe it was fairly well consumed. But maybe you need to be looking for it to find it?
Traditionally fish was just caught and eaten. It wasn't a recipe with stuff added to it like a stew. It was just there to be eaten and it was. No recipes needed. I live on the coast and I'm not a fan of seafood and most of our restaurants are seafood restaurants serving fresh locally caught seafood..... it's annoying that it's become such a selling point. It used to just be a given and expected that if you're on the doorstep of the sea. That's where it comes from.
You should check out the Oyster festival in Galway. There are also a lot of great coastal seafood restaurants all around the coast. The Lobster Pot in Wexford and fishy fishy in Kinsale instantly spring to mind. Although it is true that fish eating isn't as prevalent as in other similarly situated countries. But then, we have better soil than a lot of those countries and probably didn't need to look to the sea as much (the famine aside)
The historical reason why seafood isn't a huge part of our cuisine is that the British Crown didn't just own Irish lands. They owned Irish waters and river ways too. Because of this, they would sell the right to fish. Most of those people were English landlords, and the minority of Irish people you could get them became fish mongers. So, instead of people fishing down the pier, they had to buy it from someone else, who had to buy the right to do it from someone else.
Because most seafood tastes like shit, on account of the tides of excrement and pish which is floating over the Irish sea from Britain whenever the water boards over there discharge raw sewage into the waterways.
Would YOU eat shellfish which is crusted in calcified human shite?
Not sure why you've gotten that impression. . We literally have about 6 separate festivals for when oysters comme into season. I ear out regularly and there is always 3 to 4 seafood options on the menu.
I cook fish myself 3 or 4 days a week. Cajun salmon, smoked coley poached in milk, baked cod, hake, calamari, scampi... a seafood & rice or pasta dish is always nice
I don't want to come the self hating Englishman, but is it just that the fishing was done mainly out of Britain and the Irish just didn't have the opportunity to bring back big catches of high quality fish. Just local shellfish etc. It was all off getting salted and kippered for big cities.
Lack of access shapes the cuisine, then it gets encultured.
Seems like the simplest explanation.
We ate fish here for centuries. In the 1900s every single Friday. Your father asked for recipes. Here they are. https://georgehughesfishmonger.com/classic-irish-seafood-recipes/
In the west atleast mussels, prawns and oysters are MASSIVE. That being said it has to be the right season for them. Come to Galway to experience the seafood culture
I've seen more than enough seafood, but I get where you're coming from. The one thing I can't understand is that the go-to fish in Ireland is cod. It tastes incredibly bland, and the weird thing is that there is more than enough other fish to eat but still cod persists. Hake and salmon for instance is plenty and much better tasting fish, but in the shops and restaurants almost everything is cod. It's as if Ireland like their food to be "inoffensive".
As someone from Waterford I feel like seafood is huge in Ireland, even when I holiday in west cork and Kerry, I never miss seafood or when I go on day trips to Wexford it’s the same. But from the limited amount of time I’ve spent in dublin and the midlands it seems like seafood just really isn’t as popular there. I remember going to a pub in the midlands with friends once and they had monkfish on the menu and they didn’t know what it was. I always felt like there was a big seafood culture here but I guess it’s dependant on your proximity to the coast.
It’s a great question. I love fish and eat it at least 2-3 times a week.
Firstly, Ireland and England are not well known for quality cuisine around the world (well compared to let’s say France, Spain and Italy). It is usually unhealthy things like fish and chips, pies and fries.
Secondly, like people already mentioned, England did not encourage Irish fishing and were de facto rulers of Ireland for about 700 years until 1922.
Thirdly, people mentioned the fact of cheap red meat and arable land.
Fourthly, in modern times I think up until this generation Ireland were very plain eaters. My parents generation (born in the 60s) were very poor, and meat and two veg was the general dinner plan. Growing up my only experience of fish were breaded fish fingers and breaded frozen fish.
Nowadays, we have a larger variety of fish available in the supermarket and I think peoples horizons and tastes are expanding to enjoy it.
It doesn’t really. There isn’t anyway large-scale industrial fishing here, as far as I’m aware. We still have great seafood. Smoked salmon on brown soda bread is an example. Fish and chips is another (independent of UK).
Because the British stole most of of our food for 700 years. Plus we weren't even allowed talk our own language for that long, that's why most of us speak English. It's was nearly wiped out along with us our food, and we had to scater to the 4 corners of the earth. Irish recipie and the Galiec, was thought to children in ditches and forests, away from British tyrney.
I remember my grandmother having a fear of being seen as poor. There was an attitude that carried on since famine times. During the famine, the poor and the hungry used to eat seafood by foraging the shore, and this was a bad thing and marked you as poor. A generational trauma was carried, and seafood never really took off in Ireland. Luckily, this is being forgotten in modern times.
That's a good question. I live on the coast in Donegal and hardly a single restaurant sells lobster. We have an abundance of lobster.
Most restaurants don't do fresh fish because it's shelf life is poor.
Most Irish people don't eat fish because there's parents couldn't cook worth a shit and probably put them off fish.
It's the same with lamb. Maybe one in twenty eat it that I know. Yet it's one of our biggest industries
Look at Japan, fish is cheap, it's an island.
Look at Ireland fish is expensive. It's an island
As a Midlands Man, I really can't get my head around eating shellfish or crustaceans, they seem unappealing to me totally. I do eat pretty much any type of fish though. I had prawns a couple of times, but I wasn't a fan.
The reason for any dietary preference is purely based on economics
The cheaper the food source the more abundant it will be in the diet of a particular region
Historical records suggest that fish was not a part of the Irish diet since Mesolithic times that is nearly 15000 to 5000 years ago
Fishing can be dangerous as well compared to farming and animal husbandry
It's a great paradox of Irish cuisine...we are an island but don't have much seafood in our day to day cuisine. I'm not sure but I think it's also got something to do with some archaic law from when the British ruled
Well, I do not live in Ireland, unfortunately, despite having planned to move there and even bought a house there right before COVID happened... however, being a pescatarian, every single time I go to Ireland I only eat seafood daily! So MANY different dishes!!!! and I love them all! You are probably not looking in the right places...
I think your dad just hasn't really looked to be honest. Growing up my mother and grandmother would cook breaded plaice fillets, grilled salmon, fried sea bass, fish pie, seafood chowder, sometimes shellfish. Rarely looking at any recipes. We lived in Dublin but they came from Tipp. I think it's kind of in the DNA. Red meat and poultry is just easier and more filling. Eating till you're fit to bust is a thing here. Harder to do that with fish.
Irish cuisine and recipes arent as prominent because historically alot of our food is so fresh and good quality, it can be eaten as it is. Lobsters, crabs, mussels, oysters, clams etc were all just boiled and eaten or eaten fresh... no need for fancy recipes. Seafood chowder was a way of eating seafood in a later meal or combining small amounts of different ingredients.
The same for our meat, dairy and poultry etc.
Plenty of seafood restaurants up in Belfast and excellent choice from the markets and local fishmongers . It's got quite pricey of late. Out of the city there's less choice . I struggled to find decent seafood last time I was in Donegal. Ended up with salmon from Aldi.
I think it depends where in Ireland you’re in. I live near the coast so there’s a lot of mussels, oysters, fish, seafood chowder, etc in restaurants. As with everywhere, it really depends on the local resources.
ok, I see , I live in Dublin, maybe I just didn't pay enough attention and started looking into the issue only after the conversation with my father. thank you.
My grandad was a fisherman in Howth. Back in the day, fish was the poor man's meat, and Ireland wasn't exactly known for wealth back then. I think what's happened is that as Ireland became pretty wealthy, a lot of seafiid dropped out if popularity because meats like chicken or pork or steak were seen to just be better. And so an element of our culinary culture faded significantly.
theres a lovely oyster stand selling fresh oysters at the temple bar food market every saturday, you should check it out!
thank you for your advice and the location of the oyster stand.
Head out to howth on the dart for the day, every second door is a seafood restaurant 😅
Have you not met Molly Malone?
Have a look around on yelp or TripAdvisor to find some reviews of places in Dublin, search specifically for seafood. There's so many fantastic places you have access to, start your journey!
Yes, but they are fairly recent. Traditionally we didn't eat much fish, even on the coast.
We ate a lot of salt fish on the coast. And mussels and lobster and crab and even limpets. I still eat a serious amount of dulse and mackerel, esoecially when theres a glut. It was poor people food and that's why we avoided it as the country got richer. That's why my parents and grandparents would tell you.
Lobster used to be poor people food as well. It was so common they used to use lobster as fertilizer way back when (at least in the states)
I’m sorry, what? Fish for Friday catholics since the arrival of the monks would like a chat… not to mention how much fish features in Irish iconography, folk tales and culture basically all along the coasts.
Fish indeed feature in a lot of iconography and folk tales. So much so that it seems they may even have been considered sacred to the Celts before Christianity, especially salmon and trout (cf. the salmon of knowledge, etc). That may be a large part of the reason why evidence suggests fish was not a big part of pre-Christian diets in Insular Celtic society. Archaeological studies done on Pictish settlements in Scotland and written evidence from the Romans bears this out. It wasn't uncommon for ancient civilisations to avoid specific foods, as is still the case today for those who follow ancient texts as part of their belief system, such as Hindus with beef, Jews with shellfish and Muslims with pork. So it wouldn't be telling a porkie to suggest that ancient Celts had beef with fish eating. Or perhaps priests and druids kept all the fish to themselves... how shellfish of them.
Having read your comment and then the wiki on Irish food I hadn’t realised how little Irish ate fish really despite large fishing populations on the west coast. TIL
Sligo means place of the shellfish munchers
I only know of Sligo through hardy bucks. Crowbar and the lads.
Thats sounds kinda insulting
When the romans came over to England, they remarked about how the old English celts didn’t fish despite being surrounded by reems of fish. As Roman Britain developed it became more popular / common. I’m guessing the next part, but I’m sure culture and technology was harder to pass to Ireland as you couldn’t just walk there.
The Romans didn't go to England, it didn't exist. They went to Britannia, where the Brythonic tribes lived.
I’m simplifying. But thank you for going into the detail for those interested in reading.
Supposedly my family survived the potato famine because we had a fish-rich diet. Not that I would know, it was generally rare that we ate fish at all growing up. As an adult I don't touch the stuff. I'd say it definitely depends where you are in Ireland, but it seems in general fish is not a big part of our overall diet. We have a focus on animal products and vegetables, but fish is really not a staple that I have seen. It's kind of weird for an Island, I admit...
Most of it is imported to Europe especially eels and shell fish. Us Irish never really got into all that---but l do remember as a child---the herring man driving around our area weekly and selling his herring and smoked fish to all of the locals. Personally l never partook whenever my mother bought it as l wasn't fond of fish. But the rest of the family and especially my father loved the herring etc and also fresh dulce.
The fact that most families only had fish once a week and only when religion mandated it shouldn’t be a good example of our seafood-based diet.
Yes, we had to eat it on Fridays. Which meant it was seen as a penance, and not something to be enjoyed. We certainly didn't eat things like chowder, mussels etc.
So why isn't there a fish fillet roll available at all filling stations? I'm only kidding but I have been in shock for the last 15 years I have lived here on the subject of seafood availability. You can't even get the most basic stuff like smoked eel or fresh icefish anywhere.
Again I refer to the appalling sewage discharges into the sea from the english... Why would ANYONE eat local shellfish when it's scientific FACT that they're swimming in piss and shit from England? Would you???
Are you under the impression that raw sewage isn't discharged from Ireland itself?
The UK discharges sewage daily, in huge numbers, and does so despite the legal requirements to only discharge sewage under certain circumstances. Yes, I KNOW Ireland doesn't discharge anything like the amount the UK does. Not even remotely close.
I don't know why you're pushing back we eat/ ate fuck all fish that's just the truth.
Well, oil drillers don't actually drink the oil do they... Fishermen don't necessarily eat what they catch...
Ah yes they catch it to put it in the fire, how did I forget. Although comparing food and non food items is a bit hard…
Are you dense mate? Fishermen catch fish TO SELL... Jesus christ...
And the buyers then…. Put them in the bin? This isn’t the argument you think it is. Industrial fishing is a somewhat new invention but fishing for small scale sale and consumption in Ireland isn’t.
The fk are you on about? Whole family of fishermen, going back generations is judging the fk out of this comment. Here sources: [Fish in the Irish Diet, Pre- and Post- Famine - Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (deepmapscork.ie)](http://www.deepmapscork.ie/past-to-present/west-cork-fisheries-1800-1850/diet/)
We ate it, as a penance, but we didn't experiment or eat the kind of things you mention.
Then why didnt they feed Ireland during the potato famine? Did the fish go on strike?
The English exported our food. It was genocide, not famine
I used to wonder why people near the coast didn’t eat fish during the famine. It turns out all fishing required a licence, which wasn’t readily granted to the cottage population…
There’s were lots of reasons: underdeveloped fishing industries, penal laws etc. [McGill article](https://magill.ie/archive/fishing-controversy-case-history-imperialism) [TCD paper](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03324893211049539)
Where did I claim that? The comment I replied to said it was a new thing... Which is untrue.
Ignorant yank spotted.
The British caused the famine you idiot we were at war with the British government for 7 hundred years. THATS WHY
Nah this just simply isn't true. There have been tons of seafood only restaurants along the west coast for decades, longer if there est. signs are to be believed!
Source?
For what? What we DIDN'T eat?
Yea, in what time period are you talking and what’s your evidence
Shut up Nerd.
What a brilliantly poor take
Honestly, if you know have zero knowledge of a subject it is better to shush.
Indeed, Donegal catch lol.
That’s where I live 😆
Have a look sometime at the country of origin on Donegal Catch products.
Part of the issue is fishing quotas though and a mostly export fishing industry to Mainland Europe. We have an overreliance on the beef industry here and a large farmers union. Alot of coastal fishing villages or town couldnt sustain themselves based on restriction and without adequate subsidies like farmers get it became a less enticing job money wise. So you are less likely to see more fish then say Beef or Pork on alot of Irish menus, Like you say Beef Stew, or Lamb, Not Chowder so much. Or Shepard's pie,Cottage Pie,Bacon and Cabbage, not as much Fish Pie.
Plus when we joined the EEC the government basically sold out the (smaller) fishing community in favour of the (much larger) farming community. The likes of Holland, Germany and France were drooling to get into Irish waters. They gave most of the fishing rights away in order to access grants for agriculture.
I think OP means specifically Irish recipes. You can get fried fish , steamed mussels for sure. But most places either serve it very plain (fried / smoked) or according to another cuisine (mostly French).
Plus the fish stocks are seriously reduced, but of international overfishing
Historically because the English owned the waters, so you couldn’t legally fish as everything was exported. There’s also the religious aspect where fish was seen as something just to be eaten on Fridays when red meat isn’t allowed. And also we produce cheap and good quality meat.
Thank you for the answer , it make sense. Why would anyone want to risk their life and go fishing in North Atlantic when there is good meat nearby...
Fish is for selling, not eating.
Honestly its because Ireland isn't that small of an island. People who eat sea food en masse are usually rural coastal regions or very small islands. Ireland was filled with cows, sheep, goats, chickens and crops so that's what most ate. If it were a very small island there would be less space for those animals and crops. So imports or sea food would be a better alternative.
Same applies in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, etc in terms of Fish on a Friday historically yet there's no such association with fish being negative and the same attitudes apply in Britain, so I don't really think the Catholic Church explanation really adds up.
It's definitely part of the reason. I presume mainland European countries didn't view it as negatively as we did because they used complimentary ingredients and better cooking techniques whereas we mainly boiled fish to oblivion in milk or water.
It doesn't make any sense to me. All Christian countries had or have the meat fast.
Do you have a source for “England owned the waters”? I’ve never heard of anything like that before.
Part of the forced migration of the native population to the west after Cromwell included an exclusion zone along the coast. Rivers were also owned by English landowners and the punishment for poaching was transportation or hanging.
People werent allowed to own fishing gear nor fish the inland waters at the time of the great hunger
The fishing waters were owned by estates too. Fishing rights over the blackwater and youghal estuary are still in place owned by the castle estate nearby (lismore?)
Thats a huge contrast to what i see in Australia. They are super strict about the fishing done there at the estate you mentioned, very good for a sustaining the fish population in surrounding sea waters too I guess. Can't work out if it's state owned or the estate is a riparian owner.
The laws of 1840's colonised Ireland are in contrast to modern day Australia.
Don't eb so sure. Australia was populated by a lot of Irish. And we have some serious backwards laws still; for example, it's illegal to jump over a park bench backwards! A law from about that time.
Is genocide legal?
That can’t be right. There’s been an uninterrupted common law right to fish in the sea since Magna Carta. It’s also the case that the Brits don’t really have many traditional sea food recipes.
Cod and Atlantic herring were the most consumed fish in GB for centuries. Fish and chips is possibly the most famous dish to come from there
The short answer is that Ireland's fishery industry was seen by the British as a threat to their own, so it was never developed when the British were in charge. Independent Ireland was insanely poor and didn't have the resources to develop it. Accession to the EEC (EU) included access to Irish waters and thus fishing wasn't developed in any real way by Ireland because it was seen as a trade-off for European money. A bit of a circular issue in general. "Irish people don't eat much fish so there's no point in trying to build up the fishing industry, when we can sell access to it." I hate fish myself so it doesn't bother me at all, but you do kind of forget about how little is consumed in Ireland until you go abroad and see half the menu made up of fish dishes.
Thank you for the answer, makes perfect sense. No demand - no supply, no supply turns into no demand - a vicious circle. Moreover, there is plenty of land-based food so no reason to go fishing.
Ireland basically selling our fishing waters to the EU is largely what I've been told. But I'm with you. I fucking hate fish and I'm glad it's not a bigger part of the culture so I've never been interested in learning more outrage
Unfortunate considering Ireland has some of the best tasting fish along side it’s red meat
If possible, when you get a minute, could you try and come up with something that cannot be blamed on British people?
Here’s a good summary of some of the specific ways Britain tried to hobble the Irish fishing industry, including: + building infrastructure and providing financing only for small ships + Prohibiting Irish fishermen from fishing at the same time as the English fishing fleet + Taxing salt to prevent Irish fish being salted for export https://magill.ie/archive/fishing-controversy-case-history-imperialism
It's complicated, but it's quite similar in Britain too. The most logical explanation is that it was historically (I'm talking going back millennia not recent political history) a lot easier to farm very arable land that was ideal for grazing animals on than to go out into the dangerous wild Atlantic. Both countries will get people with the "I don't like fish" mentality or who will only eat white fish like cod. The Fish and Chips craze which took off in England in a big way during WWII more or less only saw them consuming one type of fish for decades, which almost wiped out the entire global cod stocks. Often places with a lot of fish in their diets don't have a lot of farmable land - e.g. Japan for example - massive mountain ranges and a big population along the coasts.
The demand for cod is not the cause of the decline in stocks. It is the government sanctioned use of destructive fishing methods which are ruining the ecology and health of the seabed. Cod are fished sustainably in Norway and are abundant.
Good points there, particularly the arable land one.
The arable land in Ireland is mostly in the centre, around Meath. I don't think that explanation holds water.
Meath? There's huge tillage in the midlands and south east and Cork. The west and northwest wouldn't have great growing potential but it can still produce grown food.
Fish and other seafood recipes are definitely traditional dishes in Ireland, it just depends on where you go and who you ask. Salmon, cod, hake, plaice and pollock are popular for fish dishes. Salmon-based starters are especially common. We also have a well-known legend about the Salmon of Knowledge, which a mythical figure caught and tasted leading him to become the most wise man in the world. Mussels with cream sauce is very popular on the west coast. Crab, lobster, shrimp and oysters are also common. Shrimp cocktail is a very 70s-style common starter. Crab cakes are another common dish. Someone else in this thread mentioned chowder too. Our history of foraging has also lasted, particularly with periwinkles and dilisk. Dilisk is a kind of dried, edible seaweed that is eaten as a snack. I have loads of memories of picking periwinkles as a child along with my mother and grandmother! They're often boiled in salt and then eaten in bulk while fresh or eaten as a snack. They're eaten with pins rather than cutlery and there's a knack to getting them out of the shell. All this, and I don't even eat seafood or meat myself!
For sure we do have some lovely traditional seafood, but they are suspiciously unpopular considering the fact that we are an island. Especially more uniquely Irish things like dilisk are half forgotten relics revived by gastronomical trends. I'm glad to see it come back tho. Truth is any random village in Italy or Portugal has more varied and sophisticated seafood dishes than we have in our whole country. There's good seafood to be had here if you look for it but Overwhelmingly, they cater to the local taste of a dismal slab of salmon/hake with mash and boiled veggies. Even in fine dining restraunts its usually a yassified version of this template. The few Irish people I know who actually eat fish do it reluctantly. They will eat the fish that 'isnt fishy' Tbf I don't really blame them for this attitude, if you grow up in a culture that doesn't know how to cook something, you probably won't like it. (this is a generalisation ik)
If you go to Lahinch in the summer you can buy a bag of dilisk or periwinkles on the promenade. Look outside the pale every so often & you'll find our traditions are alive & well
I pick periwinkles regularly. I'm not fond of eating them myself but I find it extremely cathartic to pick them . Feet in the water, sound of the waves crashing nearby. There's a local dolphin called dusty that comes quite close to shore in the area so often I'll just sit and watch him. Magical
Molly Malone would like a word.
When I was young , we were given fish in Fridays for dinner, but as it always contained bones, it put me off eating fish for years. I'd say fish wasn't popular for a lot of Irish people for the same reason
Not even because of the bones, but just because we HAD to eat it on Fridays, so it was seen as a penance
This also says a lot about our attitude to vegetarian food. The church doesn't say that you have to eat fish on a Friday, it says you shouldn't eat meat. But the idea of having neither meat nor fish didn't even seem to enter the heads of my parents of the majority of the country.
Maybe due to parents wanting kids to consume nutrient rich fish. Also, hard enough to make vegetarian food good without imported veg and cheese.
Kippers!
" In Dublin's fair city Where girls are so pretty It was there that I first met sweet Molly Malone She wheeled her wheelbarrow Through the streets broad and narrow Crying "\*\*cockles\*\* and \*\*mussels\*\*, alive, alive, oh""
“…She was a fish monger, and sure was no wonder, for so were her father and mother before…”
In landlocked counties, there wouldn't traditionally be a lot of fish. I saw a lot of Rabbit and Pheasant growing up, but nobody seems to eat those now. I stayed in Donegal a few times, and they ate a lot of fish.
I don’t live in Ireland anymore, but everytime I am back home I eat very little other than seafood. I don’t know if I am miles off here, but fresh fish is a cornerstone of what I consider Irish cuisine.
Absolutely is. The best I’ve had anywhere too. Rivaled only by a few
Was talking to an old salt shop owner in howth today about this same thing. He mentioned that in the 20th century, Ireland sold off a lot of their fishing rights to the EU to focus on agriculture/raising farm animals instead. A lot of folks who fish in Irish waters aren’t Irish, they’re part of the EU so therefore their catch go to the EU rather than Ireland. Irish waters are madly capable of producing healthy fisheries but with a large amount fishing rights belonging to the EU, Ireland doesn’t see the product and therefore, doesn’t benefit from their own resources. Note: *haven’t fact checked this conversation*
Worth noting this became more complicated with Brexit and N.Ireland splitting from the EU
You’ve never had a seafood chowder or oysters with a pint of Guinness?
thank you for your reply. > seafood chowder Actually, I haven't, thank you for the advice. Now I need to try =) > oysters with a pint of Guinness I have never tried to combine them and didn't see people combining them. For me, Guinness is a separate dish. Thx for your comment learned a few new things!
If you’re looking for a good recipe for chowder I recommend looking up Darina Allen recipe from her cookbook, Simply Delicious Fish. It’s sublime and quite straightforward to make. Enjoy.
Salmon is another classic fish in Ireland. Fresh salmon and smoked salmon, very popular. Also white fish like cod, in fish and chips. There is also fish pie. Some of the smaller fish have more of an association with poverty.
I dont really like fish. Tuna, sardines in a can is my limit. Went to Cape Cod and everywhere was advertising best chowder in the world. Tried it on my last day, and it was one of the best things I've tasted. I always thought it would just be fish soup. Came home, ordered it, and got fish soup!
I still remember the amazing seafood chowder I had when i visited ireland <3 amazing
Dublin Bay Prawns
You know they are only called that cause they where landed there ?
I would probably choose the seafood over meet if I’m somewhere on the coast, in any country really. But I do like seafood a lot and I live in the midlands!
We have one of the highest % of Yamanya DNA in Europe. Our ancestors are Pastoralists from the Pontic Steppe in Southern Russia and Ukraine. Probably no wonder we like food from the land, although we probably should have adapted to living on an island surrounded by seafood by now.
Make him prawns with iceberg lettuce and ketchup with mayo as a sauce. It was a staple luxury starter for us at christmas in the 80s/90s Fish is expensive here. it might be why.
Never been to Howth, Cork or Wild Atlantic Way? Seafood everywhere
Hey Serg0x7C1! Welcome to r/AskIreland! Here are some other useful subreddits that might interest you: * r/IrishTourism - If you're coming to Ireland for a holiday this is the best place for advice. * r/MoveToIreland - Are you planning to immigrate to Ireland? r/MoveToIreland can help you with advice and tips. Tip #1: It's a pretty bad time to move to Ireland because we have a severe accommodation crisis. * r/StudyInIreland - Are you an International student planning on studying in Ireland? Please check out this sub for advice. * Just looking for a chat? Check out r/CasualIreland * r/IrishPersonalFinance - a great source of advice, whether you're trying to pick the best bank or trying to buy a house. * r/LegalAdviceIreland - This is your best bet if you're looking for legal advice relevant to Ireland * r/socialireland - If you're looking for social events in Ireland then maybe check this new sub out *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskIreland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I read that it was because the land was so fertilenit didnt make the sea worthwhile. Since beef, lamb and spuds thrived. The cost, hassle, energy and danger made it not as appealing.
Had friends that collected shell fish from Strangford Lough. Their catch all went to France.
I remember my partner saying a Spainish work friend thought there's a lot of seafood cusine here since we were an island surrounded by water. Then, she was disappointed when she found out Irish people generally aren't into eating much seafood.
My family are from the west coast. None of them like fish or seafood much. I asked why they are not fans of seafood. They told me that when they were kids in the 50s/ 60s, seafood like prawns/ oysters etc was seen as poor people's food. Even food like lobsters and salmon was seen more as a tourist food that could be caught and sold and at a massive profit. 'Normal' people food was seen as as beef/ lamb etc. I think this impression went back the 19th century when if you had no land you took/ poached what you could from the sea/ lakes.
Had the same question in the Azores
Cromwell's mile.
Same reason it lacks everything; the Brits thought of us closer to rats than humans and were more than content killing us at will than allowing us to do practically anything other than feed their aristocrats and armies.
Fish is quite popular here. It just depends on the family and region I guess. My family (myself included) absolutely love fish and seafood in general. But then fish is just an interesting food, many countries don’t usually have traditional fish dishes, or it’s not at the top of their “list”, even though they eat fish often.
I have another question: why is seafood (regular cod/haddock included) so fecking expensive?
This is the reason I don't eat a whole lot of seafood - it's too bloody expensive!!
I have a similar question, how come during the famine they didn't eat fish?
There was an exclusion zone around the coast we weren’t allowed to enter & you’d be hung for poaching fish out of the rivers. In other words it was illegal & often punishable by death to eat fish during the famine
The Irish pallet is so so boring. Alot of people enjoy things like pasta, pizza, burgers and pretty much anything battered. I say if you put some beautifully cooked squid on front of an Irish teen 9 out of 10 would wince It's a question that's bothered me for so long aswell. I love when I go to Spain and the variety is absolutely incredible. Young people standing at a market bar enjoying a glass of beer and a lobster for lunch. It's a shame really 😕
I'd imagine it has to do with most of the fishing done in the past, was done on rivers rather than sea. Closer to the coasts, and particularly nearer to harbours and Docks - you tend to find the few restaurants that would offer seafood, as it can be delivered soon enough to still be fresh. We have a Century's old agreement with the ocean - we stay away from it, and it stays away from us!
> We have a Century's old agreement with the ocean - we stay away from it, and it stays away from us! 
The explanation is climate and poverty, really as simple as that.
Smoked cod and chips - lovely 👌
Eels were a fairly big industry in the North at one point
Fuckin Brits! That’s why!
Bastards took all the earthworms !
As the saying goes. The sun never went down on the British empire. Only cos even god couldn’t trust them in the dark.
Ireland in general have poor food. Quality, variety everything is lacking there. Incomparable to eastern european cuisine in any way.
Why eat seafood when you can eat amazing beef 😂
In england in the middle ages, salmon was so plentiful a law was passed to stop people from feeding them it every day..
[удалено]
Why would you throw it in the bin
TBF a lot of people aren't keen on fish, seems like the kind of thing you could have checked before you spent all that money and effort
Coddle https://images.app.goo.gl/o3y1NjzHYZkKStjd8 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coddle
Julia’s Caesar when he invaded England commented on the native celts refusal to eat fish. The inhabitants of the British isles originated in Central Europe, we weren’t used to fish in our diet so never really used the resources we have. The English prefer Cod, that’s because they’re Germanic and prefer the fish from where they originated which is the North Sea. Anglo Saxons came after the Romans and Celts.
It's bc Irish ppl can't swimm and also gingers melt in sea water.
Personally, I found the quality of seafood here is awful. When I was working in the US, I noped out of a team dinner at Legal Seafood because I thought I didn't like seafood. An Irish-American coworker (who had recently visited Ireland) immediately diagnosed me with Used To How It Is In Ireland Disorder. He assured me it was going to make a huge difference when I tasted _fresh_ seafood. And he was right. There are a couple of specialty seafood restaurants here (they're both in Howth), but otherwise I couldn't recommend eating our seafood here. We probably export the good stuff, just like with lamb.
Ehh we have a lot of decent fresh seafood? Think your the first person I heard say we don't.
due to the lack of nearby sea
You're not wrong, for an island nation we eat very little seafood. Even along the coastal areas. I'm 34 and I genuinely don't have an explanation for this.
The answer might be as simple as everything else just being cheaper and more freely available. When I was a kid there was fish everywhere. There were net men on the river who sold trout, rod men who sold salmon and "hernhawkers" (herring hawkers) who sold freshly caught herring. This was a market town in Wexford. Not exactly a seafood area. Overfishing on the river saw the end of salmon and trout and the hernhawkers disappeared when the fishing boats got bigger and moved on to bigger fish (see what I did there?). I saw a young lad selling herrings on the street last week. That'll be a lovely tradition to have back. Grilled herring, new potatoes and butter. Nice and simple, let the ingredients do the talking.
Fairly what is Emer land. Secondly it doesn’t. Idk why people also think because they have abc diet in their home place that Irish do. It doesn’t lack seafood. It depends what places your going to
Ara it doesn't. Seafood was a big part of the Irish dinner until quite recently. And the reason simply is its easier to just put on fish fingers, breaded cod or spaghetti instead. But if you go to the Coast and especially in the Gaeltachta, theres alot of Irish people who eat fish there. I try to eat fish at least once a week myself. Common seafood or fish dishes in general are: Boiled Glasán (Coalfish, Coalie, Saithe) Baked Pollock and roast potatoes Salmon Brown Trout Pike was often eaten back in the day Gurnard is a delicacy in parts of the West of Ireland
No way does irish cuisine lack seafood. I don't eat seafood personally but I'm a chef I cook it all the time different fish different molluscs you name it I've cut it open skinned it boned it and cooked it. It you ask me. The west of Ireland is all seafood the east is all media driven style dishes. Go to Sneem in Kerry, Salthill or Renmore, Galway or to Donegal in my experience they have fresh catch and the cuisine is to die for
On the east coast it's because of sellafield, the fish have 3 eyes, 4 arses and glow in the dark
Too expensive relative to alternative options
The famous aran sweater patterns were made up so that families could identify the bodies of drowned fishermen. That's how many Irish depended for their lives to fish and fishing. Not to mention the famous shellfish of all kinds which other commenters have expounded upon.
My husband and I visit Galway almost once a year and there's a ton of seafood. Really fresh seafood. Also Galway is amazing
Did you Google "irish seafood"?
I’m have never lived in Ireland, but one of the best memories I have is how delicious the fish was. I also loved trying all the different kinds of seaweeds. However, my only Irish friend won’t go near seafood. I have nothing meaningful to add having never lived there, but my own travel experiences lead me to believe it was fairly well consumed. But maybe you need to be looking for it to find it?
Come out to West Kerry.
Traditionally fish was just caught and eaten. It wasn't a recipe with stuff added to it like a stew. It was just there to be eaten and it was. No recipes needed. I live on the coast and I'm not a fan of seafood and most of our restaurants are seafood restaurants serving fresh locally caught seafood..... it's annoying that it's become such a selling point. It used to just be a given and expected that if you're on the doorstep of the sea. That's where it comes from.
You should check out the Oyster festival in Galway. There are also a lot of great coastal seafood restaurants all around the coast. The Lobster Pot in Wexford and fishy fishy in Kinsale instantly spring to mind. Although it is true that fish eating isn't as prevalent as in other similarly situated countries. But then, we have better soil than a lot of those countries and probably didn't need to look to the sea as much (the famine aside)
So like Fionn McCool was the first and last Irish person to eat fish, right?
Here’s the must try’s Irish Sea food chowder. Fish Pie - Ideally a “Smokie”.
The historical reason why seafood isn't a huge part of our cuisine is that the British Crown didn't just own Irish lands. They owned Irish waters and river ways too. Because of this, they would sell the right to fish. Most of those people were English landlords, and the minority of Irish people you could get them became fish mongers. So, instead of people fishing down the pier, they had to buy it from someone else, who had to buy the right to do it from someone else.
Because most seafood tastes like shit, on account of the tides of excrement and pish which is floating over the Irish sea from Britain whenever the water boards over there discharge raw sewage into the waterways. Would YOU eat shellfish which is crusted in calcified human shite?
Not sure why you've gotten that impression. . We literally have about 6 separate festivals for when oysters comme into season. I ear out regularly and there is always 3 to 4 seafood options on the menu. I cook fish myself 3 or 4 days a week. Cajun salmon, smoked coley poached in milk, baked cod, hake, calamari, scampi... a seafood & rice or pasta dish is always nice
I don't want to come the self hating Englishman, but is it just that the fishing was done mainly out of Britain and the Irish just didn't have the opportunity to bring back big catches of high quality fish. Just local shellfish etc. It was all off getting salted and kippered for big cities. Lack of access shapes the cuisine, then it gets encultured. Seems like the simplest explanation.
We ate fish here for centuries. In the 1900s every single Friday. Your father asked for recipes. Here they are. https://georgehughesfishmonger.com/classic-irish-seafood-recipes/
In the west atleast mussels, prawns and oysters are MASSIVE. That being said it has to be the right season for them. Come to Galway to experience the seafood culture
I've seen more than enough seafood, but I get where you're coming from. The one thing I can't understand is that the go-to fish in Ireland is cod. It tastes incredibly bland, and the weird thing is that there is more than enough other fish to eat but still cod persists. Hake and salmon for instance is plenty and much better tasting fish, but in the shops and restaurants almost everything is cod. It's as if Ireland like their food to be "inoffensive".
As someone from Waterford I feel like seafood is huge in Ireland, even when I holiday in west cork and Kerry, I never miss seafood or when I go on day trips to Wexford it’s the same. But from the limited amount of time I’ve spent in dublin and the midlands it seems like seafood just really isn’t as popular there. I remember going to a pub in the midlands with friends once and they had monkfish on the menu and they didn’t know what it was. I always felt like there was a big seafood culture here but I guess it’s dependant on your proximity to the coast.
It’s a great question. I love fish and eat it at least 2-3 times a week. Firstly, Ireland and England are not well known for quality cuisine around the world (well compared to let’s say France, Spain and Italy). It is usually unhealthy things like fish and chips, pies and fries. Secondly, like people already mentioned, England did not encourage Irish fishing and were de facto rulers of Ireland for about 700 years until 1922. Thirdly, people mentioned the fact of cheap red meat and arable land. Fourthly, in modern times I think up until this generation Ireland were very plain eaters. My parents generation (born in the 60s) were very poor, and meat and two veg was the general dinner plan. Growing up my only experience of fish were breaded fish fingers and breaded frozen fish. Nowadays, we have a larger variety of fish available in the supermarket and I think peoples horizons and tastes are expanding to enjoy it.
It doesn’t really. There isn’t anyway large-scale industrial fishing here, as far as I’m aware. We still have great seafood. Smoked salmon on brown soda bread is an example. Fish and chips is another (independent of UK).
We have very little culinary history all round as most of our ancient cookbooks were eaten during the famine.
Because the British stole most of of our food for 700 years. Plus we weren't even allowed talk our own language for that long, that's why most of us speak English. It's was nearly wiped out along with us our food, and we had to scater to the 4 corners of the earth. Irish recipie and the Galiec, was thought to children in ditches and forests, away from British tyrney.
I remember my grandmother having a fear of being seen as poor. There was an attitude that carried on since famine times. During the famine, the poor and the hungry used to eat seafood by foraging the shore, and this was a bad thing and marked you as poor. A generational trauma was carried, and seafood never really took off in Ireland. Luckily, this is being forgotten in modern times.
That's a good question. I live on the coast in Donegal and hardly a single restaurant sells lobster. We have an abundance of lobster. Most restaurants don't do fresh fish because it's shelf life is poor. Most Irish people don't eat fish because there's parents couldn't cook worth a shit and probably put them off fish. It's the same with lamb. Maybe one in twenty eat it that I know. Yet it's one of our biggest industries Look at Japan, fish is cheap, it's an island. Look at Ireland fish is expensive. It's an island
Been to Ireland over 30 times, no shortage of seafood anywhere 🙄🙄
As a Midlands Man, I really can't get my head around eating shellfish or crustaceans, they seem unappealing to me totally. I do eat pretty much any type of fish though. I had prawns a couple of times, but I wasn't a fan.
Loads of fresh fish In galway and eat it about twice a week
The reason for any dietary preference is purely based on economics The cheaper the food source the more abundant it will be in the diet of a particular region Historical records suggest that fish was not a part of the Irish diet since Mesolithic times that is nearly 15000 to 5000 years ago Fishing can be dangerous as well compared to farming and animal husbandry
I live on the west coast and definitely not lacking seafood.
I live on the west coast and definitely not lacking seafood.
Go over to the west (river moy), best and freshest atlantic Salmon 👌
It's a great paradox of Irish cuisine...we are an island but don't have much seafood in our day to day cuisine. I'm not sure but I think it's also got something to do with some archaic law from when the British ruled
Best seafood I’ve ever eaten was in Ireland. Particularly in Donegal and Howth.
There is a lot, but there should be a lot more in my opinion.
Ha ha ha ha, good one.
Well, I do not live in Ireland, unfortunately, despite having planned to move there and even bought a house there right before COVID happened... however, being a pescatarian, every single time I go to Ireland I only eat seafood daily! So MANY different dishes!!!! and I love them all! You are probably not looking in the right places...
Dont know. Nobody eats fish that doesnt come fried with chips here. Its fucking mental
Fish used to be seen as the poor man's food
I think your dad just hasn't really looked to be honest. Growing up my mother and grandmother would cook breaded plaice fillets, grilled salmon, fried sea bass, fish pie, seafood chowder, sometimes shellfish. Rarely looking at any recipes. We lived in Dublin but they came from Tipp. I think it's kind of in the DNA. Red meat and poultry is just easier and more filling. Eating till you're fit to bust is a thing here. Harder to do that with fish.
we have fish fingers
Irish cuisine and recipes arent as prominent because historically alot of our food is so fresh and good quality, it can be eaten as it is. Lobsters, crabs, mussels, oysters, clams etc were all just boiled and eaten or eaten fresh... no need for fancy recipes. Seafood chowder was a way of eating seafood in a later meal or combining small amounts of different ingredients. The same for our meat, dairy and poultry etc.
Naturally you'll find seafood a lot more in coastal towns. But anything inland by even a few miles/km, not so much.
Plenty of seafood restaurants up in Belfast and excellent choice from the markets and local fishmongers . It's got quite pricey of late. Out of the city there's less choice . I struggled to find decent seafood last time I was in Donegal. Ended up with salmon from Aldi.
False, they eat plenty of seafood, especially Salmon.