Day 6 for Aisling - Still Eating Native

I’m gonna be honest, I’m really looking forward to eating whatever I want again.

Work was rough today. Making food for 8 hours straight and not being able to graze over what you’re preparing is torture. And that’s not what this is all about!

I cooked an all Irish soup for the café which I had for lunch. It was good but it wasn’t a defining moment in soup making by any means. I miss flavours. Cumin and coriander seed, chilli, nuts and raisins, cinnamon, aubergine, tomatoes,  avocado, harissa, mustard, cardamom.

I mean, it definitely is possible to be totally self-sufficient and survive off what we grow, rear and produce here in Ireland. But for me food is such a pleasure and to support the food of amazing local producers is one thing but to deprive yourself of amazing non Irish food is another.

A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. A bar of carob (weird I know!). That’s what I’ve been craving.

what dreams are made of

For me it has been a massive eye opener. Why is it so difficult to eat only Irish food in Ireland?

Our climate?

Imports are more convenient and often cheaper?

We’re lazy?

We don’t support our local farmers and producers enough?

Fat cats make decisions for us? 

Reality: we live in a globalised society. The world is small thanks to modern technology and transportation and actually, we export more than we import.

However, I have eaten like a king this week. It’s really only been the sugar cravings and lack of options when given so much choice in a marketplace, that have brought me down. We have a tremendously high standard of quality food in this country. There was nothing Irish that I found this week that I would not eat or would consider to be bad quality or junk food. It has engrained a stamp of quality in my mind of anything produced in Ireland. We should all be really proud of the food that’s coming out of this country at the moment and there’s no reason why we can’t make an international name for ourselves. In fact we already are....

These should be my parting comments from tomorrow night, but we’re having a final feast of West Cork wild boar tomorrow and I may have a few whiskeys so I thought I’d get my little rant over and done with now.

Dinner tonight: Pak choi, chicken, leek and coriander broth (stock from the chicken during the week)
Oriental Irish!

 - just missing the kick