The Humble Housewife
Hi Deborah,
Except for the bit where you used 'Nigella Lawson' and the words 'not a pompous food writer' and 'down to earth' in the same paragraph, I agree with almost everything you said here. But there's a couple of things to bear in mind.
Ireland has, lets face it, only three national channels that people actually watch on a regular basis. And with much of the emphasis on showing 'the exclusive hot new American TV show', a lot of other potentially good programmes get pushed to the side. This is, perhaps, why we only have time for the Rachel Allens, or the *shudder* Neven Maguires. But the channels are starting to feel the pinch from the writer's strike in America, and this may force them to get creative with their programming. And what's easier to put together than a cookery show? For example, RTE's upcoming "Guerilla Gourmet" - showing at prime time on a friday night - might introduce people to genuine Irish chefs and may also get them cooking something a little different.
The other side of this is more tricky: there might not actually be a market for any of this here (yet) because... well... Irish people, especially the older generations, aren't that adventurous when it comes to food. I'm in the process of organising my wedding and I've seen so many menus with delicious-sounding food. Things I would love to try and I'm sure many of my friends would appreciate. For example, "Oven baked Red Mullet served with a Chorizo Casserole" sounds amazing to me, but if I served that at my wedding, most of my elderly relatives would turn their noses up at it. In fact, they'd probably riot. There'd be false teeth everywhere! So instead, I'll most likely end up serving the "Traditional roast chicken breast with sage stuffing and pan gravy." Not very exciting, but it will keep my relatives happy. And this is just a wedding, with people I *know*. I can only imagine what it must be like to have a restaurant and trying to cater to strangers' tastes.
But I totally agree - education is definitely the key here.
I see where you are coming from John. I guess I always preferred Nigella's political writing, so she doesn't really come across as a food writer. Perhaps the word I should have used was critic! I was trying to think of someone - not a chef - who people could relate to on this side of the pond.
As for the TV aspect it is a tough call I suppose. TV3 are pretty good about foodie imports from the UK/US. Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, The F Word etc, so why not something homegrown? I've given up on RTE altogether! 
I completely understand what you're going through for the wedding. Been there done that. We ended up with something gourmet-ish that the old folks could enjoy. Starter was seared scallops or roasted tomato soup with curry oil (left out oil for them). Main was choice of Sole with truffled mash and mushrooms or tournedos of beef. Kept the menu extremely simple (Beef / Fish) so as not to put people off. People able to get temps on their beef so if you wanted it cremated, so be it. Seemed to work well. Everyone commented it was the best wedding food ever! We didn't compromise on the beef as we knew it would be the fall back dish that any picky eaters could have. For the fish we let the chef have at it. I told him I trusted his judgment and that I wanted whatever was fresh that week. It was outstanding and giving him that bit of leeway and trust, I felt, produced a better outcome for the whole meal, even the plainer aspects, as he felt he had some ownership and could take pride in what he was serving. Chefs have big egos and respond well to copious stroking thereof!
As far as the elderly population in general, yes they are very set in their ways, but I think we can work around that. Early bird menus with traditional fare are a great but in no means perfect way to work around it. I think of my own Grandparents when going out to eat. If they read all the details on the menu they tend to ask if there's "just a bit of fish" or something plain, but if we tell them it's a bit of fish they'll eat it no problem. I don't want to patronise, but it's a bit like children, if they don't know what's in it, they are more likely to try and like it.
One of the things I didn't mention though was perhaps the lack of quality chefs, perhaps due to lack of quality training available. Is 12 weeks at Ballymaloe really enough to teach you to run a restaurant when chefs in America are lucky to get a sous chef job after a four year degree with the CIA?
But I digress... I think you raise some excellent points. Thanks for stopping by!
I am interested, because I have never been to Ireland, although I planned one trip that failed to fetch up.
There are a couple of things that occur to me as an Italian cook. One is that banquets and restaurants are really bad examples of a cuisine, because there are things that are practical and things that are not. When I cook professionally, I try to include things that aren't practical in restaurants. When I teach, I have to keep in mind what people can buy when they get home.
The other is that I have yet to see an ethnic restaurant that would pass muster in its home country. It gets altered for the market. Some of the worst examples are here in Italy. Italians are deeply suspicious of foreign food and they don't like to wander very far from their roots. I can make and serve foreign food to my friends and they LIKE IT, and no one is more surprised than they are. But they aren't paying and I don't have to convince them to come back again. Irish pubs here serve bruschetta and crostini and beer.
Maybe what Irish TV needs is for a homegrown chef/cook to write a proposal celebrating traditional and new Irish cooking? I remember years ago seeing a travel show on the west of Ireland in which the food was praised to the skies. The right effort could end up going to American TV.
Oh Judith - how I'd love an Irish pub here to serve crostini!
Having lived in Mayo, the West of Ireland for two years I'd have to say it's the worst of the lot! But that seems to be what the locals want, even the younger generation, having never been exposed to anything else. Ireland in general, food aside, is extremely anti-change and this makes things doubly difficult in every aspect of life. With the economic boom of the last fifteen years change has come very rapidly without all the necessary infrastructure to support it. Since food is so close to the heart perhaps there is an inherent feeling that we need to stick to the familiar in that area at least! But what really sickens me is the swarm towards convenience foods. People really seem to think cooking is some sort of impossible activity that takes all day. When we lived in the states I worked 50+ hours a week and traveled frequently with a new baby. Despite this fact I still made all my baby food from scratch and had real dinners on the table every night and brought yummy home made lunches to work. Ok, I often (and still do) skip breakfast, but I certainly made it work with a bit of oragnization. I just think people need to be shown how to cook simple tasty food with the produce and meat we have around us. The all day roasts we are used to just don't cut it, causing people to flock to the convenience food shelves. I seldom spend more than half an hour on dinner unless it's a special occasion.
There I go rambling on again!
I found this really interesting.
We rarely eat out here because it is very expensive and when we do I sometimes feel that I could have produced better at home. Then I ate out in the UK and was served tasty and unusual food and it makes me want to eat out here even less.
I think you have the passion and would be well qualified to become Irelands answer to Nigella...what do you think?
Hmm, I agree with some of what you are saying Deborah but Ireland is definitely changing. I know you said she lacks passion, and I personally don't think she does anything ground-breaking but Rachel Allen has everyone in the country watching her show, buying her books & trying her dishes. I can't tell you the amount of times I've gone to a friends house for dinner to be served a "Rachel" dish. Clodagh McKenna is another fine example, getting people to get out and visit their local farmers markets, buy local and try new recipes.
I def don't agree with your comments on Ballymaloe - I'm going there myself in April and I've no real idea what I want to do after but I do know that I DON'T want to work as a chef in a hotel / restaurant. I'd maybe open a deli / cafe with some catering / cookery lessons on the side but cheffing is a no no. That's not what the course is about - if you want to be a chef, either bang on the door of your local restaurant or do a FAS course.
Maybe you are the person Ireland needs. I'm serious. you are cute (good for tv) passionate and talented and creative.
You should put together some kind of demo tape and send it to the networks. Even if they chose to do a show of that type, but with someone else, you are still a winner for getting the message out.
and what about radio shows or magazines in the area? You should just start trying to get it out there.
It sounds like it will be long time to get a change going in Ireland, but it has to start somewhere.
I seriously agree, it should be you, Deborah!
(By the way, I LOVE Bourdain's sense of humour, I think it's because I'm a sarcastic person myself!)
I have issues with Nigella and Giada DeLaurentis, mostly because I want to see food, not cleavage.
Food TV is a good thing, yet there is quite a lot of slop on it (see Rachel Ray.) She actually makes people think that opening up prepacked food and mixing it together makes you some kind of chef. Don't get me wrong, for her audience that's probably a step up, and that's great! But as far as the masses here go, they're probably much like Ireland in that they don't WANT anything new, they WANT heaping portions, no matter what the taste.
The only difference here is that the network has seen a way to make money with it. I'm sure they will in Ireland eventually, too.
Sarah - Didn't mean any offense about Ballymaloe, I just find it interesting that so many people get excellent chefs jobs just out of the place. When the husband was still in the business he was involved in opening a new hotel and the head chef was hired right out of the place. Didn't make sense to me. I too would love to take the course, if money weren't an object I'd be signed up tomorrow, but I just don't think it's comparable to degree-based culinary schools in Europe and the US. I think we really need longer term more intensive programs here. A Cordon Bleu campus even. As for Rachel, she just doesn't do it for me sorry! Find her personality and food bland. Clodagh I can do, she's personable and shares some good recipes, but she's very much promoting the slow food / organic lifestyle which isn't always an option for the budget minded masses. As much as I wish I could buy all my produce at the farmer's market, financially it's just not possible. I am the first to note Organic foods superior taste, but until I'm making the big bucks, it's not an option! I still feel we need a passionate cook who can work with standard food and build on that. Foster and appreciation for what we have before making people guilty about not being able to afford or in some cases not even caring about organic / free range. Personally I can't afford free range chicken, but instead of buying the awful battery chicken, I just don't buy it. It's all about choices.
Beccy - I know exactly what you mean. We did budget London in '06 and couldn't get over the difference between cheap London restaurants and expensive Dublin with the former usually being better! Of course there is an amazing drive from British chefs, something we don't have here.
Beccy & Frannie - You guys are too funny. Moi on TV? Hah!
Lisa - We must have cross-posted. I know what you mean about the cleavage. Always found it interesting that Nigella is one of the few food shows the husband doesn't mind watching with me!
Yeah the chain restaurant phenomena in America is equally depressing. We have friends back in Michigan who think Outback is a gourmet restaurant!!!! Can I get a Michelin star with that bloomin' onion? I saw way too many wonderful restaurants fail in the states because they couldn't compete with the cheaper, bigger portions and faster turnaround of the chain restaurants. *SIGH*
It will never be ideal and people will always resist change, but I just feel there could be more of an effort. Even take schools for instance. They are banning kids bringing in any kind of ready made food, but no one is offering parents any guidance to home made substitutes. Oh well... this is a never ending debate methinks with everyone making very valid points!
Hi Deborah, I love this blog, and have got some great recipes from it - thank you!
However, I do have to disagree with you on what you consider to be the Irish mindset and restaurant quality. Like anything, you can't tar everyone with the same brush. Sure, there are a lot of crap restaurants, serving crappy food; there are a lot of people resistant to change, there are a lot of people who want large helpings of their carvery dinner, and find it nice..but not everyone. And there ARE good restaurants, good chefs out there, with local ingredients, local food.
I also find it a bit patronising when you said about the west of Ireland, and that was what the locals want, even the younger generation, never having been exposed to anything else. It's a bit of the old-fashioned - "Oirish people have never gone anywhere" mentality.
Sometimes it's hard for local people to exert change on local restaurants..regardless of how it should be "vote with your feet", it's not. I avoid the crap restaurants, and go to the decent ones..because I have a choice. If I lived in a smaller town, I wouldn't have that choice, and it's nice to get out, just to get out of the house, and have somebody else make my dinner and wash up after me!
Maybe I'm lucky, I live relatively close to one of Ireland's true (and completely) organic restaurants (not that I can afford to go often!), we have a couple of farmers' markets nearby, and I happen to like good food. My friends like good food. As a family, we have travelled a lot, and our children have wide and varied palates, and I'm not alone in this.
I think it's easy to say that we're resisting change, and we like things the way they are...but sometimes you need to look a little harder, scratch under the surface a bit, and find non-foodies who ARE passionate about food, but in their own, quiet way.
Ah Deborah, we're spoiled here in Limerick with a fantastic market that has stalls that sell really cheap fresh fish, fruit & veg that isn't necessarily organic but it's local so cheap as chips, other fantastic organic veg stalls as well as artisan products to blow your budget with. I have to say, I'm on the free range chicken band wagon myself but I can get a really big chicken for €15 in the local butchers which I don't think is breaking the bank as it'll feed 6 adults comfortably and taste amazing. I'm like you in that I avoid the other stuff altoghther the rest of the time.
No offence to the Ballymaloe thing but I really didn't realise people were getting such big posts straight out of the school. I spoke to a lady who recruits in the hospitality industry who told me that the hotels & restaurants don't have much time for the ballymaloe "brigade" but maybe that's not so true.
Adie - Thanks for your comment. As previously stated I did not mean offense to anyone. Obviously there are lots of people out there making changes, otherwise we would not be seeing the growth of farmers markets and more restaurants and artisans being given the awards and praise they deserve. I just feel restaurants -in general - are not looking at this trend and adjusting, instead they keep catering the same old standards over and over. Carveries are a prime example of this. I stand by my comment in the West, obviously not the bigger towns, but having lived there two years I cannot tell you how depressing it is to live there as a foodie. Now having said that last time I went out to my parents, I did stop on the way at a small farmers market in Foxford, which really encouraged me. Even though it only had a few stalls there was obviously interest. Perhaps I didn't word it right. I don't think that people out there (some of the loveliest people in Ireland I might add) "don't know any better" but more they choose what is familiar and opt not to try new things. Indeed people all over Ireland are jetsetting all over Europe and being exposed to all kinds of wonderful cuisine, but the Irish pubs in Spain and Portugal are usually full of Irish people. Before we left, an incredible little Chinese restaurant opened in Ballina and I got to know the owner. He always lamented the fact that people all ordered the same 5-6 menu items. No one tried anything new. So yes, things ARE changing and there ARE people who love food, go to good places and support the right causes - nobody is disputing that. In order to make a point one has to generalise, there will always be an exception, but I bet if we were to survey the populace right now, most people would feel safer and more comfortable with what they know.
Sarah - Maybe this guy was an exception. I know he had some restaurant experience before going to Ballymaloe. You're lucky to have that farmers market - I'm jealous. In the beginning of my post I did reference to the larger cities being an exception. My nearest decent one is Naas. It's just too overpriced, despite being lovely. As for the chicken, that's too much for me, considering the price differential. Don't know if you've been watching Hugh Fearnley Withingstall's Chicken Run this week, but if you noticed the price tags for free range verse batter whole chickens in Tesco in the UK it was less than £2. The free range whole chickens were under four pound. THAT would be doable. Fifteen euro is not. I could get six pounds of ground sirloin at my butcher for that and feed them for well over a week! It's a vicious circle, because in order to bring prices down they need demand, but they don't have it and they won't get it unless they bring prices down. *SIGH*
To no one in particular - People are very quick to get defensive when they feel they are being insulted, but this was not my point. I honestly believe if you step back and look at Ireland, AS A WHOLE, you have to be honest with yourself and see where I am coming from. We've come a LONG way since I left Ireland the first time, but we've still a long way to go before people know what real food is. If I'd said the Irish populace are idiots for voting in the same government in May, no one would have batted an eyelid, instead I suggest we adjust our attitudes to food and I get jumped on. Not so much here, but I have received several nasty emails. *SIGH* AND some very supportive ones - thanks friends!
Use this as the basis of your pitch to RTE Deborah! Seriously.
Bloody well said.....especially about the steak, salmon, pasta....my chef just wouldn't do a menu without those 3....just wouldn't contemplate it....
Still cannot critique Ireland, haven't a clue. I can however talk about food/entertainment/TV and food. I speak to my daughter in the US every Saturday and she is always watching PBS cookery shows. Respectable cookery shows. PBS local stations run what their audience wants to see, so donate and ask for cookery shows! FoodTV, OTH, seems to have given up on real cookery and gone for appealing hosts. They are seeking a younger audience for advertising purposes, so don't bother with it.
Were I in a position to pitch a TV show, I'd lose the 20 pounds to look slim on TV and do it. I love to teach and I concentrate on making food easy as well as delicious and nutritious, but I am not where I could do that. It sounds like Ireland needs it.
When I decided to take up cookery as a career, I did go to culinary school because I wanted the cred that would sell my services. So school or apprenticeship or experience of a lifetime of curiosity, they are all to me valid ways of getting there. The problem is often that what you learn is what is currently hot in high end restaurants. I look at recipes produced by Kellerman for pasta and I shudder. Pasta is not and should not be complicated and the statement that it might collapse if not done exactly leaves me puzzled. And yet all the French chefs make it that complicated. I look at Giada's ideas and they are close, but very Americanized.
Two approaches. One makes things complicated to establish primacy and the other uses packaged junk to make it thoughtless. To me both sides have lost sight of the basic idea that millions of people need to understand what ingredients are and how to get them together to delight and to nourish. For el Bulli it's OK for it to be scientifically challenging. For the home that's wrong-headed. For industry it pays to have recipes that use packaged foods that can be advertised; for the home that is wrong-headed. There is a generation arrived that thinks microwaving vegetables in provided plastic packaging is great. They want copycat recipes from chain restaurants. Something stinks.
Annie - heh!
Manuel - And here I was thinking you lot are more civilised up there!
Excellent points Judith. Some of the UK chefs are moving back to simple food which I think is wonderful. The ingredients should be the star of the show, nothing else. Gordon Ramsay does a show called "Kitchen Nightmares" where he goes too failing restaurants and tries to turn them around. Most of the time they have little to no culinary experience and are trying to copy Michelin starred places. Gordon steers them to look at local produce and meat and use it in a simple, but effective way. Normally the restaurants come full circle, because the general public appreciate well done real food!
Yeah, I saw the Chicken Run program alright - there's loads airing on C4 at the mo on the food front with Masterchef on BBC every night. It looks like the UK are legislating for better condition for chickens in general so it's all going in the right direction there.
I don't think you should confuse people being defensive with people disagreeing with you. You see carvery everywhere, I see small artisan producers popping up everywhere. Nenagh, Ballybunion, Listowel, New Ross, Ennis, Ennistymon, Lahinch, Co Cork. Get a copy of the Bridgestone guide - the pages are packed with good restaurants and not just in the cities.
Hi Sarah - no one is denying any of that - there are plenty of wonderful places all over Ireland although I've found through personal experience both Georgina and the Bridgestone are way off base on a few places!
The whole point of my post was to say that in GENERAL (!!!!) I am sick and tired of getting the same old crap in restaurants. Maybe the problem is worse in the Midlands, but it's there and it's depressing. But unfortunately if the general populace don't change their eating habits and expand their culinary horizons, that's all it's going to be for a long time. I was only suggesting that education is the only way to achieve that.
:o) Totally agree about the Georgina / Bridgestone comment, they're a good indicator but some places def shouldn't be on... Funny, Cafe Bar Deli in Limerick is still a building site and it somehow managed to get into the guide.
Totally understand what you're saying - I find the cafe / lunchtime culture is better than night-time dining in general.
Weird how that works isn't it? Stella Maris in Mayo is (was? think I have old editions) in both, as well as getting a prominent feature in Food and Wine recently and it is one of the most awful places I've been. The food is just adequate, but for what they charge, it's appalling. The service is beyond crap with the American manager having the personality of a clothes peg! Agree totally on the cafe culture. Why can't the more mainstream places follow suit?
Hi Deborah,
I agree with you on this subject and I think it is a travesty as well. Ireland produces so much in the way of excellent vegetables (including rare and hard to fine gourmet stuff) and excellent quality meats. And lets not even get started on the seafood...
What is lacking is proper marketing of these products. At the Temple Bar Market on Saturdays there are a few stalls that I regularly frequent. Two of them - the cheese stall run by Silke Cropp and the Irish apple stall have been given quality taste awards in the UK for some of their products, but are completely unknown/unappreciated in their home country. That is a real tragedy.
When I first came here I used to decry the lack of variety on the shop shelves, then I discovered that all the good stuff was hiding at farmers markets. It seems the really adventurous palates exist in the (mostly young) smallholders of Ireland.
I second the vote for you to become the face of new food and new cooking in Ireland, I think you would do a brilliant job.
i'm also in limerick and think it's crap, just like the rest of the country. we're hopeless same oul shite everywhere. the market is ok, but nothing to write home about. but i would agree with the lunch scene being better than dinner. could not agree more with this post. people only get defensive when things are too true. don't let it bother you. as someone else said, pitch it to rte. they need help. lots. i had high hopes for guerrilla gourmet but it turned out to be another typical rte gimmick.
But it doesn't take exotic ingredients to make great food, and restaurants rarely can set the standard because many great dishes aren't practical for one reason or another.
The more you buy the good stuff and leave behind the crap, the more the vendors get the message.
I just can't get enough of your writing! You really are fantastic! So informative, so please don't appologise for rambling.
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