Irish America

Slainte Archives

Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

By Edythe Preet

Fall 2022

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Apples are abundant in Ireland in the fall, and they play a key role not only on the table but in festivities as well. Several years ago after a rigorous day of exploring County Laois, I pulled into a pub for a well-deserved pick-me-up pint. It was a wee bit early for the local drinking crowd and the long bar held only one customer, a young man who looked more like a fellow … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

Cockles & Mussels, Alive, Alive-o!

By Edith Preet

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"She wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow, crying "cockles and mussels, alive alive o." The Irish have been eating shellfish since humans first set foot on the Emerald Isle. Huge shell piles called middens have been found at every seaside archaeological site, which proves that shellfish was a dietary mainstay for Ireland’s Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. … [Read more...] about Cockles & Mussels, Alive, Alive-o!

A Winter’s Tale

By Edythe Preet
December/ January 2021

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Christmas may be over but winter isn't. You can still curl up with a good book and ginger cookies. By Edythe Preet Just because I live in Los Angeles doesn’t mean I’m an Angeleno. Natives here love that it’s sunny and quasi-summer all year long. Not me. Locals think I’m crazy. Crazy like a fox, I say. When it’s cold, you can put on a sweater. When it’s hot, you’re out … [Read more...] about A Winter’s Tale

The Fair Days of Summer

By Margaret M. Johnson

Summer 2021

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For hundreds of years, Fair Day was an integral part of Ireland's rural community, writes Margaret M. Johnson. The holding of country fairs in rural Ireland goes back so far into the past that their beginnings are delightfully entangled in myth, history and tradition. Whether originally a pagan ritual or an occasion for farmers to sell surplus crops, the country fair has … [Read more...] about The Fair Days of Summer

Sláinte: Hail to the Chef

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By Edythe Preet The secret of distilling spirits was brought to Ireland by fifth-century Mediterranean missionaries, Edythe Press informs us, while Darina Allen gives us a wonderful recipe for pea soup. In an issue of a prestigious American travel magazine, a well-known author wrote about the food of Ireland. After dining at one of the Republic's most illustrious hotels, he … [Read more...] about Sláinte: Hail to the Chef