How Ireland perfected the journey from abstinent Lent to the celebratory feast of Easter.
Throughout the history of Western civilization, spring’s arrival was always a time for feasting and gaiety. After months of cold stormy weather, long nights and gloomy days, shoots of new grass would herald the onset of another year’s planting cycle. In pre-Christian Ireland, the spring … [Read more...] about Sláinte!
The Fast & The Feast
Food & Drink
Sláinte!
Sláinte! Wine: Another Irish Triumph
The legacy of the Celts in Ireland and how, in the absence of grapes, they used their wine making skills to create a honey-wine. Odds are, you’re familiar with the fact that beer, stout and whiskey have been mainstays of Celtic culture for eons. What I’ll bet you don’t know is that the Celts also played a key role in the development of humanity’s fascination with wine. Not … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Wine: Another Irish Triumph
Slainté! New Year – A Time of Big Portions
Edythe Preet, Irish America columnist, Jan 2012
Who needs Hocus Pocus when we have global positioning satellite systems, cell phones, iPods, and full-body airport scanners? No one believes in magic anymore. Well, if that's the case why do you suppose we stay out of a black cat's path, avoid walking under a ladder and put a penny in a new bride's shoe? Because we are superstitious creatures, that's why. Since the beginning … [Read more...] about Slainté! New Year – A Time of Big Portions
Food for Thought: Susan Ungaro
Susan Kelliher Ungaro, president of the James Beard Foundation, focuses on furthering the famous chef’s legacy – and on what’s really important about a meal. As I pull open the heavy door of the James Beard House on West 12th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan’s West Village, the first thing that hits me is the smell. Chestnuts roasting, shallots caramelizing, the … [Read more...] about Food for Thought: Susan Ungaro
An Irish Vintage: The Concannon Vineyard
James and John Concannon uphold tradition at a winery founded by their Irish immigrant ancestor. The Concannon family has spent more than 128 years growing grapes and making wine in California, 42 miles east of San Francisco, debunking the notion that the Irish know their whiskey but not their wine. “I never knew my grandfather James, the founder of Concannon Vineyard,” said … [Read more...] about An Irish Vintage: The Concannon Vineyard