Ireland's Food Revolution We Irish have had a fraught relationship with food for far too long. Generations were raised to see it as a crime to leave even the tiniest morsel on our plates. Instead of being encouraged to develop a taste for good food, we were told to consider ourselves lucky to have any food at all. Is this a legacy of our past? For centuries, British landlords … [Read more...] about A Taste of Ireland
Travel
A Glimpse of Ireland Past
Sharon Ni Choncuir discovers that 'Romantic Ireland' is still alive. ‘Romantic Ireland is dead and gone. It’s with O’Leary in the grave.’ This was Yeats’ lament in the Ireland of 1914 and it was often repeated during the Celtic Tiger years. In our frantic quest for materialistic modernity, Ireland and its people were said to have forsaken the traditions of the past. But how … [Read more...] about A Glimpse of Ireland Past
A Year on Croagh Patrick
By Sheila Langan, Deputy Editor
Matt Loughrey, the man behind Croagh Patrick 365 Matt Loughrey had just finished his 218th consecutive climb of Croagh Patrick, the third-highest mountain in County Mayo, when I spoke to him on a recent Saturday evening. “It’s cold up there now,” he said. “We’ve been getting temperatures of -17˚c, -18˚c up on the top. We’re climbing in ice and snow at the moment, it’s a … [Read more...] about A Year on Croagh Patrick
Tory Island: Rugged Beauty, Pirate Past
"...like it or not, we are, all of us, Tory Islanders under the skin." – Marius O'hEarcain The remotest of Ireland’s inhabited islands, Tory has Neolithic and Bronze Age roots and a fascinating mythology all its own. But for the past several decades the Island has been feeling its way into the Big World, venturing into new, uncharted waters: it’s become a tourist destination … [Read more...] about Tory Island: Rugged Beauty, Pirate Past
Touring Irish America
Mary Pat Kelly writes about encountering Irish America readers on her tour to promote her historical novel Galway Bay. If you are reading this, I’ll bet I’ve met you. Since I began the book tour for my novel Galway Bay one year ago, I’ve encountered you, readers of Irish America magazine, in bookstores and Irish cultural centers, in libraries and church halls, in academic … [Read more...] about Touring Irish America