Are you ready for the traditional corned beef and cabbage with Irish soda bread for St. Patrick’s Day? Maybe some green beer? After all, that’s what they do in Ireland, right?
Nope.
Then why do we Americans have it for dinner to celebrate St. Patick’s Day? It all started in Ireland…
The Irish were not much for eating beef, especially in ancient times. Cows were used for milk, cheese, and as labor animals. They were a sign of wealth and power. Clans raided each other and stole cows. If a cow was too old to work or produce milk, then it was used for beef. Pork and lamb were popular meats, if any meat was eaten at all. Mostly, meats were reserved for the wealthy and for feast days.
Both smoking and salting meat has been around for centuries. The Irish used sea ash, which was burned seaweed, as one method of salting meat. Salting meat keep it longer and was important before refrigeration. The navies of the world used salted meats, which lasted for months, in order to have meat at all on those long sea voyages.
England used cows for beef and were considered a beef eating people. When they conquered Ireland, they changed everything. One of the changes was to confiscate land and make the Irish work for the new owners. Since the English needed more beef, they exported tens of thousands of cattle from Ireland. So much so that Cattle acts were passed in 1663 and 1667; no more live cattle could be shipped—but the meat could.
Which brings it back to salting meat. Originally, the salt crystals used were the size of corn kernels. Since Ireland’s salt tax was much less than England’s, it was best to salt the beef and then export it. Which became corned (due to the size of the salt) beef.
Ireland supplied both the British and the French navies with corned beef, as well as the American and French colonies. The Irish, however, were too poor to eat much beef themselves. They tended to have salted pork/bacon. The potato was the most consumed food by the Irish.
Until the Great Famine. By 1845 other countries were producing their own corned beef. Ireland’s potato crop failed for many years. The English refused help. To simplify a very complicated and controversial subject, one third of the Irish left Ireland, mostly to England, the United States, and Australia. One third died of starvation and disease. One third survived and remained. Even today, the population of Ireland is less than pre-famine times.
Those Irish who immigrated to the United States were not welcomed. Employment was difficult to find, with shops putting out signs that said, ‘No Irish need apply’. Even though poor, and living in the slums, their life was better than in Ireland under English rule. Interestedly, their closest neighbors were Jewish. They sold a cheap meat in their delis; corned beef. It was cheaper than bacon, which the Irish would have normally used. Also, cartoonist and other media made fun of the Irish by comparing them to pigs. Insulted, many Irish substituted pork was for cheap beef.
These new immigrants added their favorite vegetables to the meat: potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, and slow roasted it, which became our modern-day corned beef and cabbage. Irish Americans made St. Patrick’s Day a feast day to celebrate their heritage and homeland. In Ireland it was a holy day with church attendance and time spent with family.
Other customs, like green beer, leprechauns, parades, and shamrocks, are also from Irish Americans who wanted to honor and remember their homeland. Interestedly, Abraham Lincoln chose corn beef and cabbage for his first inaugural luncheon (March 1861).
Today, Chicago dies the Chicago River green, parades abound in major cities, and Irish music festivals are everywhere. Cities with a lot of Irish, like Boston and NYC, really celebrate.
Back in Ireland, thanks to tourism (and Guinness), some of the Irish American traditions trickle in. Until 1970 pubs were closed by law in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day.
So, what do they eat in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day? Spring lamb is popular, as is Shepard’s pie, Guinness and beef pie, colcannon, and fish stew. (You can find wonderful recipes on Pinterest.) Even today, chicken and pork top the list for types of meat most popular in Ireland over beef.
Being Irish American, we’ll have the corned beef and cabbage along with homemade Irish soda bread (which we have often anyway). What will you be having?
A great article with more in-depth information can be found here:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-corned-beef-really-irish-2839144
All Things *Ancient* Irish 