AHHHHHHHSOME. I got really into cooking right before the pandemic started and took like 30 or so cooking class sessions. And have long had an interest in history. Times I have dived into food history I have loved it. Admittedly not a ton! Can I ask like a particular area of food histiry?

shifting this here so i can nerd out properly! i started research on irish food in undergrad and then started building a digital database for nyu of global irish diaspora recipes as well as pulling food mentions from the national folklore collection’s archives - plus a blog!

there are thousands of pages of oral histories recorded in the 1930s by folklorists and school children (37-39) as part of a governmental effort and “food” was one of the assigned topics. many of these pages are in irish and have yet to be transcribed

most of the accounts come from older folks (the very oldest born at the tail end of the Famine) who become an alternative primary source on food culture in the 19th century as well as during the Famine period

while not a traditional source there is so much rich regional nuance and data in these archives (all available ad duchas.ie, much is transcribed but there are tons that are either just scanned or still not uploaded, primarily the irish language documents)

one thing i noticed was the ubiquitousness of oats alongside the expected potatoes, and well outside of the expected northern regions known for its production. i also noticed references to an oat food called sowans, flummery and bull-milk in both english and irish in every county represented

it was SO present in almost every district that i was surprised i had never heard of it after several years of studying traditional texts! so that’s when i dived in :)

I am going to reply to all of these really cool things you are sharing once I am more awake. 🧡

That sounds fascinating and very cool! My dad’s side is directly Scottish via his mom’s parents, and on his dad’s side that’s where we have all the Drummond Clan fancy history… which is via the north of Ireland. Oldest traced relative born 1798, first came to Canada around 1820s I think?

Then went *back* to Ireland and got married, then returned to Ireland with his bride, her bride’s dad and new farmland. Some of my fav comfort meals growing up wherr Shepherd’s Pie and minced meat pies at holidays. Homemade shortbread cookies.

LFG SHORTBREAD

one of my unpublished blogs it’s on the history of shepherds pie!! i have to finish that one

so the food my thesis was on is also a scottish dish and there is SO much scottish lore on it, and oats!

I have mentioned I studied in Scotland for a year haven’t I? University of Aberdeen? Nigh on 25-26 years ago. My junior year of college.

INTRIGUED. Running through my mental catalog, which is admittedly a wee bit shy of a full cauldron. Guessing NOT haggis… … nor fried Mars bar… … certainly plenty of fried everything… … Scotch eggs of course…