Latest / Family Tree Food Stories / Why Corned Beef & Cabbage Isn't Actually Irish; The Truth Behind the World's Favorite St. Paddy's Day Meal"

Transcript

Why Corned Beef & Cabbage Isn't Actually Irish; The Truth Behind the World's Favorite St. Paddy's Day Meal" · Family Tree Food Stories

• 0:03
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Hey everybody, it's Nancy and Sylvia, And we're off on
• 0:06
  another show about St. Patrick's Day.
• 0:08
  But before we start, we just wanna remind you to please share and like the show
• 0:13
  and subscribe so that you don't miss another episode, or you don't miss an
• 0:16
  episode at all, we come out every Thursday morning with a new episode and a new
• 0:21
  story and all sorts of good information.
• 0:23
  Plus we're asking our listeners to click on a survey that we're doing, which is
• 0:27
  at Podcast Family Tree Food Stories.
• 0:29
  You'll get all that information there.
• 0:31
  And then we'll also have a link in the show notes as well.
• 0:35
  So if you can please take our survey, then we'll be able to do even more for you and.
• 0:41
  Every meal has a story and every story is a feast, and it's all delicious.
• 0:45
  But with that note, let's get on with St. Patrick's Day.
• 0:49
  Sylvia, what do you think?
• 0:50
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, I think so too.
• 0:52
  How, by the way, do you like green pancakes?
• 0:55
  How about green bagels or anything green that isn't broccoli?
• 1:00
  What do you think?
• 1:01
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I do like broccoli, but it's not very Irish,.
• 1:05
  Sylvia Lovely: Popcorn.
• 1:06
  There's another one popcorn
• 1:07
  with,
• 1:08
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I never had green popcorn or what's
• 1:10
  the green, like the green?
• 1:12
  There's a green liqueur that's got a sort of a minty flavor to it,
• 1:15
  Sylvia Lovely: Ah, maybe that would be okay 'cause it would be meant, but
• 1:18
  something that's not meant to be green.
• 1:21
  And then when I was reading about some of this, it's like the dyes that they
• 1:24
  put in there, you know, I don't know.
• 1:27
  I don't know about that.
• 1:28
  So anyway, but it's fun.
• 1:30
  And for one day, it's kind of like eating a hot dog.
• 1:32
  They say it takes so many minutes off your life.
• 1:35
  Per hot dog.
• 1:36
  And I'm like, okay, how do you add in that wonderful glorious day with your
• 1:40
  family at a family picnic and you eat a hot dog and it adds to your life, right?
• 1:46
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: It is.
• 1:46
  fun.
• 1:47
  Let me ask you the question.
• 1:48
  So we're talking about Kitchens Across America are tour Irish,
• 1:51
  at least just for one night.
• 1:54
  I know my mom tried to make corn, beef, corn, beef and cabbage a couple of times
• 1:58
  on St. Patrick's Day, and her family was English, so that wasn't very authentic,
• 2:04
  Sylvia Lovely: Mm-hmm.
• 2:05
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: But what is authentic Irish food?
• 2:08
  I think that's the big question
• 2:10
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 2:11
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: It's belonging and power, I guess, in the food, right?
• 2:14
  That's, I mean, you're Irish, tell me.
• 2:15
  me
• 2:16
  Sylvia Lovely: oh yeah.
• 2:16
  I come from a long line of Irish people and the whole eastern part of this state.
• 2:21
  They came across the Appalachian chain and they settled and
• 2:25
  they were an independent sort.
• 2:26
  and I was telling you about the music, very mournful music because of the
• 2:30
  history of Ireland and the potato famine.
• 2:33
  But I think the joy of Ireland is.
• 2:36
  It holds some kind of a strange particular place in our imagination,
• 2:40
  and it's because of the food, but it's because of where you had the food.
• 2:45
  Like for instance, in small villages, familiar pubs, tight communities where
• 2:50
  people were known and noticed in food and its intersection with family, community,
• 2:55
  and nurturing all our relationships.
• 2:57
  It's so Irish.
• 2:58
  food wasn't performance, it was presence
• 3:00
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: It seems welcoming,
• 3:01
  Sylvia Lovely: It is.
• 3:02
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: The pubs and everything.
• 3:04
  It's cozy, it's dark, it's comfortable.
• 3:07
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, and I did do a little background stuff on pubs, because you
• 3:11
  always think of Irish and pubs, right?
• 3:13
  We've got a couple of those here in town, and it's just where you
• 3:16
  go in and it's just an atmosphere.
• 3:19
  It's an atmosphere of.
• 3:20
  Belonging and shared spaces.
• 3:23
  And it wasn't just a place to drink, it was where stories were exchanged and men
• 3:26
  alive, do they have stories in the Irish?
• 3:29
  Okay.
• 3:30
  And where news traveled where sorrow softened because it wasn't carried alone.
• 3:34
  And you know, the oldest Irish pub is in Alon, Alon, 908.
• 3:40
  AD survived that long.
• 3:42
  You know, I do have an interesting story about that.
• 3:45
  I was a lobbyist for years in the Kentucky state legislature, and it
• 3:48
  was a powerful senator from Covington, Kentucky, which is up right across
• 3:52
  the river, Ohio River from Cincinnati.
• 3:55
  Very urban, unlike most of Kentucky, very, very urban and.
• 3:59
  there was a bill introduced that would've said families, children
• 4:03
  under a certain age couldn't go to the pubs, couldn't go to the bars.
• 4:08
  He hammered that bill to the ground.
• 4:11
  It did never see the light of day, because that's just the thing you do.
• 4:16
  You took your kids even as
• 4:18
  you
• 4:18
  drank a pint.
• 4:19
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: you took them to have the, the
• 4:21
  burger and the fries and the stew
• 4:23
  Sylvia Lovely: right.
• 4:23
  So it's like German and Irish kind of traditions you took your families
• 4:28
  and then as you had a pint, what, I don't know what they had, but
• 4:31
  you know, they had a good time.
• 4:33
  That was what it was all about.
• 4:34
  You just
• 4:35
  showed
• 4:35
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: not a bar.
• 4:36
  Sylvia Lovely: Now it's a pub and I'm still trying to capture
• 4:38
  what that is, what the vibe is when you walk into an Irish pub
• 4:43
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Oh, it's cozy.
• 4:44
  It's welcoming.
• 4:45
  And
• 4:46
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 4:46
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: There was an, I'm not sure it was an Irish pub
• 4:49
  or not, but it had that feeling up in Mattapoisette Massachusettes where we
• 4:53
  had lived as kids and on Friday nights they had a, I wasn't a team, but a couple
• 5:00
  of musicians who would always play.
• 5:04
  True strong Irish music.
• 5:06
  It was the sea shanties,
• 5:07
  you wanted to get up and do a jig and the sound of the, they
• 5:12
  call them the Elon pipes,
• 5:14
  it's that mournful sound that
• 5:16
  Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 5:17
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: well, did you ever see the movie, the Quiet Man?
• 5:20
  Sylvia Lovely: No.
• 5:22
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: It's John Wayne and Mary Kate Danaher, and it's Irish
• 5:26
  all over the place, but it's basically a story of these two that get together
• 5:30
  and the young bride loses her dowry, and the whole nine, nine nines go on.
• 5:34
  But it's all set in this beautiful Ireland countryside, rough and hard,
• 5:40
  and it's in black and white, but in your mind it's in color and it's Irish, it's
• 5:45
  Sylvia Lovely: interesting.
• 5:46
  Yeah.
• 5:46
  Green.
• 5:47
  That's what
• 5:48
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Green is the color of Ireland, right?
• 5:49
  It's a color that you always, when somebody has a color green, you think
• 5:53
  of what country, what ethnic group.
• 5:56
  Ireland and
• 5:57
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, I, I gotta tell you a funny story about Alltech.
• 5:59
  Alltech's a huge company, worldwide Company 128 facilities.
• 6:03
  They immigrated here to Kentucky because it looks so much like Homeland
• 6:08
  Ireland, and Diedre was the only one left of the original family.
• 6:13
  But she is just the most interesting woman.
• 6:15
  But this is the funny story.
• 6:16
  You'll love this.
• 6:18
  So I always remember that Irish dance, what is it, clogging or something?
• 6:23
  Anyway, that fancy footwork that you do
• 6:25
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Oh, well, clogging is Southern, but
• 6:27
  Sylvia Lovely: something like that, but it's, the feet are always in motion.
• 6:30
  But we were at a party and Deidra is older than me now, but I asked
• 6:36
  her, I said, Deidra, you gonna get out on the dance floor and do that?
• 6:39
  Oh, Sylvia, I'm 60 years old, I can't do that.
• 6:45
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I'm 60 years old.
• 6:46
  I can't do that.
• 6:48
  Sylvia Lovely: And I'm
• 6:48
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I got, I have a little story.
• 6:49
  Do you know what a clogging is all about?
• 6:52
  Where you just move your feet basically and your hands, which is the Irish dance,
• 6:56
  right?
• 6:57
  Do you know why they don't lift their hands?
• 7:00
  Sylvia Lovely: No.
• 7:00
  Tell me.
• 7:01
  Tell me.
• 7:01
  Tell me.
• 7:02
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: It was apparently, and I hope this is
• 7:04
  correct 'cause I didn't research it, but this is the story that's been
• 7:07
  passed down to me over the years.
• 7:09
  It was apparently because it was not appropriate to
• 7:13
  dance, especially on Sundays.
• 7:16
  So you, if you, if you saw movement in the house through the window,
• 7:21
  you could see the bodies moving, but you couldn't see the hands going.
• 7:24
  We
• 7:25
  Sylvia Lovely: Wow.
• 7:26
  Yeah.
• 7:26
  And because Ireland's a very religious country too, and so
• 7:30
  anyway, isn't that interesting?
• 7:32
  But you know so other cultures had villages too,
• 7:35
  didn't they?
• 7:36
  And Italian hamlets, Greek islands farming communities.
• 7:40
  But Ireland's story is just so interesting.
• 7:43
  And once I went to Dublin for a chamber meeting.
• 7:46
  for the state chamber.
• 7:47
  And I heard an Irish lecture say that anywhere in the world he travels.
• 7:51
  The moment he opens his mouth and that accent comes out,
• 7:54
  someone always buys him a drink
• 7:56
  and stuff.
• 7:57
  No, I mean, I don't even know that we know exactly, but getting the Food
• 8:01
  of Ireland that came to America, I don't know how we, it would take all
• 8:05
  day to know everything that caused.
• 8:08
  Ireland to be Ireland, but the farmers raised the beef
• 8:12
  only descend it to England.
• 8:14
  They kept the pigs.
• 8:15
  Pigs were easy to keep in Ireland for salt pork cured pork, which
• 8:20
  was, part of the staple cabbage and potatoes grew well in the climate and
• 8:24
  again, that so resembles Kentucky.
• 8:25
  And this bacon and cabbage became a staple.
• 8:28
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Everything's better with bacon,
• 8:30
  right?
• 8:30
  As they say.
• 8:31
  That's what I was told down here.
• 8:32
  Everything's better than bacon.
• 8:33
  We didn't know about that up north, but I certainly have learned about it here.
• 8:36
  I gotta be careful about that because you know.
• 8:39
  Sylvia Lovely: We had the potato famine in the mid 19th century.
• 8:42
  And while immigration occurred from that from the beginning
• 8:45
  with British rule, it became more prominent concurrent with that famine.
• 8:49
  And I think you mentioned that potatoes were kind of, they are crop
• 8:54
  and they were so reliant on potatoes.
• 8:58
  Ah, So it was
• 8:59
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: me, what apparently first of all, when you
• 9:02
  think of, Ireland, at least from a, food perspective, today, I think of
• 9:06
  lamb and all the Irish butter that's so popular now in the grocery store.
• 9:11
  I, that's the only kind of butter that I buy right now are in the rich
• 9:14
  cheeses and whole grains Irish oatmeal, the Irish steel cut oatmeal is the
• 9:20
  only kind of oatmeal that I like.
• 9:22
  It takes longer to cook.
• 9:23
  Don't get the quick cooking time.
• 9:25
  Please, whatever you do, do not get quick cooking.
• 9:28
  Steel cut Irish oatmeal.
• 9:31
  Take the time to cook it and just put it on early in the morning and
• 9:34
  just let it simmer till you're ready
• 9:36
  Sylvia Lovely: I bet it is good.
• 9:37
  . #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: But apparently, first of all, the foods
• 9:40
  that you said that were exported to the UK and we'll have to, you said
• 9:45
  no, but I, I don't know, maybe yes.
• 9:47
  I was told that the food that was exported to the UK was exported because they could
• 9:53
  get more money for it, which is very creative and inventive for the Irish.
• 9:57
  And maybe that's not true, but I like the story.
• 9:59
  So that's, that's from my, from my british roots.
• 10:03
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 10:03
  Yeah.
• 10:04
  I'm Ireland versus you.
• 10:05
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: that's right.
• 10:06
  I'm right.
• 10:06
  I'm, I'm British,
• 10:07
  Sylvia Lovely: Ah, you beat up on us.
• 10:09
  Ah.
• 10:10
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: We're, taking care of you all.
• 10:11
  Like Irish people we're just buying it for more, but apparently at during
• 10:17
  the potato famine, the Irish became so reliant on potatoes, and now you
• 10:21
  didn't have any potatoes that when the government supplanted the need for.
• 10:27
  Starch or, other kind of foods.
• 10:28
  they gave a kind of millet, which was, I'm drawing the,
• 10:32
  I'm blank on the name of it.
• 10:33
  But anyway, it was, it was a type of millet that was a grain to use for
• 10:37
  bread and cooking, and the Irish didn't know how to do this almost the entire.
• 10:41
  Process of cooking bread had disappeared because you had the potato.
• 10:46
  You didn't need it from a sort of a starch.
• 10:48
  And so that's kind of how Irish soda Bread started in the whole process
• 10:53
  of how to do that without yeast.
• 10:55
  But it Fascinating background.
• 10:58
  Who would've thought right.
• 10:59
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, that's true and we're gonna talk about that in
• 11:01
  some detail here in a little bit.
• 11:02
  But when they came to America, I think it's interesting that, the
• 11:06
  whole melting pot idea, they salt pork, cured pork was affordable in
• 11:11
  Ireland along with plentiful cabbage.
• 11:13
  And that's how you know we came up with bacon and cabbage.
• 11:17
  But once in America, the Irish learned from their Jewish neighbors.
• 11:22
  Beef or brisket Yes, was plentiful.
• 11:25
  Abundance, corns of salt were added and thus we have corn, beef, and cabbage,
• 11:30
  a take on bacon and cabbage, and that's a common serving on and restaurants on
• 11:36
  March 17th, which I think this year's on a Tuesday, along with green beer, right?
• 11:40
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: And , when I think of Ireland and Lamb, and
• 11:42
  I don't know where we get the beef thing, but, or even pork.
• 11:45
  I don't even think of pork and Irish, but I guess maybe pork sausage.
• 11:50
  But I love the fact that now we have these two cultures who were
• 11:54
  living together in major cities.
• 11:57
  Sharing and learning from one another we're, I think today there's too much
• 12:01
  of a divide not to be political about things, but we try to be so separate
• 12:06
  without understanding and learning and leveraging from one another.
• 12:10
  And there's so much richness and heritage that we can, we
• 12:13
  can benefit from on our plates.
• 12:17
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, I agree.
• 12:17
  I agree.
• 12:18
  And, you know, in, the Irish American kitchens also thought this was inter.
• 12:23
  Are all about hearty food, and that goes with the Irish thing.
• 12:27
  Now that does not help in Eastern, and I'm picking on Eastern Kentucky, aren't I?
• 12:31
  I'm from there.
• 12:32
  Okay.
• 12:32
  I can do that.
• 12:33
  And I know if I look at a potato, I'll put on five pounds.
• 12:37
  I mean, I struggle with weight and I really believe.
• 12:41
  In my Irish theory of nourishment, why you see so many people with
• 12:46
  that metabolic thing, you know, where you're big in the middle,
• 12:49
  and that's where I have my trouble.
• 12:51
  I just think that the starvation that occurred as a result of the potato
• 12:55
  famine, for whatever reasons that caused many of them to flea and come
• 12:59
  over here as indentured servants and then they went over the mountain chain
• 13:03
  and grew their own independent sort of people, but always hardy food.
• 13:08
  I think that's another thing about St. Patrick's Day, we drink and we are merry
• 13:12
  and we eat far more than we should.
• 13:16
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I think the whole thing of eating hearty
• 13:18
  food, no matter what your holiday is kind of a, a thing, right?
• 13:23
  It doesn't, matter what it is.
• 13:25
  But, potatoes.
• 13:26
  So you know, potato, eat lots of butter, right?
• 13:28
  And sour cream.
• 13:30
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, yeah.
• 13:30
  Oh
• 13:31
  yeah.
• 13:31
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: you know, what I've been doing lately with the
• 13:33
  potato instead of butter and sour cream.
• 13:36
  Tzatziki talk about that for a change.
• 13:39
  And Tzatziki is Greek.
• 13:42
  It's like a yogurt and cucumber and you put that on top of your potato instead.
• 13:46
  Sylvia Lovely: Tzatziki there's actually a restaurant chain
• 13:49
  here in town called Tzatziki's.
• 13:50
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Oh, you should go ask about Tzatziki.
• 13:53
  It's delicious.
• 13:54
  Sylvia Lovely: Need to develop anything else.
• 13:57
  I try not to stay away from new foods because I just,
• 14:00
  I love food.
• 14:01
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I think it's a little more dietetic.
• 14:03
  It's not really dietetic, but it's, it's got a little sour cream in it too.
• 14:07
  Sylvia Lovely: Hey, but what about soda Bread?
• 14:08
  Why don't you talk to us about soda bread?
• 14:10
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Soda bread.
• 14:11
  Talk about soda bread at the melting pot of history.
• 14:13
  Soda bread did not actually originate in Ireland.
• 14:17
  Surprise, surprise, surprise.
• 14:18
  But although we have some of it there, It was the Native
• 14:21
  Americans who used pearl Ash.
• 14:24
  Think of, the wood ash in a cooking fire that acted as a natural leveaning
• 14:29
  agent that made baking soda kind of, you know, it's part of your baking soda.
• 14:33
  I guess it wasn't baking soda, right?
• 14:34
  What did the same kind of
• 14:35
  Sylvia Lovely: Well, actually it making soda as an item was actually
• 14:40
  introduced in the mid 19th century.
• 14:42
  I didn't know that.
• 14:43
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I didn't know that
• 14:44
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, like you have in your cupboard is not exactly
• 14:47
  what it looked like, but the Irish actually started using that.
• 14:50
  Isn't that interesting?
• 14:51
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: so became a leavening agent in
• 14:53
  the bread without the yeast.
• 14:55
  I, you know, I'm kind of thinking like my sourdough starter, although
• 14:58
  that's a natural yeast, you know, you can dry out sour sourdough starter
• 15:02
  and then ship it to your friends.
• 15:04
  So I could dry out my sourdough starter Sophia, and ship it to you
• 15:08
  if you decided to be so adventurous.
• 15:10
  But
• 15:11
  Sylvia Lovely: Have to wait and see.
• 15:12
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: we'll have to wait on that.
• 15:14
  Anyway, so the Irish developed their own version that was especially
• 15:18
  important during the famine in the 1830s, know, which is a short time
• 15:22
  after the, famine actually happened.
• 15:24
  Irish soda bread is made from wheat, a soft flour versus a hard grainier
• 15:29
  flour, which was what the UK had.
• 15:32
  And it was flour.
• 15:34
  Baking soda and a sour milk.
• 15:36
  Something like a buttermilk and salt,
• 15:39
  that was it.
• 15:40
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 15:41
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: And then it
• 15:41
  was
• 15:41
  baked on a griddle or in an iron skillet and over a fire, which gave it that
• 15:45
  crusty outer edge and kind of sweet too.
• 15:49
  They must add sugar to it.
• 15:50
  Now.
• 15:50
  It's the only thing I can think of
• 15:52
  ' Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 15:52
  And, they combined that sour milk with baking soda, and that's how
• 15:56
  they came up with the yeast agent.
• 15:58
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Ah, so it was the milk and the baking
• 16:00
  soda that creates the leavening.
• 16:02
  I got it.
• 16:03
  Yes.
• 16:04
  But it was also something that was used as a religious symbol because
• 16:09
  you had the cross on the top to scare away the fairies, as I understand.
• 16:13
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, not exactly religious, but fairies were almost a
• 16:16
  religion in Ireland, cause they had a whole myth thing about fairies and.
• 16:22
  the farmers would carry food out into the woods and leave it in strategic places
• 16:28
  so the ferries would not come after them.
• 16:30
  And so ferries were scary in Ireland,
• 16:33
  you know,
• 16:34
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: that come about?
• 16:35
  Sylvia Lovely: I don't know.
• 16:36
  Ireland is ancient and they were, they've talked about how.
• 16:40
  Its Ancientness kind of comes through in just unusual happenings, fog.
• 16:46
  You can see it in movies.
• 16:47
  The fog that
• 16:48
  settles, it rolls over and, and it just kinda is a mysterious place.
• 16:54
  And I think fairies rose up as kind of god-like creatures in their pagan
• 16:59
  era, which by the way, St. Patrick turned that around and turned those,
• 17:03
  turned away from fairies, turned people more toward religion, in a more stable
• 17:08
  kind of more stable kind of way.
• 17:10
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: But, know what we did a show on icons.
• 17:13
  You know the iconic brands, you know the brand.
• 17:16
  Dentine more beefs.
• 17:17
  Stew like the Dint Moores do.
• 17:19
  I always thought that was Irish.
• 17:20
  It's not
• 17:21
  Sylvia Lovely: It sounds Irish,
• 17:25
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: it sounds Irish.
• 17:26
  It apparently was created by a restaurant in New York back,
• 17:31
  I don't know, a long time ago.
• 17:33
  But anyway, that created a lot of American Irish.
• 17:36
  Foods, but true Irish Stew uses lamb not beef
• 17:41
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah,
• 17:41
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: and mutton, which I didn't know, but we're gonna
• 17:43
  take a quick break because there's a lot more about St. Patrick's.
• 17:47
  We're driving out the snakes and bringing in the Irish soda bread,
• 17:51
  Sylvia Lovely: let me, ask a quick question
• 17:52
  though.
• 17:52
  What does DTI more, isn't it a stew.
• 17:55
  dent?
• 17:56
  It's DNI more stew?
• 17:57
  That's another thing to add.
• 17:58
  Stews became more beefy in America and thicker with the addition
• 18:02
  of flour, and we introduced butter as an American tradition.
• 18:07
  Yay.
• 18:09
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Butter,
• 18:09
  Sylvia Lovely: break.
• 18:11
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: you had me and butter.
• 18:13
  We're gonna take a break.
• 18:14
  We'll be right back.
• 18:35
  So we're back, Sylvia.
• 18:36
  It's, it's the Brits, my side versus the Irish, your side.
• 18:41
  In fact, my mom parents and two, I think it was two of her brothers immigrated
• 18:47
  from the UK around just before the World War II outbreak in the United States to
• 18:52
  get away from what was happening over.
• 18:54
  Hopefully not have their boys involved in the war, which they did because
• 18:58
  they fought for the Americans.
• 19:00
  so we be, we became very Americanized very quickly in our family.
• 19:03
  Sylvia Lovely: We are a lawless bunch.
• 19:07
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: You're a
• 19:08
  Sylvia Lovely: we're, yeah, we're kinda like, you don't you come near
• 19:11
  my still, I'm gonna do this moonshine.
• 19:14
  And it really is a lawless bunch of kind of, that's the last bunch that
• 19:19
  came over the Appalachian chain.
• 19:21
  They wanna be around other people.
• 19:23
  They wanted to just be, and they were very self-sufficient.
• 19:26
  Found things in the, in the woods.
• 19:28
  And even my grandmother, you know, who lived next to a wooded area.
• 19:31
  Hillsides, they would go into the hillsides and, and pick up, grasses and
• 19:36
  things that they knew, sassafras and
• 19:38
  all
• 19:38
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I think of the Hatfield and the McCoys.
• 19:40
  the, famous battle, were they Irish?
• 19:42
  I don't know, in Kentucky.
• 19:44
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 19:45
  I mean, there's a lot of history there that we could go into if we wanted to.
• 19:50
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: But anyway, the Irish was seen by the Brits is stupid and
• 19:54
  immoral, and today the Irish culture is rising and we can't forget the fairies.
• 19:58
  We talked about the fairies a little earlier.
• 20:00
  I have, I have a quick story about fairies.
• 20:03
  So I put a note out to some of the folks around here to find out if they had any
• 20:08
  interesting Irish stories around food.
• 20:11
  Annette Tolbert had actually been a grammar school teacher in her day,
• 20:15
  and she shared how on March 1st her classroom turned into everything green.
• 20:22
  There was mayhem, there was chaos, there was all sorts of crazy things going on.
• 20:26
  And one of the things that she had on her desk something left by the ferries.
• 20:30
  It was a bowl of milk that you had to add something else to, and
• 20:35
  the kids had to stir it up, and the bowl of milk turned green.
• 20:38
  And the joke was, do we eat it or do we just toss it out?
• 20:42
  But the ferries, were always trying to help them find the four leaf
• 20:45
  clover, which brought them to the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold.
• 20:49
  We have amazing rainbows here in Florida.
• 20:52
  I have seen the end of the rainbow.
• 20:54
  Sylvia Lovely: I'll, I'll, I'll grant you that one.
• 20:56
  Okay.
• 20:56
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: The end of the rainbow I think is a safe way.
• 21:01
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh yeah.
• 21:01
  And then we can't forget St. Patrick.
• 21:03
  We gotta remember again, bears repeating.
• 21:06
  He was a revolutionary for his time.
• 21:08
  He translated pagan beliefs into Christian ones seasons, land,
• 21:13
  storytelling, and that shamrock.
• 21:15
  Was the Trinity and Saints replaced spirits, so you had food,
• 21:19
  blessings, feast, days, and fasting.
• 21:21
  and that kind of translated into what we do eating is a spiritual act
• 21:25
  and not necessarily in a religious, but that's what St. Patrick did.
• 21:30
  He, drove the Irish toward more religious beliefs than the of pagan,
• 21:35
  you know, people will find a way to have beliefs bigger than themselves.
• 21:39
  You know, and and that's weird in some cases, and in some cases it's, it's okay.
• 21:45
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: But I think it's, I think that's good because
• 21:47
  food helps bring out that sense of, everything's bigger than you.
• 21:51
  It's bigger than what's on your plate.
• 21:52
  It's about community.
• 21:53
  It's about storytelling.
• 21:55
  Bringing everybody together for the purpose of sustaining family
• 22:00
  and, the people that you care about and love and life in general.
• 22:03
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 22:04
  and of course we can't forget that, we lose those loved ones along the way.
• 22:08
  So keeping that memory and, keeping them.
• 22:11
  With us is how that happens.
• 22:13
  And I think the Irish culture is just magical in that it does
• 22:16
  allow us to believe in things we can't behold in person and in
• 22:20
  our sight, except in our stories.
• 22:22
  And you tell those stories over and over.
• 22:24
  We've shared stories about our parents and their parents
• 22:27
  and that's how people live on.
• 22:30
  And that's the bigger belief that I think is at play that makes us
• 22:33
  so attracted to the Irish culture.
• 22:36
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: I don't think there's any culture that's more magical
• 22:40
  Sylvia Lovely: It is magical, I think with fairies and leprechauns everywhere.
• 22:44
  The Keebler cookies and you know,
• 22:46
  the butter.
• 22:46
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: LER cookies.
• 22:47
  Sylvia Lovely: I love the Keebler cookies and the little leprechaun.
• 22:50
  And then as you mentioned, the cheese.
• 22:52
  I can't remember the brand name of that cheese.
• 22:54
  And the butter too.
• 22:56
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: there are a variety.
• 22:57
  of, brands, and we can't forget the cereal Lucky Charms, because
• 23:01
  they're magically delicious.
• 23:04
  Although I don't think that's very Irish.
• 23:05
  I mean, the Lucky Charms cereal,
• 23:08
  , Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 23:08
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: So St. Patrick's Day isn't about getting it right.
• 23:12
  It is a celebration of everything that matters.
• 23:15
  and your history and your heritage, which is what we're all about here,
• 23:18
  Sylvia, right at Family Tree Food and Stories because it's a meaning
• 23:22
  of feeling and place and belonging, like belonging in that pub.
• 23:26
  Sylvia Lovely: So on one day at least try to eat some corned
• 23:30
  beef and just pay homage to the fact that it wasn't always that.
• 23:34
  Although if you wanna be really authentic, there's plenty of
• 23:37
  pork belly around, Soda bread.
• 23:39
  And something Cabbage.
• 23:41
  And I love cooked cabbage, by the way.
• 23:43
  That is
• 23:43
  something.
• 23:44
  I absolutely love it.
• 23:46
  And my chef made it the other night and it was so good.
• 23:49
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: You can make cabbage steaks too on the grill, which
• 23:52
  are an interesting kind of thing.
• 23:54
  You it's, anyway, It's very good.
• 23:57
  It's kind of like cauliflower steaks,
• 23:59
  but you kind of have to cook it down a little bit because
• 24:02
  otherwise it's too hard.
• 24:03
  Sylvia Lovely: That's one of his options for or the restaurant
• 24:05
  occasionally cabbage or cauliflower.
• 24:08
  Steak.
• 24:09
  Yay.
• 24:10
  There's all kinds of good stuff out there.
• 24:12
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: So enjoy, welcome in the Irish and something
• 24:16
  green because it's all about comfort living and keeping a story alive.
• 24:21
  Those tall tales can be actually short ones or continue on for
• 24:25
  generations to come because.
• 24:28
  Every meal has a story and every story is a feast, and we'd like you to please
• 24:32
  one more time, share like subscribe.
• 24:35
  Every Thursday we come out and help us with our survey and that
• 24:38
  information will be in the episode notes and happy St. Patrick's Day or
• 24:43
  as we'd like to say, go and error lob.
• 24:47
  I think that's go Air lo.
• 24:48
  I think that's the correct way of saying it, which means good luck.
• 24:52
  Sylvia Lovely: And top of the morning.
• 24:53
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: Top of the morning to you
• 24:55
  Sylvia Lovely: you do this,
• 24:56
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: We release first thing, top of the morning to you last.
• 25:00
  Sylvia Lovely: all
• 25:00
  #76 NANCY - St Pats ZOOM: care.
• 25:00
  Be well
• 25:01
  and we'll see you soon.
• 25:02
  Bye-bye.