Since middle March was so hectic, I just didn't get my full Irish on. So today, I'm cooking Irish. I'm re-inspired by yesterday's post about crowdsourcing Ireland's economy. Perusing the "Ballymaloe House" cookbook for inspiration, the author and proprietress wrote this story as an intro to a humble mushroom recipe. Food and memory always makes wonderful stories, yet it makes me wonder... do we have this kind of resilience to overcome the "struggles" today?
"My husband Ivan, first started to grow mushrooms in 1937. He was already growing apples in the fields, and tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. We were coming toward the end of a period when, in addition to the world Depression, Ireland was locked into the "Economic War" with England, and ordinary farming was in a disastrous state, as we could not sell our produce. At the same time the government, led by Eamon De Valera, was encouraging Irish industry, including the infant greenhouse industry, and mushroom growing was smiled on also...With a continuous supply of mushrooms, my husband took gifts of them to friends and relations he visited. In 9142, I had finished school and decided to leave home, intending to return a year later to settle down to marriage. First, I went to Northern Ireland to work in a hostel for old people who had been bombed out or otherwise dislodged from their homes by war. It was my job to clean the hostel, collect the milk from the nearest farm, , prepare the vegetables, and wash up. When Ivan came to visit me, he brought me a present of button mushrooms." Myrtle Allen
"My husband Ivan, first started to grow mushrooms in 1937. He was already growing apples in the fields, and tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. We were coming toward the end of a period when, in addition to the world Depression, Ireland was locked into the "Economic War" with England, and ordinary farming was in a disastrous state, as we could not sell our produce. At the same time the government, led by Eamon De Valera, was encouraging Irish industry, including the infant greenhouse industry, and mushroom growing was smiled on also...With a continuous supply of mushrooms, my husband took gifts of them to friends and relations he visited. In 9142, I had finished school and decided to leave home, intending to return a year later to settle down to marriage. First, I went to Northern Ireland to work in a hostel for old people who had been bombed out or otherwise dislodged from their homes by war. It was my job to clean the hostel, collect the milk from the nearest farm, , prepare the vegetables, and wash up. When Ivan came to visit me, he brought me a present of button mushrooms." Myrtle Allen
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment