Corned beef and cabbage. Even if you have no clue what "corned" beef is (hint: it has nothing to do with corn on the cob), the imagination is instantly tuned into redheads drinking Guinness and Bushmills. Could there be anything more Irish? Why, in 2006, when St. Patrick's Day landed on a Friday during Lent (no meat is to be consumed that day), the debate of whether to follow Lent or follow the tradition of eating corned beef split American dioceses. St. Patty, corned beef, soda bread and shamrocks: nothing screams "Irish" more loudly.
Really?
And what if I told you that corned beef it not a traditional Irish meal?
Lies! Heresy! But all too true.
First off, there is no such thing as a "traditional" St. Patrick's Day meal. This feast day in honor of Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, the man who went from slave to bishop to famous converter of Ireland, has no particular meal associated with it, although anything of Irish origin is encouraged, like soda bread, Baileys, Guinness, Harps, Bushmills.... Notice alcohol plays a big part? Hey, it's Ireland! In any case, a usual feast meal in Ireland would consist of Irish bacon, not corned beef.
The meal of corned beef and cabbage is an American invention. Irish immigrants in New York City's Lower East Side wanted something similar to the Irish bacon they were used to consuming for St. Patty's Day. Their Jewish neighbors told them about corned beef, which was cheaper and still good. So Irish-Americans turned away from tradition and used this beef substitute. It gained popularity, and as more Irish immigrants came, corned beef and cabbage became a staple of any Irish menu.
Boy, my Granka must be rolling in her grave at that! She swore on corned beef and cabbage, refused to eat anything else on St. Patty's! It'd be unpatriotic! The most "Irish" meal in the world!
Then again, she wore Orange for St. Patty's. Her family were Protestant Irish, and she took to the whole "orange and the green" fighting thing seriously. She wasn't religious herself, she purely wanted to walk into an Irish pub wearing orange to start a brawl so she could smash a few Catholic heads, or any heads, whatever their religion. Yep, Granka was quite an interesting woman.
Éireann go Brách
