Page 130 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

forested acres.
McMeel also recognizes Myrtle Allen, the East Cork
chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant Ballymaloe
House, who championed the use and promotion of
Irish foodstuffs for more than five decades. “She is
where Irish food began,” lauded one observer when
Allen died in 2018 at age 94.
McMeel agrees, praising Allen “as forward-thinking
pioneer” and mentor. “She not only dedicated her life
to putting the emphasis back on sourcing locally, and
practicing traditional arts in growing, cooking and stor-
ing food,” he writes, “she’s opened her house and heart
to anyone who cared to learn what she has to teach.”
Like many things in this country, buffeted over the
years by unrest and economic woes, Ireland’s culinary
evolution faces an uphill climb. Farmland is shrinking
and consumption of cheap fast food or take-out is sky-
rocketing. Globalism brings more dining options, not
just familiar pizzas and burgers, but sushi and kebobs.
“I hope the next 10 years can be as fruitful as the
last,” McMahon says. “Our most difficult job is to edu-
cate the public, to try to get the best food to the most
people, to build support. That takes renewed passion
and focus by everyone who works with food.”
We saw plenty of both during our recent trip to
Ireland, which included port stops while on a Celeb-
rity cruise and a week-long land trip as my husband
searched for family roots. The new pride in Irish food
glowed everywhere from a Dublin pub’s fresh fried fish
and chips to the breakfast buffet in the chic Grand
Central Hotel Belfast where a booklet of “breakfast
stories” introduced its Northern Ireland purveyors of
oats, honey, apples and more.
Ahead are some culinary snapshots of the exciting
dining that awaits visitors to the Emerald Isle, rang-
ing from food tours in two lively cities to fine dining in
countryside retreats. Warning: You’ll be very hungry for
a trip to Ireland when you finish sharing these meals
with us!

130 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018