During the famine, people used to eat dock leaves and yellow meal (Indian meal). They had no special times for food, and just ate it when they got it. Another popular "meal" was potatoes (when they could be had) and butter milk or sour milk.
In Skerries one of these customs has yet survived. People boil a pot of potatoes and throw them out on the table. Beside these they put a pile of salt and each person takes a potato and eats it in the manner of an apple, dipping it in the salt after each bite. Sometimes the "Bean-a-Tighe" rolls them in the salt, and hands them around.
The above is a very popular and much-eaten supper.
Alan Owens,
6 Strand St,
Skerries
