School: Cnoc Breac (roll number 13041)
- Location:
- Knockbrack, Co. Kerry
- Teacher: Séamus Ó Conchubhair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0450, Page 191
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- Food in olden times 26-10-1937
Our ancestors produced all their own food. Potatoes were the staple food and oatmeal came next. It was a common practice in the in the reaping time for the men to go out and the first oats that would be cut would be brought in and scorched and winnowed and dried in an oven over the fire and then it was ground in a little handmill called a quern. Then when it was boiled into porridge the table was drawn out in the centre of the floor and the men were called in to a well earned (briack) breakfast. The porridge was turned out in wooden platters and each man had a riggin of milk and a wooden spoon. They had potatoes for the dinner and skimmed milk and salt. They used very little tea so that living was much cheaper that time than it is now. They used to kill nearly all their full calves for veal and it was a customary thing to carry a quarter of cooked veal to the bog.
Information got from Mrs. P. Leahy, Ballinacartin Knocknagoshel
- Informant
- Mrs P. Leahy
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Ballinacartin, Co. Kerry
