School: Naoimh Ióseiph (roll number 15628)

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1. Food in Olden Times

   

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   In olden times, during the time of our great-grandfathers the staple food of the majority of Irish peasants was potatoes. This, together with oatmeal porridge and bread were the only food commodities. In all peasant houses, except on rare occasions, there were only three meals eaten daily and consisted of the following. For breakfast oatmeal porridge and butter-milk was eaten; for dinner potatoes, and buttermilk; and for supper porridge, or sometimes oaten bread. Before the Great Famine most of the country folk lived on a regular routine of potatoes, and oatmeal porridge and bread, but when the potatoe-crop failed the people had recourse to many other kinds of food, including, meat, fish, vegetables, flour and Indian meal. The milk drank with potatoes or porridge was known as "bottom-milk", or the thick milk remaining in the milk-pans after the cream had been taken off.
   In those days people usually worked for three hours before breakfast. After much incessant toil breakfast was brought to the weary toiler in the field. It generally consisted of a small pot called in Gaelic a

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. products
      1. food products (~3,601)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mark Dwyer

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Assylin, Co. Roscommon

   Informant

   Mr Bernard Mc Hugh

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Boyle, Co. Roscommon

   Informant

   Mrs Dwyer

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   62

   Address

   Assylin, Co. Roscommon