School: Carpenterstown (Templefanum) (roll number 5415)

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1. Food in the Olden Times

   

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   In olden times people ate three meals in the day, breakfast, dinner and supper.
   The breakfast was eaten about six o'clock. The dinner between twelve and one and the supper at (7 or) seven or eight o'clock and sometimes later. They ate potatoes at every meal. For breakfast and supper they ate stirabout. They also ate oat cake. They drank buttermilk and when the milk was scarce they drank flummery. At dinner the whole family sat round a basket which was placed on a pot on the middle of the floor. The potatoes were placed on the basket and a pan of fried bacon with cabbage in the middle of the basket. All members dipped in the pan. They peeled the potatoes often times with their nails while sitting on three-legged stools. Each person (would) drink buttermilk out of a saucepan or a wooden vessel called a noggin. When the dinner was over the basket was washed and hung on the wall outside under the eave of the house. They usually killed their own pigs for bacon. Fish was also eaten on certain days of the week. People often ate a hearty meal of stirabout and buttermilk before going to bed. On the night before 1st Nov. Hallow eve night

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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

   Fechin Dermody

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Hilltown, Co. Westmeath

   Informant

   John Dermody

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   56

   Address

   Hilltown, Co. Westmeath