Articles
History of the Irish diet in plants – the plant-based diet of Irish people displayed in an educational show garden
Article number
1329_11
Pages
83 – 90
Language
English
Abstract
Earliest settlements in Ireland date to 10,000 years ago in the Mesolithic period.
Over the following four millennia, people utilised many different environments to gather foods, including seeds of Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. (yellow water-lily), recorded at excavations of Irish Mesolithic sites.
In the Neolithic period, farming entered Ireland, almost 6,000 years ago, bringing new crops including Triticum spp. (wheat) and Hordeum spp. (barley). Grains and chaff of Triticum dicoccum Schübl. (emmer wheat) have been recorded at archaeological excavations.
Later, in Medieval Ireland, there was a huge increase in food trading into and out of Ireland.
Imports included exotic foods such as figs and walnuts.
However, while cultivated foods were important, wild foods remained a key element of people’s diets.
Seeds of Chenopodium album L. (fat-hen) are often found at excavations of medieval sites.
Now considered a troublesome weed, fat-hen was once a useful food.
Its leaves were sold by Dublin street traders until the 18th century as a vegetable, and the seeds can also be eaten, much like its better-known relative, Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (quinoa). Then, during the early 19th century, despite increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, agriculture remained a mainstay of the Irish economy.
There was an extensive export trade but many crops produced in Ireland were consumed here.
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) were a key food for many people in early-19th century Ireland.
Nowadays, Irish citizens can access an enormous variety of home-grown and imported plant-based foods.
At a time of increasing consumption, the development of sustainable production and consumption practices has become an important goal for many stakeholders in the Irish food industry.
Conserving wild foods, improving existing horticultural crops, and researching novel crops, are the current practices of Irish growers whose goal is to produce healthy, nutritious, safe and diverse plant-based foods.
Over the following four millennia, people utilised many different environments to gather foods, including seeds of Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. (yellow water-lily), recorded at excavations of Irish Mesolithic sites.
In the Neolithic period, farming entered Ireland, almost 6,000 years ago, bringing new crops including Triticum spp. (wheat) and Hordeum spp. (barley). Grains and chaff of Triticum dicoccum Schübl. (emmer wheat) have been recorded at archaeological excavations.
Later, in Medieval Ireland, there was a huge increase in food trading into and out of Ireland.
Imports included exotic foods such as figs and walnuts.
However, while cultivated foods were important, wild foods remained a key element of people’s diets.
Seeds of Chenopodium album L. (fat-hen) are often found at excavations of medieval sites.
Now considered a troublesome weed, fat-hen was once a useful food.
Its leaves were sold by Dublin street traders until the 18th century as a vegetable, and the seeds can also be eaten, much like its better-known relative, Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (quinoa). Then, during the early 19th century, despite increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, agriculture remained a mainstay of the Irish economy.
There was an extensive export trade but many crops produced in Ireland were consumed here.
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) were a key food for many people in early-19th century Ireland.
Nowadays, Irish citizens can access an enormous variety of home-grown and imported plant-based foods.
At a time of increasing consumption, the development of sustainable production and consumption practices has become an important goal for many stakeholders in the Irish food industry.
Conserving wild foods, improving existing horticultural crops, and researching novel crops, are the current practices of Irish growers whose goal is to produce healthy, nutritious, safe and diverse plant-based foods.
Publication
Authors
C. Elliott-Kingston, M. McClatchie
Keywords
plant-based foods, early settlers, first farmers, medieval traders, industrial production, modern day diet, immersive, interdisciplinary, active learning, public education
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