So what did people in Ireland eat before Potatoes?

[Taverner]

It seems like such a staple today - or since Irish Cuisine has been a subject.

But Potatoes were a discovery for the first Europeans who came to America. Before then, Ireland had nary a potato.

[RushIsRot]

1. Begorras, and lots of 'em!

[mitchum]

2. Babies

[mcctatas]

4. beat me to it

:evilgrin:

[mix]

3. interesting question...I found this

http://www.ravensgard.org/prdunham/irishfood.html

Milk, cheese, meat, cereals and some vegetables formed the main part of the Irish diet from prehistoric times up until the introduction of the potato.

[Taverner]

5. I'll bet it was Barley

I'll bet families ate barley kernels the way many eat rice today.

And that would feed a family pretty well - protiein, complex carbs and fiber in the barley kernel.

Almost seems like they downgraded to potatoes, nutrition wise.

[redqueen]

16. They did downgrade.

I imagine that the loss of their land had a lot to do with it.

[Taverner]

18. Well yea, but from a nutritional standpoint, barley is better for you than potatoes

[hedgehog]

22. What if you leave the skin on the potatoes?

[Gormy Cuss]

42. It was oats.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. Cap'n Crunch, replaced by the potato

:cry:

[SoxFan]

6. Snakes

Tasted like corned beef.

[Brother Buzz]

9. You win the internet

:rofl:

[madinmaryland]

11. They had no mo**er fucking planes in Ireland then!

:D

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Lucky Charms?

[Inspired]

38. Well, they are magically delicious.

[trof]

8. The English.

;-)

[SoxFan]

10. ,,,

:yourock:

[vadawg]

12. neeps (turnips) and other veggies, pretty much same as they do today..

[old mark]

13. Beer. nt

[KamaAina]

14. Bacon?

:P

[Arugula Latte]

15. Tater Tots.

[MicaelS]

17. Until I read about the famine, I never knew that

Boiled potatoes, milk or cream, and dark green vegetables could provide all your nutrition. The average Irish adult would eat 10 pounds a day. Amazing.

[hedgehog]

21. Until I was 50, I never knew that anyone ate anything but potatoes for supper.

I cooked pasta the nights I didn't feel like peeling 5 pounds of potatoes!


Here I was eating ethnic food all my life, and I never knew it!

[Kaleva]

26. Eating 10lbs a day provides 10 lbs of night soil for the potato field.

It's a win-win situation.

[MicaelS]

27. "Night soil" always struck me as so prosaic n/t

[Kaleva]

28. "The Night Soil Man"

"“The Night Soil Man” is a unique work : well-crafted and well-written. Chapter two features a bit of stream of consciousness style writing that I would compare to the writing of William Burroughs at its best. Here the author describes “shit” in a social context and using a riveting narrative style that only contemporary Asian bad boy authors can master. Without giving the story line away, I can promise the reader a roller-coaster ride deep into the depths of societal muck and complete with sensory stimulation."

[Deep13]

19. Vegetables, sheep.

Those things were taken from them in the 19th century to sell to English businessmen.

[Taverner]

34. I know, English bad. They were bad.

The only people they were worse to were the Indians....

And MANY folks had a LONG list of greivences, among them US, India, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Aww shit...do I HAFTA go on?

But we still love them anyways, because they gave us Doctor Who :)

[Deep13]

40. I'm not dumping on England, just answering the OP's question.

In those days, middle class Englishmen where in the position that middle class Americans have been in since WWII. When people find themselves in positions of power, they do horrible things. They also gave us the English language, juries, Shakespear and my wife, to name a few things.

[hedgehog]

23. Now I'm getting hungry

[Orsino]

24. All the bread sticks and salad they could stand. n/t

[Kaleva]

25. Protestants.

[baldguy]

29. Everything the English stole from them.

During the Great Famine, Ireland was actually a net exporter of food.

[KittyWampus]

30. Barley/Oats, Seafood, Dairy. Potatoes actually allowed for more stable nutrition in Europe

[Captain Hilts]

31. Cabbage. nt

[DFW]

32. Irish Stu

Poor old Stu, he never had a chance..........

[pokerfan]

33. Not fish, apparently, because the potato famine almost did them in

Denis Leary said it best: {Fish sticks} reminds me of fridays growing up in the Catholic Church when you couldn't eat meat, so we had frozen fish sticks for dinner because my parents were Irish immigrants and they didn't like cooking actual fish, which explains the potato famine because you have an island, a piece of land surrounded by water, which runs out of its basic food group, the potato, due to a potato famine, and then three million people starve to death even though they're surrounded by fish.

[Taverner]

35. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA when he's original, he's hilarious

When he steals from other comedians, he sucks

[pokerfan]

36. I agree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hicks#Hicks_and_Denis_Leary

[Taverner]

37. Yup - exactly

And once he stopped doing the Hicks routine - his carreer blossomed

Why oh why can't others (Mencia, Dane Cook) learn from this???

[tigereye]

39. soup made out of old boots-

wait, that was after the potato famines.

[bikebloke]

41. Deep fried leprechauns

Yum!