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ARTS & CULTURE


IS CORNED BEEF REALLY IRISH?

The rise and fall and rise of the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal

Shaylyn Esposito

March 15, 2013

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corned Beef and cabbage Photo courtesy of flickr user TheCulinaryGeek

It’s hard to think of St. Patrick’s Day without glittered shamrocks, green beer,
leprechauns, and of course, corned beef and cabbage. Yet, if you went to Ireland
on St. Paddy’s Day, you would not find any of these things except maybe the
glittered shamrocks. To begin with, leprechauns are not jolly, friendly cereal
box characters, but mischievous nasty little fellows. And, just as much as the
Irish would not pollute their beer with green dye, they would not eat corned
beef, especially on St. Patrick’s Day. So why around the world, especially in
the US, is corned beef and cabbage synonymous with St. Paddy’s Day?

The unpopularity of corned beef in Ireland comes from its relationship with beef
in general. From early on, cattle in Ireland were not used for their meat but
for their strength in the fields, for their milk and for the dairy products
produced. In Gaelic Ireland, cows were a symbol of wealth and a sacred animal.
Because of their sacred association, they were only killed for their meat if the
cows were too old to work or produce milk. So, beef was not even a part of the
diet for the majority of the population. Only the wealthy few were able to eat
the meat on a celebration or festival. During these early times, the beef was
“salted” to be preserved. The first salted beef in Ireland was actually not made
with salt but with sea ash, the product of burning seaweed. The 12th century
poem Aislinge Meic Con Glinne shows that salted beef was eaten by the kings.
This poem is one of the greatest parodies in the Irish language and pokes fun at
the diet of King Cathal mac Finguine, an early Irish King who has a demon of
gluttony stuck in his throat.

> Wheatlet, son of Milklet,
> Son of juicy Bacon,
> Is mine own name.
> Honeyed Butter-roll
> Is the man’s
> That bears my bag.
> Haunch of Mutton
> Is my dog’s name,
> Of lovely leaps.
> Lard my wife,
> Sweetly smiles
> Across the kale-top
> Cheese-curds, my daughter,
> Goes around the spit,
> Fair is her fame.
> Corned Beef, my son,
> Whose mantle shines
> Over a big tail.



As the poem mentions, juicy bacon or pork was also eaten. Pigs were the most
prevalent animal bred only to be eaten; fom ancient times to today, it earned
the reputation as the most eaten meat in Ireland.

Irish cow near Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland Photo by author

The Irish diet and way of life stayed pretty much the same for centuries until
England conquered most of the country. The British were the ones who changed the
sacred cow into a commodity, fueled beef production, and introduced the potato.
The British had been a beef eating culture since the invasion of the Roman
armies. England had to outsource to Ireland, Scotland and eventually North
America to satisfy the growing palate of their people. As Jeremy Rifkin writes
in his book, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture, “so
beef-driven was England that it became the first nation in the world to identify
with a beef symbol. From the outset of the colonial era, the “roast beef” became
synonymous with the well-fed British aristocracy and middle class.”

Herds of cattle were exported by the tens of thousands each year from Ireland to
England. But, the Cattle Acts of 1663 and 1667 were what fueled the Irish corned
beef industry. These acts prohibited the export of live cattle to England, which
drastically flooded the Irish market and lowered the cost of meat available for
salted beef production. The British invented the term “corned beef” in the 17th
century to describe the size of the salt crystals used to cure the meat, the
size of corn kernels. After the Cattle Acts, salt was the main reason Ireland
became the hub for corned beef. Ireland’s salt tax was almost 1/10 that of
England’s and could import the highest quality at an inexpensive price. With the
large quantities of cattle and high quality of salt, Irish corned beef was the
best on the market. It didn’t take long for Ireland to be supplying Europe and
the Americas with its wares. But, this corned beef was much different than what
we call corned beef today. With the meat being cured with salt the size of corn
kernels, the taste was much more salt than beef.

Irish corned beef had a stranglehold on the transtlantic trade routes, supplying
the French and British navies and the American and French colonies. It was at
such a demand that even at war with France, England allowed French ships to stop
in Ireland to purchase the corned beef. From a report published by the Dublin
Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology:

> Anglo-Irish landlords saw exports to France, despite the fact that England and
> France were at war, as a means of profiting from the Cattle Acts…During the
> 18th century, wars played a significant role in the growth of exports of Irish
> beef. These wars were mainly fought at sea and navies had a high demand for
> Irish salted beef for two reasons, firstly its longevity at sea and secondly
> its competitive price.



Ironically, the ones producing the corned beef, the Irish people, could not
afford beef or corned beef for themselves. When England conquered Ireland,
oppressive laws against the native Irish Catholic population began. Their land
was confiscated and feudal like plantations were set up. If the Irish could
afford any meat at all, salted pork or bacon was consumed. But, what the Irish
really relied on was the potato.

By the end of the 18th century, the demand for Irish corned beef began to
decline as the North American colonies began producing their own. Over the next
5o years, the glory days of Irish corned beef were over. By 1845, a potato
blight broke out in Ireland completely destroying the food source for most of
the Irish population, and The Great Famine began. Without help from the British
government, the Irish people were forced to work to death, starve or immigrate.
About a million people died and another million immigrated on “coffin ships” to
the US. To this day, the Irish population is still less than it was before The
Great Famine.

Western Ireland was hit the hardest by the famine. The westernmost region of
Ireland, Aran Islands, Co. Galway. Photo by author

In America, the Irish were once again faced with the challenges of prejudice. To
make it easier, they settled together in mainly urban areas with the largest
numbers in New York City. However, they were making more money then they had in
Ireland under British rule. Which brings us back to corned beef. With more money
for food, the Irish could afford meat for the first time. But instead of their
beloved bacon, the Irish began eating beef. And, the beef they could afford just
happened to be corned beef, the thing their great grandparents were famous for.

Yet, the corned beef the Irish immigrants ate was much different than that
produced in Ireland 200 years prior. The Irish immigrants almost solely bought
their meat from kosher butchers. And what we think of today as Irish corned beef
is actually Jewish corned beef thrown into a pot with cabbage and potatoes. The
Jewish population in New York City at the time were relatively new immigrants
from Eastern and Central Europe. The corned beef they made was from brisket, a
kosher cut of meat from the front of the cow. Since brisket is a tougher cut,
the salting and cooking processes transformed the meat into the extremely
tender, flavorful corned beef we know of today.

The Irish may have been drawn to settling near Jewish neighborhoods and shopping
at Jewish butchers because their cultures had many parallels. Both groups were
scattered across the globe to escape oppression, had a sacred lost homeland,
discriminated against in the US, and had a love for the arts. There was an
understanding between the two groups, which was a comfort to the newly arriving
immigrants. This relationship can be seen in Irish, Irish-American and
Jewish-American folklore. It is not a coincidence that James Joyce made the main
character of his masterpiece Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, a man born to Jewish and
Irish parents. And, as the two Tin Pan Alley songwriters, William Jerome and
Jean Schwartz write in their 1912 song, If It Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews,

> On St. Patrick’s Day, Rosinsky pins a shamrock on his coat
> There’s a sympathetic feeling between the Blooms and MacAdoos.

The infamous St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. Photo
courtesy of flickr user jeffreyw


The Irish Americans transformed St.Patrick’s Day from a religious feast day to a
celebration of their heritage and homeland. With the celebration, came a
celebratory meal. In honor of their culture, the immigrants splurged on their
neighbor’s flavorful corned beef, which was accompanied by their beloved potato
and the most affordable vegetable, cabbage. It didn’t take long for corned beef
and cabbage to become associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe it was on
Lincoln’s mind when he chose the menu for his first Inaugural Luncheon March 4,
1861, which was corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

The popularity of corned beef and cabbage never crossed the Atlantic to the
homeland. Instead of corned beef and cabbage, the traditional St. Patrick’s Day
meal eaten in Ireland is lamb or bacon. In fact, many of what we consider St.
Patrick’s Day celebrations didn’t make it there until recently. St. Patrick’s
Day parades and festivals began in the US. And, until 1970, pubs were closed by
law in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day. It was originally a day about religion and
family. Today in Ireland, thanks to Irish tourism and Guinness, you will find
many of the Irish American traditions.

Beam in Guinness Storehouse in Dublin Wikimedia Commons

Lastly, if you are looking for a connection to the home country this holiday,
there are many other ways to be authentic. For starters, know that the holiday
is either St. Patrick’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day and not "St. Patty's Day". (Paddy
is the proper nickname for Patrick, while Patty is a girl's name in Ireland.)

Editor's note, March 17, 2021: The last paragraph of this story has been edited
to better reflect the proper nomenclature for celebrating St. Paddy's Day.



Shaylyn Esposito | | READ MORE

Shaylyn Esposito is the lead digital designer and creative strategist for the
Smithsonian online publishing group.

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