Welcome back! I hope everyone is having a good week so far! Thank you for joining me as I take you on another adventure through Dublin’s culture. Last week I gave you a little history lesson about Dublin’s oldest castle. This week I’d like to introduce you to some of the local foods. Irish soda bread is a traditional product produced by Northern Ireland. It wasn’t until after the Great Famine and the lack of potatoes that soda bread became a staple in Ireland. It is made using flour, baking soda, soured milk, and salt. Not only is soda bread easy to make but it is also great to have during breakfast along with butter or marmalade.

Another classic Irish meal is Shepherd’s Pie. Shepherd’s Pie dates back to the late 1700s and early 1800s; it was a way for housewives to incorporate leftovers into whole meals. Over the years the recipes have varied from family to family. The overall ingredients are mashed potatoes, lamb, onions, and other vegetables like carrots or peas. These meals are incredibly delicious and also paint an image of an older Ireland, one where many families did and found whatever they could to make ends meet.

Last on our tour through the delicacies of Dublin, we arrived by the seaside where we dove into a platter of seafood. To get to the seaside, you have to go about 30 minutes outside of the city. Although it may seem like a long drive, the meal you will indulge in will make it all better. A typical Irish seafood platter consists of mussels, calamari, crab claws, and sometimes oysters. All of the seafood is sold fresh. Most places claim this to be true but as I sat looking out at the fishermen bringing in their haul, it validated there was no doubt to their claims.

Eating around Dublin has been one my favorite past times since arriving here. It’s not just all about the food though. It’s also about the years of history that the food holds. Thanks again for joining me on my little food adventure! If you ever have the time or just want to try something new, I would recommend making your very own soda bread. You can find the link for a recipe here. Don’t forget to follow along with our travels on Instagram: @msmutravels. Follow my hashtag #WhatstheCraic or #TrendingThursdays to stay up-to-date on my journeys. Tootles!