THE staple in Ireland is potatoes. Of course, potato fries are served here but the Irish folks have other unique ways on how to cook their potatoes. For example, colcannon is a viand made from mashed potatoes dashed with cabbage. I don’t know if the Irish people are eating healthy (with cabbage they do but with potatoes…well, let’s just say they’re more concerned with the carbohydrates level in their body). Irish people are just simple rural ones (most farmers are anyway). They tend to exercise and appreciate the sunshine a lot that’s why they need lots of carbohydrates.

Another potato-based dish is champ which is similar to colcannon minus the cabbage. The viand is further flavored with butter and milk and the end result is so yummy.

Of course, not all potato-based Irish dishes are sautéed. Some are in the form of soup like the world-famous Irish stew. Irish stew is mixed with pure lamb meat so this is indeed very delicious. It is so famous that even homes across Europe far from Ireland have adopted this dish as their own. To spice up your Irish stew, add parsley and carrots as your ingredients.

If you’re still young and can still afford to eat fat, then go for coddle. Coddle is another potato-based dish just like champ but in lieu of lamb meat, we put in several pork sausages to sauté on. Add in a bit of salt and pepper for a more flavorful taste. Mixing all the ingredients takes about five minutes and simmering down takes another hour for maximum deliciousness.

With Dublin Bay as its neighbor, Ireland boasts of numerous sea species used for food. Some of the fish consumed by humans are the Dublin Bay prawns, oysters, salmon and cod. In fact, Ireland holds several oyster festivals across the state and one of them in Galway has even landed a Guinness world record for some feat which I cannot recall anymore. Be that as it may, it only shows that Ireland is the oyster capital of the world. The trend in shellfish eating has been introduced only recently though. Maybe most of the folks before have not discovered this yet. It’s part of the mysteries of life after all.

These potato-based and oyster-based viands are not complete without a voracious serving of Irish bread. Potato plus bread? Man, these Irish folks are really serious or even paranoid with their carbohydrates intake. Anyway, there are lots of Irish bread variants. There’s the soda bread, the wheaten bread, the soda farls and the blaa.

Soda bread is quick bread and soda is substituted to yeast. A soda farl is similar but it is triangular in shape. This is one type of pastry unique to Ireland so if you are a visitor to this country, never ever leave it without tasting this one. The blaa is a softer bun and are square in shape. Covered only in flour, blaa is typically used as a sandwich in Irish breakfasts with generous fillings of luncheon meat and similar delicacies if you will. You may also spread cheese, mayonnaise, peanut butter or ham in your blaa.