Why Do We Eat Corned Beef and Cabbage on St Patrick's Day?

Opportune was the conclusion I came up with too, when I was studying this at Uni. Half the time it was out of sight out of mind too. I guess it's why those sort of people get on.

I can understand how some people can watch others starving for profit: greed and hatred. They despised the Irish, wanted them dead and saw famine as a useful way of effecting this. Genocide was not planned, but was opportune, taken up willingly by a section of the British ruling class. Greed for profit was the only goal of some. It dominates their minds and hearts at the expense of all else.

It's freaking tragic how much food came out of Ireland in the 19th century. I don't understand how anyone could watch a people starving for profit.

Frank - I never thought to wonder about the soil. I bet this accounts for regional differences in food consumption too, at least back in the day before supermarkets.

Madelyn - You're very welcome. It was a Californian with whom I was chatting about it! So perhaps you're missing out there, or she's adding random stuff.

I have just done some research. Irish corned beef was a major export in the nineteenth century, though for most Irish it was a luxury hardly obtainable. The export of corned beef added to the effects of the potato famine.

You are right that this meal is in no sense traditional. It is, as you say, a descendant of a characteristically Irish dish, bacon, cabbage and potatoes. I suppose that the emigrants ate some characteristically Irish food to remember home.

There is a perfect rationale to this dish. The Irish grew potatoes and they kept pigs. Cabbages grow easily in the Irish climate. As Ireland lies on a bed of limestone, there are some limy soils, which cabbages like to grow in. The beetroot that you show as added to the dish is a very versatile vegetable that grows in a variety of conditions [it is a descendant of the genetically varied sea beet and grows easily.] So the poorer soils of the West of Ireland could be guaranteed to grow this vegetable.

The poorer people of Britain and Ireland were not great beef eaters [until corned beef came in.] This is despite the rubbish talked about the roast beef of old England.The poor, of whom there were many in Ireland, could only afford corned beef, which was a luxury substitute for bacon.

I've never ever heard of this dish before, lolwut?!?! Maybe it's just not a West Coast thing...I'm a California girl. We celebrate St. Patties with tacos and beer...but then again, I only know Irish-Mexicans so *cough* This has been a highly entertaining read. Thanks for sharing!

I always appreciate your humour. :)

I love trying out food from all over the world, and from many different cultures. If it's vegetarian and looks, smells and tastes delicious, then I'm right there with my fork. So what would you cook for this 'white girl'? *waits with cutlery*

I'm glad to hear that my article brought back such good memories!

JoHarrington – Glad you appreciate my humor.
It goes deeper than you know. Allow me to share.

My mom once told me my grandfather, her father, was Irish or from Ireland, or had some of Irish roots. She never really clarified. We used to tease my aunt, my mother's sister, about always cooking “white people food”. But the best dish she ever made was corned beef and cabbage. To top that off she worked at a dress shop located in Miami Beach, Florida. Miami Beach was loaded with rich retired Jews. So how my aunt learn how to prepare corned beef and cabbage? We don't know!! But it was a dish none of us would ever turn down!!

I never met my grandfather. He died before I was born. My mother and aunt passed away many years ago. So as I was reading your article, memories that had been buried in my subconscious started resurfacing. They were so sweet but I started cracking up!!! :)