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Eating Well in Ireland

© Irene Togher

"When in Ireland, eat what the Irish eat," is always a piece of advice I give visitors to the country. Why? Because so often I hear complaints about how the Irish pizza is not as good as New York pizza or the Chinese food is different and not quite as tasty. Well, duh! If you want great pizza stay in New York or if you want good Chinese food......well, you get the picture.

Irish food is what's good in Ireland and you can't experience the country to it's fullest without indulging in some quality, homemade, traditional fare.

An obvious starting point is breakfast and the Irish definitely know how to do breakfast. Anyone who does not try a full Irish breakfast at least once is missing out. The full Irish breakfast is commonly referred to as "the fry" (although most of it will, in fact, be grilled) and will always be included in your hotel or Bed and Breakfast accommodation. Be prepared for a lot of food that should keep you going for a large part of the day - something that's excellent for a day's touring. Keep in mind also that the fry is a hot breakfast and with the Irish climate the way it is you can't beat lining your stomach before venturing outside.

Now on to the actual food. You can expect to get (with some variations) Irish sausages, rashers (strips of bacon), black and white pudding, tomato, one or two fried eggs, all the homemade brown bread you can consume and mountains of toast. It's all served with tea or coffee but of course tea is more traditional, so if you want authenticity you should probably opt for that.

With such a huge breakfast inside, you'll no doubt prefer a light lunch and one of the most popular options is pub grub. Served in many pubs around the country, pub grub is a very inexpensive lunch choice. Don't worry though, the low prices don't reflect low quality. Reputable pubs will have tasty, filling, homemade food that's sure to please. Most will offer homemade soups that are thick, creamy and full of fresh vegetables and nutrition. Most will also serve homemade scones (like American biscuits), freshly made sandwiches and deserts. Some pubs will have a self-service, hot lunch area that offers menus featuring chicken, pork, beef and fish all served with fresh vegetables. For the best value, pub grub can't be beat.

For some time, Irish restaurants suffered from a reputation of presenting rather bland, unadventurous food that could not compete with our more famous European counterparts. Rest assured though that this reputation no longer haunts finer restaurants and