By: Mickayla Beckett
As human beings, we’re engineered to like food. Some of us even have favorites, though I never could decide on one myself. Food is something that unites people because we all need it, we all make it, and we all eat it. Naturally, with the high Irish immigrant population in the United States over the decades and the enduring attachment Americans have for Irish heritage, there are a number of Irish pubs and restaurants around. Of course, there is a distinct difference between authentic Irish pubs and Irish-themes pubs, which is important to consider when analyzing the impact and success of Irish pubs. According to “The Irish Pub Concept,” a website that specializes in supporting and increasing the number of authentic Irish pubs in the United States, authentic Irish pubs tend to be more successful than their inauthentic namesakes. The website contains an economic comparison showing higher profits with the authentic Irish pubs, even if they had less money initially put into them. It’s hard to find exact statistics for how many of each may be in the country, but this particular website gives a good idea on how to tell the difference between the two: the authentic Irish pub is much more likely to be open during the day for food and it is much more likely to have an environment that promotes gathering, socializing, and conversing when compared to the themed pubs. Continue reading
When most Americans think of Ireland or Irish-American culture they think of Guinness as one of the key elements, aside from shamrocks and leprechauns. Guinness is an Irish dry stout known for its tangy, sharp flavors, black color, and creamy texture. Arthur Guinness began brewing the beer in 1759 at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Eventually in 1932, during the Anglo-Irish Trade War, the Guinness & Co. headquarters were moved to London. This was due to the Control of Manufactures Act, which limited a company’s ownership to Irish citizens, as Guinness had foreign investors. The company merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to form Diageo. 
promotion that started the first Ronald McDonald house. Since the introduction of the shake in 1970 there have been over 60 million sold and there is even a website (shamrockshake.com ) to find Shamrocks out of season. There are numerous examples of foods that are seen as Irish or are specific to St. Patrick’s Day, from artificial green beer, Irish soda bread, and potatoes to corned beef – the examples seem never ending. To many Irish Americans, including myself, corned beef, boiled potatoes and carrots is a classic St. Patrick’s Day meal and for bakers, Irish soda bread is equally traditional. But are these “traditional” foods actually Irish? Or have they simply become “Irish” over time? Clearly some foods like the Shamrock Shake and green beer are not traditional, but what about corned beef and Irish soda bread? 
Start with a simple one: soda bread. Soda bread in and of itself is a very Irish tradition, borne of the fact that Ireland was a fairly poor country for a long time. Soda bread is unique among breads in that it is leavened not by yeast, as is typical, but rather by the action of baking soda, usually in conjunction with the acidity of buttermilk. Traditionally, soda bread is comprised of only four ingredients: salt, baking soda, buttermilk and flour. These characteristics of soda bread make it ideal for a poorer family to make, it requires only the bare minimum of ingredients for bread and none of the truly expensive ones, salt here is only added for flavor and could be taken out if the family were impoverished. This makes the bread cheap, filling and adaptable; things can be added to the bread in times of plenty and reduced to a bare minimum as needed. While similar in construction, American soda bread seems to belie the fact that America has a lot more resources readily available to the average consumer. Looking at current American recipes for soda bread, we see additions like butter, eggs, sugar and more exotic things like dates and caraway seeds. This comprises something the Irish call “foreigner’s bread,” demonstrating that Americans may not be as connected to their roots as they might like to think. Indeed, the caraway seeds may be derived from the traditional Jewish-American recipes for rye bread, calling for caraway seeds to lend flavor to the loaf. 