West Cork-based architectural historian, Claudia Kinmonth, has contributed to a new publication on the history of Irish food, due out early next week.
Irish Food History: A Companion is a gastronomic odyssey from earliest times and the start of the hunter-gatherer community, all the way to the abundant world of modern Irish cooking, safe in the hands of the world’s most highly regarded food historians.
The extensively-researched collection follows progress from the introduction of farming and livestock, cultivation of crops and development of cooking technologies, to the delicious world of medieval honey, banqueting, bog butter, whiskey distilling, to eighteenth century feasts and famines.
It reveals ancient techniques, hidden gems, and innovative cooking, often seemingly far beyond its time, all of which have shaped Ireland’s culinary landscape. With an introduction from editors Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Dorothy Cashman, and a foreword from Prof James Kelly, the 32 different contributors, all experts in their own field or period of study, provide the latest thinking and research from a wide range of academic disciplines.
Designed by Brenda Dermody, the volume is richly illustrated and interspersed with folklore, songs, recipes, and food-related poetry from Seamus Heaney, Paula Meehan and Raiftearaí, making it a must-read for both the culinary and culturally curious.
Claudia’s own curiosity about butter-making began with childhood journeys by horse and cart to a local creamery, and subsequently her involvement with Cork’s Butter Museum where she helped to assess the collection and catalogue it.
Her chapter (16), Joined in Butter studies the material culture of Irish home butter makers, using the dash churn, up to the nineteenth century.
Before moving to Co Cork, Claudia worked at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Sir John Soane’s Museum. She is an art and design historian specialising in Irish vernacular furniture and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Her books with Yale University Press, Irish Country Furniture 1700–1950 (1993), then Irish Rural Interiors in Art (2006) instigated exhibitions in Cork then Dublin’s National Gallery of Ireland and Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art. She publishes, lectures and broadcasts widely and her work can be seen on www.claudiakinmonth.ie
Irish Food History: A Companion, published by the Royal Irish Academy, will be available from September 2nd from ria.ie and all good bookshops.
