Margaret lifts the lid on Ireland’s rich food history

Lifestyle – Margaret Hickey, who will speak on the food culture of Ireland’s Big Houses at a conference in Portumna on June 30, tells Judy Murphy about her book, Ireland’s Green Larder.

You know it’s likely to be a good experience when the person you’re planning to interview recommends timing your visit to incorporate a trip to a neighbouring farmer who sells home-grown, chemical-free vegetables.

That’s what happens on a Friday morning as Margaret Hickey organises a trip to Sunny Meadow farm outside Portumna where we stock up on veg for the week before getting down to our interview.

Unsurprisingly she’s a food-lover but Margaret Hickey is more than that. She’s also an expert on Irish food history and will be speaking on that topic at the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna on Saturday, June 30. Margaret’s talk will kick off a day-long conference entitled The Big House and Estate in Irish History.

The previous day, she’ll be at the same venue sharing her food knowledge at the annual Taste of Portumna gathering, which showcases some of the finest food produced along the shores of Lough Derg.

Margaret’s latest book, Ireland’s Green Larder, is a fascinating and hugely informative account of Irish history, spanning 5,000 years and told through the country’s food and drink culture.

It was originally commissioned by English publishing company, Hodder Headline, in the early 2000s. Margaret, the former Food and Drink editor with the UK’s Country Living Magazine, had moved back to her father’s home county of Galway in 1999 to complete an earlier book commissioned by UK publisher Kyle Cathie.

Irish Days, a collection of oral histories was well received and Hodder were interested in her next project, based on Ireland’s food story. But circumstances changed. Margaret’s editor in Hodder moved on and the next incumbent didn’t pursue the project.

Having travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to research Ireland’s Green Larder, Margaret was determined that the book would see the light of day.

That finally happened last year, thanks to another UK company, Unbound. Operating on a crowdfunding model, it has published authors including Terry Jones, Kate Mosse, Julie Burchill and the Booker-nominated Paul Kingsnorth.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.