Medieval Food – Come Dine with St. Patrick

Medieval Food-Come Dine with St. Patrick

Lecture by Regina Sexton

Given at University College Cork in (2011)

Ireland in the 5th century: No restaurants, no take-aways, no street vendors or pre-prepared meals. So how did poor Saint Patrick manage when he arrived as a slave boy? It could have been worse, according to food historian, Regina Sexton, of UCC, who has discovered that the available food was nutritious if not very exciting. As part of our celebration of the week that’s in it, Regina has put together a table full of the seasonal foods available on the island of Ireland back then, spanning everything from meat and fish to cereals. She found that even the poets were wont to wax lyrical about food.

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