Check this out: The “Ui Breasail” home recipe cookery book, published in 1910 in Dublin, Ireland, during the heyday of what is often called the “Irish Renaissance” (alternately, the “Celtic Twilight”).
The advertisements as well as the recipe write-ups put this book squarely in the Irish-Ireland movement, a fascinating mixture of home rule politics, nationalism, and a drive towards turning Ireland’s culture inwards. “Ui breasail” translates roughly to “Hy Brasil or ‘The Blessed Isle,” a land akin to Atlantis with which Ireland was occasionally identified, supposed to be the home of eternal life among other things. Interestingly enough, flipping through the advertisements at the front of the book shows plenty for goods and services from England: fish from Grimsby, “Dr Ridge’s Food” from London, “W & G Foyle,” booksellers from London, but the vast majority are for businesses in Dublin or Belfast: the Army and Navy Stores, the Royal Irish School of Art Needlework (being “Irish-Ireland” was not necessarily a reason to avoid the “Royal” label, although it could be), Carson’s Paints, electrolysis in Ballsbridge, and a laundry in Rathmines.
This single volume is practically a case study in a key moment in the development of modern Ireland and the recipes are wonderful: learn how to make ‘beef olives’ two different ways! vegetarian puddings! queen cake and plum bread!
