For the Love of Brown Bread

From ugali in East Africa to an abundance of curry in New Delhi, falafel in the Middle East and paella in Pais Vasco, one of the greatest parts of travelling is the ability to dive into a world of new smells, textures and tastes. While the northwest of Europe is perhaps not the most famed for it's culinary expertise, I have quite enjoyed the food here, and now I'm going to tell you about it! So enjoy.

Pictured to the left is a snapshot of my food cabinet at the moment, including a few goods moved over for show from the fridge I share with my roommates, who are as a whole much better at cooking and eating healthy than I am. Not seen is what's in the freezer: hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, green beans, potato wedges, and bread (to prevent it from going stale). Nothing too outrageously different than what I'd have at home!

A couple of items are marked with a generic blue and white wrapping: St. Bernard's is the supermarket brand from my local grocery of choice, Dunnes, which I've mentioned before I think. Anyway, they have really cheap and good food which makes it less likely for me to trek 10 minutes out to the discount stores, Aldi and Lidl, so well done marketing team! 82 cent bread, 45 cent chocolate chip cookies I devour like no one's business, peanuts and pasta and sauce under a euro and loads of other goodness. Also pictured in the cabinet is a jar of so-so peanut butter, unfinished because I gave it up for lent after absolutely killing several jars of the more expensive (3 euro!) PANDA PEANUT BUTTER which is everything I love in the world. Seriously, it's better than the stuff at home, I will eat an entire jar as an Easter present to myself and likely import a couple jars home at the end of all this. And it's pandas, so what more could I ever want? (Maybe a coupon every once and a while, Dunnes, cough.)

I suppose a typical rundown of what I'll eat in a day would be an appropriate thing to write about here. Breakfast, on the days when I'm not running late for class, is often tea, toast with strawberry jam, and sometimes oatmeal. Lunch is almost always a baked ham and cheese sandwich, except for Wednesday college bar lunches, and I'm apt to carry around several pieces of fruit during the day for lunch or snacking or boredom eating. Apples, oranges, and bananas are all sold in small bags by Dunnes- two types for 3 euro, which is great and encourages me to eat more fruit. I carry around my dented blue globe water bottle (RIP green flowered one), though there are far less working water fountains here, but it's still a good practice. Dinner is mostly pasta, rice, or soup, with chicken or fish sticks, and peas or green beans, and bread. Sometimes I branch out a little but that's the base and it can be tiring but it gets me through. :)

When I'm not cooking for myself, I do occasionally eat food prepared by the Irish, which I guess is more of the question people really want answered when they inquire about my meals. Tea is a major staple of all daytime gatherings here, along with wonderful 'biscuits', cookies of all types readily available at everything from casual meetings to formal information sessions. I have had one full Irish breakfast when Ariel came to visit in January, and will probably have it again when I have other visitors to this dreary and lovely island. Fish and chips and bangers and mash are other big touristy staples, of which I've only had the former, and one of the nicest new comfort foods I know is simple Irish brown bread. I can't describe it, so you will just need to come here and eat some yourself and enjoy!

I really have liked having an abundance of fresh food at my fingertips, though I haven't taken advantage of all of it, mostly just cheese. But it's great cheese. There's a market on the weekends I've only visited once with spectacular fresh doughnuts, and though the thought of blood pudding still makes my stomach turn, I have been well fed here, without a doubt.

P.S. Pizza is different. There's frozen ones and Papa Johns that are fairly similar to back home, but from restaurants pizza is a really fancy big deal that you eat with a fork and knife.