Food we have now which we didn't have....

simonsays1

Hi,

Can anyone name any food you can get in Ireland which you could not get 10 years ago?
I'm not really talking international restaurant food, more individual pieces like avocado or something along that line.

It's for a project and can't seem to find the info on the net even after spending a ridiculous time doing so. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Thanks

SimonsaysOne

padma

manuka honey maybe? goji berries? chia seeds

donalh087

Smoked paprika
Summac
Wasabi
Okra
And of course, Horse

angeldaisy

padma wrote: »

manuka honey maybe? goji berries? chia seeds

I know Manuka Honey was definately here 10 yrs ago, probably in limited amounts - usually the preserve of Health food shops.

I think you would possibly be looking at the more exotic fruits and vegetables, possibly Rambutan,Jackfruit, Mangosteen,Feijoa, Durian, Dragon Fruit, Daikon, Kohlrabi.

I guess the problem is that a lot of foods would have been here 10 years ago, possibly in ethnic shops, possibly not widespread though. A lot of the exotic meats, such as Kangaroo and Aligator have been in Ireland longer than 10 yrs.

You could also consider some of the snack foods from the UK or the States which has possibly only come over recently?

10 years is a very short time realistically - Good luck with it:D

simonsays1

Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

It's amazing how our diet has changed. We never had rice or pasta growing up and I'm only in my late 20's. (No Asian or Italian!)
Not to mention quinoa and buckwheat grains and sweet potato which is all I eat now.
Daft! Plus, I was 20 when I my first Chinese/Indian take-away! Ha!

I can push the time period to 20 years- if that helps for more suggestions.....

Thanks again!

Bannasidhe

Growing up in the 70s and 80s the range of food available was very limited - didn't taste pasta, mayo, cheese that wasn't chedder (:eek:), most spices until the early 80s when my brother who lived in Switzerland introduced our house to such exotic dishes as Spag Bol (:rolleyes:) and announced that a 'salad' did not consist of a few leaves of hothouse lettuce, a flavourless tomato, a few spring onions and coleslaw.

Flavouring/seasoning consisted of salt and that horrible white ground pepper and maybe thyme plus vanilla essence, nutmeg and mixed spice for baked goods.

Moved to London in '83 and a whole world of food and taste was opened up to me and I ain't never going back.

I moved back to Ireland from the UK in 1993 and found it impossible to get even basic ingredients for West Indian cuisine - which I love - like ackees, plantains, okra, goat, etc.

Even the range of spices was limited, expensive and only available in specialist shops. My solution was to go to London once a year and fill a suitcase with spices - it worked out cheaper and the quality was far better.

After 2 years in Oz I returned to Ireland (again) in 2001 and was delighted to find many of the ingredients were widely available.

I now have a cupboard full of a wide range of spices - the grandkids call it the 'happy cupboard' as when it's opened the fabulous combination of smells just makes everyone smile - all bought within a 3 mile radius of where I live.

OH who lived her whole life in Ireland only started learned about food as a pleasure and not simply fuel when we got together.

I have even convinced her that meat should not have the texture of shoe leather and should be identifiable as something other than some generic 'meat'. It wasn't easy - but the battle was finally won when I took her to an excellent restaurant in Montmartre and she wanted her steak well done and they refused - and I as 'interpreter' agreed with the chef. She had it medium rare and declared it wonderful - or in her words 'very tasty'.

She is now happily eating venison, duck, tagines, curry goat, puy lentils, ackee salt fish, fried plantains, vegetables, huge salads, swordfish etc etc and is mightily p-offed that she wasted years eating tasteless crap.

Dizzyblonde

I think it depends on what food your mother cooked. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and we had pasta, rice, curries etc because my mother cooked them for us.
Things really have changed a lot in the past 10 years or so though, there are foods such as the ones mentioned above that we'd never even heard of before.

rubadub

simonsays1 wrote: »

It's amazing how our diet has changed. We never had rice or pasta growing up and I'm only in my late 20's. (No Asian or Italian!)

I would have had spag bol & beef curry in the 80's. This was curry made with powder & blocks of coconut cream. Not sure if you got the jars of curry sauce like now.

I got chinese takeaway in the 80's, and there was a brand of ready meal back then too, Mr Chow, think it was made in bray and got in dunnes frozen. I do not remember any other chinese frozen ready meals back then. A foil tray of rice & chicken chop suey to be done in an oven.

10 years is a small time, as somebody will always come along and say they could get most things in some specialist shop. If you said what is in tesco or dunnes that was not there 10 years ago it is different. Lots of Japanese stuff is new to tesco. Many fruits are new to supermarkets.

Countdown1982

The alternatives to Dairy Milk

Soya or any of the soya milk products
Almond Milk
Rice Milk


Gluten Free was never heard off.



Great post by the way.........

hfallada

Rapeseed oil is only fairly recent and bagels werent that common

The Hill Billy

If you take it back 20 years you could probably include any 'organic' produce.

Gyalist

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Moved to London in '83 and a whole world of food and taste was opened up to me and I ain't never going back.

I moved back to Ireland from the UK in 1993 and found it impossible to get even basic ingredients for West Indian cuisine - which I love - like ackees, plantains, okra, goat, etc.

Brings back memories of the day in summer '88 when I spent many hours driving around Dublin looking for a mango. I was cooking a Caribbean meal for some friends and needed mango to make chutney. No one knew what I was talking about but they mostly pointed me in the direction of Fitzers on Camden Street. In those days Fitzers was the only place in Dublin to get anything slightly exotic.

Eventually found mangoes in Roy Fox's in Donnybrook but the price was about £5 for one!

aidan24326

simonsays1 wrote: »

Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

It's amazing how our diet has changed. We never had rice or pasta growing up and I'm only in my late 20's. (No Asian or Italian!)

Same here. I had pasta maybe a handful of times as a kid, never rice dishes. Had my first go at Chinese and Indian food when I was about 19. I was fortunate that I grew up eating a lot of very fresh home produce but god it was limited when I think back. I actually didn't really like Indian food the first couple of times I tried it, probably a shock to the palate. But now I love it.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

OH who lived her whole life in Ireland only started learned about food as a pleasure and not simply fuel when we got together.

Fair play to you for converting her! It's actually a gift to someone if you broaden their food horizons and introduce them to the joys of food in general, extending beyond what was the traditional boring Irish diet.

My wife's dad won't eat hardly anything that doesn't consist of potatoes meat and veg (maybe fish occasionally) and I always think it's sad when a person won't at least try different things as you're missing out on a world of tastes and smells and flavours and food experiences in general. Your good lady should be thankful that you opened her eyes to food as a pleasure as well as a necessity!

whiskeyman

I can't remember any sushi in Ireland over 10 years ago?
Was Aya around then?

annamcmahon

whiskeyman wrote: »

I can't remember any sushi in Ireland over 10 years ago?
Was Aya around then?

Yamamori was definitely around 10years ago.

Dizzyblonde

When my nephew made his Confirmation he asked his parents to take him to a Japanese restaurant for sushi. I can't remember what it was called, I think it was up around Baggot Street. He's 27 now so that was 15 years ago.

Mrs Fox

whiskeyman wrote: »

I can't remember any sushi in Ireland over 10 years ago?
Was Aya around then?

It was. I remember going for their 'all you can eat in 55-min for €20' circa 2002.

mockingjay

Alpen Porridge.

aidan24326

The Asian and Chinese stores are great for finding something different and most were not around when I first moved to Dublin (97). 10 years ago? Just about I'd say.

Now it's easy to get your hands on things like pak choi, beansprouts, oyster and shiitake mushrooms etc, things I would have never even have heard of as a kid.

There's a little Mediterannean store on Thomas St that I go to and they have a great range of herbs and spices, pretty much everything you could think of and more.

jam_mac_jam

I think you are going to have to go back more than ten years. Most of the things listed above were all available ten years ago. That's 2003, I don't see a lot of difference with now and then, maybe 1993 but not 2003.

padma

aidan24326 wrote: »

The Asian and Chinese stores are great for finding something different and most were not around when I first moved to Dublin (97). 10 years ago? Just about I'd say.

Now it's easy to get your hands on things like pak choi, beansprouts, oyster and shiitake mushrooms etc, things I would have never even have heard of as a kid.

There's a little Mediterannean store on Thomas St that I go to and they have a great range of herbs and spices, pretty much everything you could think of and more.

You'd find Oysters all over Ireland for centuries dude

Layinghen

If you want to go back over 40 years olive oil was available but you bought it in a small bottle in the chemists!!! It's only use that anyone could think of was for dry scalp or dry skin, putting it on a salad or cooking with it would have been looked on as very peculiar

Mrs Fox

padma wrote: »

You'd find Oysters all over Ireland for centuries dude

I think he meant oyster mushrooms:)

padma

i just googled oyster mushrooms, a new food for me

RGDATA!

10 years is too short a timeframe for marked contrast, maybe if you go back 25 or so. Haven't seen anything mentioned in this thread that I'm not pretty sure you could have got 10 years ago. Yamamori is around close to 20 years at this point, I certainly remember going there mid 90s, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the first place for sushi in Dublin either.

Only thing I can think of that def. wasn't available were Wispa bars , and probably trendy "healthfoods" like goji berries

padma

Wispas were around in the 80's and 90's, i think they re-released them a few years back

Alun

Layinghen wrote: »

If you want to go back over 40 years olive oil was available but you bought it in a small bottle in the chemists!!! It's only use that anyone could think of was for dry scalp or dry skin, putting it on a salad or cooking with it would have been looked on as very peculiar

I remember it well ... my mum used it (warmed up) to loosen hardened ear wax

blackdog2

I dunno about asian food, it doesn't seem to have advanced at all!


But! Mexican food! In the last 2/3 years, multiple burrito places have opened up, with proper spicy sauces, absolute delish!

annamcmahon

blackdog2 wrote: »

I dunno about asian food, it doesn't seem to have advanced at all!


But! Mexican food! In the last 2/3 years, multiple burrito places have opened up, with proper spicy sauces, absolute delish!

The place in temple bar and acapolco on George's St are more than 10years old
:

Bannasidhe

annamcmahon wrote: »

The place in temple bar and acapolco on George's St are more than 10years old
:

As is Cafe Mexicano in Cork - that was there in '93 when I moved back.

aidan24326

I did indeed mean oyster mushrooms and I'm not sure about finding them all over Ireland!