Quiz on St. Patrick's Day Irish Food and Drink

St. Patrick's Day Food and Drink: Fact or Fiction?

March 17, 2010

The greenest of holidays — St. Patrick's Day — has finally arrived! Hopefully, you're wearing emerald, and at least in a halfway sober state of mind. Even if you already did your celebrating over the weekend at one of the world's many parades, you can still celebrate March 17 in all its glory by studying up on some St. Patrick's Day and Irish food facts. Here's the drill: I'll make a statement, and you guess whether it's fact or fiction. Will you score high, or are you going to need the luck of the Irish? There's only one way to find out!

Source: Getty

9 Comments

diamondmercy 3 years 1 week

That was cool. I actually did better than I expected and I am not Irish! LOL

3 years 8 weeks

Corned beef and boiled cabbage is a popular dish among Irish Americans and is similar to the New England boiled dinner. Corned beef was substituted for pork by Irish immigrants. And while I have heard potatoes called "Idaho" potatoes to differentiate from sweet potatoes (which are tubers and not actual potatoes) I have never heard them called "IRISH" potatoes.

3 years 8 weeks

Sigh. I don't know where people get these facts from, but corned beef and cabbage is DEFINITELY Irish. It's American. The closest Ireland has is bacon and cabbage - the bacon not being American-style bacon, but more like uncured cuts of ham. Less fat, doesnt crisp up, etc. Also - St Patrick's Day is a religious holiday, so historically it was a day for church and reflection, not for boozing. Times evolve though, as always, and not they party like it's 199.... well, you get the picture.

Bettye Wayne 3 years 9 weeks

Nancita I was nervous about the Bailey's shelf life part too.

flavacrisp 3 years 9 weeks

According to Alton Brown, Corned beef originated in the US. Also in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corned_beef

nancita 3 years 9 weeks

Thank god that part about Bailey's chef life was false. I was getting nervous.

chiefdishwasher 3 years 9 weeks

My grandparents all came from Ireland and I remember some of them saying that they never ate beef in Ireland....only mutton...cb & c is an Irish American meal.

3 years 9 weeks

Additionally, corned beef and cabbage is an Irish American dish, not an Irish dish. I think Salon has a good article on it.

3 years 9 weeks

I lived in Dublin for a year and I can say that people in Ireland definitely do go CRAZY on St. Patrick's Day. It's the most I've seen anybody drink, ever. Actually, they tend to go crazy the day before St. Patrick's Day because they get the day off since it's a National Holiday. It's a total myth that Irish people don't drink heavily on St. Patrick's Day.

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