Editing Ireland (section)

===Food and drink===
{{main|Irish cuisine}}
[[File:Cheese 61 bg 080106.jpg|thumb|[[Gubbeen cheese]], an example of the resurgence in Irish cheese making]]
Food and cuisine in Ireland take their influence from the crops grown and animals farmed in the island's temperate climate and from the social and political circumstances of Irish history. For example, whilst from the Middle Ages until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century the dominant feature of the Irish economy was the herding of cattle, the number of cattle a person owned was equated to their social standing.<ref name="food_companion" >{{cite book |first1=Alan |last1=Davidson |first2=Tom |last2=Jaine |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2006 |pages=407–408 |isbn=978-0-19-280681-9}}</ref> Thus herders would avoid slaughtering a milk-producing cow.<ref name="food_companion" />

For this reason, pork and [[white meat]] were more common than beef, and thick fatty strips of salted [[bacon]] (known as rashers) and the eating of salted butter (i.e. a dairy product rather than beef itself) have been a central feature of the diet in Ireland since the Middle Ages.<ref name="food_companion" /> The practice of bleeding cattle and mixing the blood with milk and butter (not unlike the practice of the [[Maasai people|Maasai]]) was common<ref>{{cite book |title=The History and Social Influence of the Potato |first1=Redcliffe Nathan |last1=Salaman |first2=William Glynn |last2=Burton |first3=John Gregory |last3=Hawkes |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1985 |pages=218–219}}</ref> and [[black pudding]], made from blood, grain (usually barley) and seasoning, remains a breakfast staple in Ireland. All of these influences can be seen today in the phenomenon of the "[[breakfast roll]]".

The introduction of the potato in the second half of the 16th century heavily influenced cuisine thereafter. Great poverty encouraged a subsistence approach to food, and by the mid-19th century, the vast majority of the population sufficed with a diet of potatoes and milk.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Garrow |first=John |title=Feast and Famine: a History of Food and Nutrition in Ireland 1500–1920 |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=95 |issue=3 |pages=160–161 |date=March 2002 |issn=1758-1095 |pmc=1279494 |doi=10.1177/014107680209500320 }}</ref> A typical family, consisting of a man, a woman and four children, would eat {{convert|18|st|kg}} of potatoes per week.<ref name="food_companion" /> Consequently, dishes that are considered as national dishes represent a fundamental simplicity to cooking, such as the [[Irish stew]], [[bacon and cabbage]], [[boxty]], a type of potato pancake, or [[colcannon]], a dish of [[mashed potatoes]] and [[kale]] or [[cabbage]].<ref name="food_companion" />

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, with a re-emergence of wealth in Ireland, a "New Irish Cuisine" based on traditional ingredients incorporating international influences<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ireland for Dummies |first=Elizabeth |last=Albertson |publisher=Wiley Publishing |location=Hoboken |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-470-10572-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/irelandfordummie0000albe_o4j8/page/34 34] |url=https://archive.org/details/irelandfordummie0000albe_o4j8/page/34 }}</ref> has emerged.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ireland |first=Fionn |last=Davenport |publisher=Lonely Planet |location=London |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-74104-696-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ireland8th00dave/page/65 65] |url=https://archive.org/details/ireland8th00dave/page/65 }}</ref> This cuisine is based on fresh vegetables, fish (especially salmon, trout, [[oyster]]s, [[mussel]]s and other shellfish), as well as traditional soda breads and the wide range of hand-made [[List of Irish cheeses|cheeses]] that are now being produced across the country. An example of this new cuisine is "Dublin Lawyer": lobster cooked in whiskey and cream.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dublin |first1=Fionn |last1=Davenport |last2=Smith |first2=Jonathan |publisher=Lonely Planet |location=London |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-74104-710-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetdub000fion/page/15 15] |url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetdub000fion/page/15 }}</ref> The potato remains however a fundamental feature of this cuisine and the Irish remain the highest per capita<ref name="food_companion" /> consumers of potatoes in Europe. Traditional regional foods can be found throughout the country, for example [[coddle]] in Dublin or [[drisheen]] in Cork, both a type of sausage, or [[blaa]], a doughy white bread particular to Waterford.

[[File:Distillerie OldBushmills.jpg|thumb|The [[Old Bushmills Distillery]] in County Antrim]]

Ireland once dominated the world's market for whiskey, producing 90% of the world's whiskey at the start of the 20th century. However, as a consequence of bootleggers during the [[prohibition in the United States]] (who sold poor-quality whiskey bearing Irish-sounding names thus eroding the pre-prohibition popularity for Irish brands)<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture |first1=W. J. |last1=McCormack |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-631-16525-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/blackwellcompani00mccorich/page/170 170] |url=https://archive.org/details/blackwellcompani00mccorich/page/170 }}</ref> and tariffs on Irish whiskey across the British Empire during the [[Anglo-Irish Trade War]] of the 1930s,<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Brian |last1=Leavy |first2=David |last2=Wilson |title=Strategy and Leadership |publisher=Routledge |location=London |date=1994 |isbn=9780415070911 |page=63}}</ref> sales of Irish whiskey worldwide fell to a mere 2% by the mid-20th century.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Conor |last=O'Clery |title=Whiskey Resists the Downturn |work=GlobalPost |publisher=Public Radio International (PRI) |date=25 February 2009 |url= https://www.pri.org/stories/2009-02-26/whiskey-resists-downturn |access-date=5 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160103003228/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ireland/090225/whiskey-resists-the-downturn |archive-date=3 January 2016}}</ref> In 1953, an Irish government survey, found that 50% of whiskey drinkers in the United States had never heard of [[Irish whiskey]].<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Jack |last1=Blocker |first2=David |last2=Fahey |first3=Ian|last3=Tyrrell |title=Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara |date=2003 |isbn=978-1-57607-833-4 |page=653}}</ref>

Irish whiskey, as researched in 2009 by the [[CNBC]] American broadcaster, remains popular domestically and has grown in international sales steadily over a few decades.<ref name="not_luck">{{Cite news |title=Irish Whiskey's Growth Not Just About Luck |date=19 March 2009 |first=Christina |last=Berk |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2009/03/19/irish-whiskeys-growth-not-just-about-luck.html |publisher=CNBC |access-date=4 April 2010 |archive-date=10 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010052101/http://www.cnbc.com/id/29636538 |url-status=live }}</ref> Typically CNBC states Irish whiskey is not as smoky as a [[Scotch whisky]], but not as sweet as [[American whiskey|American]] or [[Canadian whiskey|Canadian]] whiskies.<ref name="not_luck"/> Whiskey forms the basis of [[Irish Cream|cream liqueurs]], such as [[Baileys Irish Cream|Baileys]], and the "[[Irish coffee]]" (a [[cocktail]] of coffee and whiskey reputedly invented at [[Foynes|Foynes flying-boat station]]) is probably the best-known Irish cocktail.

[[Porter (beer)|Stout]], a kind of [[porter beer]], particularly [[Guinness]], is typically associated with Ireland, although historically it was more closely associated with London. Porter remains very popular, although it has lost sales since the mid-20th century to [[lager]]. [[Cider]], particularly ''[[Magners]]'' (marketed in the Republic of Ireland as ''Bulmers''), is also a popular drink. [[Red lemonade]], a soft-drink, is consumed on its own and as a mixer, particularly with whiskey.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davenport |first=Fionn |title=Discover Ireland |publisher=Lonely Planet |date=2010 |location=London |page=348 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhP4ieoRiuIC&pg=PA348 |isbn=978-1-74179-998-9 |access-date=27 June 2015 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904125738/https://books.google.com/books?id=hhP4ieoRiuIC&pg=PA348 |url-status=live }}</ref>