The first settlers arrived at Ireland’s coasts in 8000 BC, but the potato only arrived in Europe some 400 years ago. So what was it exactly our Irish ancestors lived on? On a magical evening in the Brewers Dining Hall at the Guinness Storehouse in James’ Gate, I had the pleasure of enjoying a sumptuous feast prepared by the then Guinness Storehouse Executive Chef, Justin O’Connor As well as a dinner of Irish food, we had great entertainment in the presence of Irish food historian and Dublin Institute of Technology lecturer (professor) Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire. With snippets of food history, bardic recitation, and even a song, Mac Con Iomaire stirred the diners' thoughts, to think of Ireland’s food and what our forefathers would have eaten.
“The first people who came here were hunter-gatherers. When they arrived in Ireland the country was covered in trees," said Mac Con Iomaire. “So those people made their way along the coast or in boats up the rivers and that's how they broke their way in.
“What would they have to hand? Oysters would have been huge, scallops, mussels, herrings, all the various fish but particularly shellfish that you could forage along the coastline. “Also there was things like wild garlic, wild watercress, myrtle berries, grouse, all kinds of wild birds all sorts of wild animals, and they were all eaten.” Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Archaeological evidence has shown us not only what Irel.