Tadh Byrne studies Gastronomy and Food Studies in the MA program at the Dublin Institute of Technology. A trained chef, he founded and writes for The Feed, a blog about food and culture in Dublin. His research focuses on government policy and food supplies during World War II. This interview was conducted by Alanna Higgins.

How long have you been a member of ASFS, and what made you join?

I’ve been a member for just over a year now. I had been wanting to join for many years but wasn’t sure if I was qualified enough. At the 2018 Dublin Gastronomy Symposium I met several members of the ASFS and started my MA soon after, so I knew the time was right. I don’t plan on leaving any time soon, so I look forward to meeting you all in years to come!

What are your research interests and what are you working on as an MA student of Gastronomy and Food Studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology?

The Gastronomy and Food Studies programme at TU Dublin is only in its third year, so we are very much pioneers of the field. It will be interesting to see what everyone goes on to do afterwards. The course looks at the past, present and future of food culture in Ireland and internationally. It is designed in such a way that you can steer it in any direction you choose – some students focus on food tourism, some on nutritional aspects, some will become historians. The national newspaper, The Irish Times wrote a piece highlighting this diversity. We have a collective ongoing project to a TU Dublin to collect oral food histories from around the country; these can be found on the Dublin Gastronomy Archive.

My interest lies in the politics and economics behind what we eat. I am currently writing a thesis on how, broadly speaking, government policy affected food during World War Two in Ireland. We were a neutral country but it still was hard to get supplies in, so we were largely self-sufficient. The period was known as ‘The Emergency’ in Ireland, which I think is relevant to today, as we now have an impending climate emergency, and are looking to governments to ensure our food supply is secure. The idea is to see what lessons we can learn from those years – which policies worked and which failed.

How has your background and training in the culinary arts influenced your work in Food Studies?

I wouldn’t feel right studying food if I didn’t know how to cook. I can’t say I dreamed of being a chef as a kid, it was something that I kind of fell into, but I definitely knew my passion lay in food from a very young age. So, it feels like I’ve come full circle.

There’s an ongoing debate as to whether chefs need to go to college. In hindsight, I think a formal education is invaluable. Much of the TU Dublin Culinary Arts Degree is theory-based, so it opens up your mind to the bigger picture surrounding food. Courses like this have produced chefs that have taken Irish cuisine to a whole new level. Our chefs are the ones leading the push for provenance and seasonality in food, which has filtered down to the consumer. Supermarkets are being forced to take note.

As a chef (and consumer) I would always read ingredient lists and nutrition information and get to thinking about all of the machines and hands that the product has passed through – farmers, fertilizer factories, customs offices, the person stacking the warehouse and so on. So for me, Food Studies is a chance to formally study that chain and fill in the blanks.

You founded The Feed, a blog about food and culture in Dublin. Could you tell us the impetus behind starting the blog, and share any advice you might have for those who want to write for similar publications?

I lived in Australia for seven years and just before I moved back to Ireland in 2016, I was offered my dream job writing for Broadsheet – a highly influential website which acts as a guide to food and culture in Australian cities, similar to Eater in the USA and TimeOut in the UK. Needless to say, I couldn’t accept the post, so I decided to set up something similar for Dublin, as I felt there was a niche. I figured the easiest place to begin was to set up a guide to the best coffee shops and brunch places in the city, as I had a limited budget and was now a coffee snob after so many years in Melbourne. I spent the next year interviewing nearly every cafe owner in Dublin, as well as bakers, baristas and coffee roasters. My friend Paul Gerrard’s photography is an integral part of The Feed and we had some guest writers too.

The project is on pause until my studies are over but will be back with a bang in summer 2020 and will explore the more political aspects of food in Ireland. In the meantime, I highly recommend All The Food as a guide to dining in Dublin. It was set up by Lisa Cope who is a graduate of the Food Studies MA at TU Dublin.

For anyone who wants to get into blogging: By all means, write material that is dense with information but keep your posts short and sweet. There’s so much fluff out there and peoples’ attention spans are getting shorter by the day, so make good use of photos and videos. Remember that the majority of people read or watch things on their phones now. Hootsuite and IFTTT (If This Then That) are useful free apps can help organise and schedule social media posts.

Could you tell us about the essay you published for The Feed, “The Origin of Food Studies Movement in the USA 1943-1996”?

Marion Nestle has been a big inspiration to me. I discovered Food Politics when I was writing my undergraduate thesis on the role of food fortification in the global food chain. Last summer, before starting my MA, I was a Food Studies sponge. I think I listened to every interview, lecture, TED talk, etc. that each of the ‘forefathers’ players had ever given. I stumbled upon an interview with Dr. Nestle (link here, 9mins in) on how she set up the first Food Studies programme at NYU, with Clark Wolf and Amy Bentley. I was curious as to what the perfect storm was in 1996 that meant it was finally acceptable to study food as an academic discipline. It’s an easy read. It is written more as an unfolding story than a true academic piece. It starts in November 1943 just before Julia Child met her husband Paul, the person who sparked her passion for food. Their meeting set in motion a chain of events that brings us up to 1996. Sidney Mintz, James Beard, Jacques Pépin and the New York Times food writers are all integral to the story too.

What became clear is that the Oldways food conferences, which started in the early 90s, helped kickstart the movement. Plus, the Association for the Study of Food and Society was coming into its own around that time. This underlines the importance of bringing like-minded people together and exchanging ideas. I would encourage any new ASFS members to attend gatherings such as the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery or the annual ASFS conference, or even think about setting up their own event. We are lucky to have such an inspiring events like the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium and Food on the Edge here in Ireland, but there is always room for more.
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What are some food issues specific to the Republic of Ireland?

Perhaps the most obvious topic, and one that has been examined at length, is the potato famine of the mid 1800s. Yes, it’s a valuable lesson in the dangers of monocropping and population outstripping food supply, but there were so many sociopolitical factors at play at the time, that if you scratch beneath the surface, it is actually a really complex issue and an interesting one to study.

The economics of the Irish food supply is interesting. As a post-colonial nation in the 1920s, our leaders were keen to prove that we could be completely self-sufficient in agriculture and food production. This was a policy that lasted up until the 1960s when, after decades of poverty and mass emigration, we began to embrace the free market. Despite our rocky history, we have a strong trading relationship with Britain (including Northern Ireland). Brexit is a hot topic of debate at the moment. It may have dire implications for our food exports, or it could be a time of new opportunities. Time will tell.

Like most Western countries, obesity and all of its associated ailments, are now rife on the Emerald Isle, but this is not a uniquely Irish problem. A sugar tax was recently passed here and the sugar-free drinks market seems to be booming. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

We have a long tradition of tourism and hospitality here but now food tourism is catching up with the likes of France, Spain and Italy. There are strong traditions and rituals around food, especially around feast days. Much of this comes from the influence of the Catholic church but some pre-chistian influence remains – most notably the harvest festival we now call Halloween.

Food Studies is a brand-new field in Ireland, so there is still a lot that hasn’t been explored. Literature, religion, emigration, immigration and foodways, the hunger strikes of the 1980s, beverage history, psychology, fishing history, botany, archeology… these are just some areas of scope for any would-be Food Studies scholar looking at Ireland. But as your readers will know, you can look at many subjects through a food lens.

Where’s your favorite place to eat in or around Dublin?

There’s a whole new generation of young chefs creating a new style of Irish cuisine that focuses on local produce and bringing back old ingredients that had fallen out of favour – like dillisk, a type of seaweed or the herb sorrel. It’s a spillover from the Nordic food movement perhaps, but it is very exciting nonetheless. The proliferation of Michelin star and bib gourmand awards across the country are a testament to their efforts.

My current favourite dinner place is cosy little restaurant called Mamo. It’s a little bit out of town in a village called Howth – famous for seafood – but worth the trip. Most of the ingredients come from a very close radius, for example crab from Lambay island, just off the coast. The wine list deserves a mention too.

Cafes are my comfort zone though – I love going for brunch with friends. The Fumbally in Dublin 8 have done great things to promote Irish producers and ingredients.  There’s a focus on healthy, mostly vegetarian food, with lots of pickling, fermenting and that kind of thing. They also have a workshop space upstairs and hold various talks and classes.

What is one food or dish that says “home” to you?

I grew up in Portugal and as mentioned, lived in Melbourne for seven years. So I’m a bit of a nomad and I have a varied diverse taste in food. That said, I’ve always felt proud to carry the Irish passport. The dish that says ‘home’ is a Sunday roast – preferably Wicklow lamb – with roasted root vegetables and ‘floury’ potatoes doused in Kerrygold butter. As any aging chef will tell you, quality ingredients are far more important than technique and we are lucky to have such great produce here. I rarely eat meat these days, but when I do I really savour it.

In the videos below Tadgh shares his recipe  for BBQ lamb: