Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day?

Corned Beef and Cabbage plus show-stopping green decor gleaming brightly at every store front— this historical food scene needs to be evaluated— it’s just not traditionally Irish. How did corned beef and cabbage become a St. Patrick’s Day staple? Seriously.

Irish-Americans conceptualized it

Leprechauns, shamrock-shaped cookies, green-frosted cupcakes, and the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal are surprisingly not as Irish as we may have presumed it to be. The dish was conceptualized and reinterpreted by Irish-Americans whose sole priority was to implement traditions from Ireland. Yet, if you visited Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, you would not find any of these except for glittered shamrocks (young sprig of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland).

In 1762, the very first St. Patrick’s Day parade was celebrated in New York City, and many generations later encouraged the explosion of Irish immigration. These immigrants brought their own food traditions, which included but were not limited to Irish stew and soda bread.

How did pork and potatoes become corned beef and cabbage?

Cows were a symbol of wealth and a sacred animal in Gaelic, Ireland. Cattle in Ireland were not used for their meat but for their strength in the fields, for their milk and for the dairy products produced. They were only killed for meat when they were too old to work and produce milk. Beef was not a part of the diet. For most of the population, pork was solely consumed.

Although pork was the preferred meat in Ireland (the favored cut was Irish bacon), it became apparent that in the United States, pork was not cost effective for most newly arrived Irish families. Cured and cooked much like Irish bacon, it was a tasty and cheaper alternative to pork. Irish Americans lived alongside other discriminated European ethnic groups such as Jews and Italians in that era. As a result, they were exposed greatly to Jewish delis and lunch carts, and it was there that they first tasted corned beef.

While there’s nothing particularly Irish about cooking beef, (the staple meat in the American diet) it became the prized alternative. Cooked and cured much like Irish bacon, it was noticeably tasty and much cheaper than pork. Even though potatoes were readily available in the United States, cabbages were still economically superior. Cooked in the same pot, the salted beef flavored the plain cabbage, creating a hearty spiced dish that was extremely easy to prepare. It was even served at President Lincoln’s inauguration dinner in 1862 because of its simplicity and new-found popularity within the States.

“It was the perfect dish for everyone from harried housewives to busy cooks on trains and in cafeterias—cheap, easy to cook and hard to overcook.” (History Channel)

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