Diet

Potato Breakfast

This sketch is from a publication called The Graphic, from 1880. It shows an Irish family preparing a simple breakfast of potatoes.

Courtesy of the print collection of Maggie Land Blanck.

Potato Breakfast
Courtesy of the print collection of Maggie Land Blanck.

Potato Breakfast

This sketch is from a publication called The Graphic, from 1880. It shows an Irish family preparing a simple breakfast of potatoes.

Courtesy of the print collection of Maggie Land Blanck.

Enlarge image

In the 1800s, barley was the main crop grown throughout Co. Wexford. Unsurprisingly, however, potatoes were by far the most important food for Wexford people in the 1800s. This was a nationwide trend throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. For many families, potatoes were their only source of nutrition for large parts of the year.

As a crop, potatoes suited the cold and wet Irish climate. In good weather, they could last all year long. This made them cheap to grow and practical.

Painting of Family Having a Potato Dinner

A painting of a poor rural Irish family eating potatoes for dinner. It was painted by Erskine Nicol.

Painting of Family Having a Potato Dinner

Painting of Family Having a Potato Dinner

A painting of a poor rural Irish family eating potatoes for dinner. It was painted by Erskine Nicol.

Enlarge image

However, Wexford did not rely completely on the potato. People also ate a dish called 'oatmeal stirabout', which is a type of porridge, for breakfast. They also ate barley milk with bread. Beans and turnips were grown too, but did not make up a large part of the normal diet.

Fraser also wrote of the people of Wexford that 'they have generally meat also twice a week.' An occasional spoon of honey served as a sweet treat.

Food is very different today. There is much more variety available, though this does not guarantee good eating habits. Do you think you could manage to survive on the simple diet described above?