An Irish Food Story with Jp McMahon
- Author
- Neil Buttery
- Published
- Tue 10 Dec 2024
- Episode Link
- https://the-british-food-histor.captivate.fm
Today I talk about Irish food, food history and identity with Michelin-starred chef Jp McMahon.
Jp is the culinary director of the EatGalway Restaurant Group and runs the restaurant Aniar in Galway, Ireland. He’s the founding chair and director of the Galway Food Festival, Jp is an ambassador for Irish food. He has written several books including the excellent Irish Cook Book published by Phaidon. However, the subject of our discussion was his new book, An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us, published by Nine Bean Rows, which delved into Irish food identity, traditions and history.
We talked about food in Ireland versus Irish food, oysters and stout, the deliciousness of seaweed, Irish stew and dulse-flavoured croissants – plus many other things.
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Find Jp on Instagram: @mistereatgalway
An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us
Things mentioned in today’s episode
The Great Cream Tea Debate on YouTube
BBC Countryfile magazine website
Neil’s blog post and recipe for Bakewell pudding
Upcoming events:
Find out about upcoming events on the website here.
Neil’s blogs:
Neil’s books:
Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper
Knead to Know: a History of Baking
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.
You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Mentioned in this episode:
Serve it Forth Food History Festival 18 October 2025
I thought you might want to know about the first Serve it Forth Food History Festival is on 18 October 2025 – it’s online, it’s £16 a ticket but you can get 25% off the price using the offer code SERVE25. Visit the website https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info for more information and links to Eventbrite.
I’ve teamed up with fellow food historians (and friends of the show) Sam Bilton, Thomas Ntinas and Alessandra Pino – we are all presenting a session each. I’m kicking off the day in conversation with food writer and cook Tom Parker Bowles. Brigitte Webster, another friend of the show, will also be appearing. To find out more, check out the recently published bonus episode of the podcast all about the festival to find out more information.
The day is being sponsored by the excellent Netherton Foundry. It’s going to be a really fun and exciting day and I hope you can join us.
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
