Bloody Ireland! New book looks at our food culture

Kate Ryan’s new book, ‘Blood, Guts & Black Pudding: Ireland’s Dying Art of Blood as Food’ is the result of hard work, endless research and hundreds of interviews.

This is not just a book about black pudding in the way we might expect. It is a book about Ireland, our food traditions and what happens when the knowledge behind those traditions begins to disappear.

Kate has spent seven years researching the subject and the result is a fascinating journey through an aspect of Irish food history that has largely been hiding in plain sight. Blood has been part of the Irish diet for centuries and Kate takes us through the many ways blood was used, from puddings and porridges and more, while exploring the people, communities, traditions and beliefs surrounding it.

When I asked her if anything surprised her during her research, she mentioned life-bleeding which doesn’t seem to harm the animal.

Mick Murphy, a successful Irish cyclist in the ‘50s was known to travel with a small penknife to cut a vein of a cow neck, letting the blood run into his water bottle, which he then drank.

Where the book becomes particularly interesting, is that it is very easy to look at a slice of black pudding as part of the Full Irish and think of it simply as another component of breakfast. Kate Ryan asks us to look beyond the plate. Who made it? How was it made? What knowledge was passed from one generation to another? What happens when nobody makes it at home anymore?

This is the first comprehensive work about black pudding, its history and cultural importance, especially fresh black puddings in Ireland.

Caroline Hennessey who MCed the book launch at Glenwood Farm last week even predicts that this book will be study material in future university courses about Irish food culture.

Did we need a book on blood and black pudding? When asked, Kate said: “We live in a time when there has never been easier access to black pudding; its cheap price and ubiquity are a foil for what we are in danger of losing. This book is as comprehensive a treatise into every reason why we should give black pudding our attention that I could muster. More than that, it’s also an argument for why we should look at Ireland’s whole cultural identity through the lens of its relationship with blood as food.”

For anyone interested in Irish food, some of the stories and details are fascinating. The book reminds us that traditional food was often born out of necessity and frugality. Nothing was wasted, every part of an animal had a purpose and blood, rather than being a waste product, became an important source of nourishment and part of a much wider food culture.

I asked Kate what she hopes people take away from the book and her answer was something that should resonate with all of us. Stop cheapifying traditional food, not only black pudding.

This is a fascinating, entertaining and occasionally eye-opening read, a book for anyone who thinks Irish food history is worth preserving.

Next time, you think of having black pudding, pop down to your local butcher and check if they have a traditionally made one and explore the variety of different regions, families and communities.