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.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Find Jp on Instagram: @mistereatgalway

Anair website

An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us

The Irish Cook Book

An Alphabet of Anair

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:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.

You can