Faith, Food and the Making of a Saint
Every year on St Patrick’s Day we celebrate with the familiar trio of corned beef, cabbage and spuds, usually served with a few boiled turnips and perhaps a pint of stout for good measure. It’s the Irish meal recognised all around the world. Yet when Saint Patrick himself was travelling the length and breadth of Ireland in the 5th century, this famous dish hadn’t made it onto the menu yet. In fact, the St Patrick’s Day dinner we know today is largely an Irish-American tradition that emerged much later among Irish immigrants in New York — which is probably just as well, as he already had enough challenges on his plate.
And he certainly had plenty of those.
A Mission Across Pagan Ireland
Saint Patrick set himself a formidable task: converting the wild pagans who roamed Ireland in the 5th century. As he wrote himself, “If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen, even though they may despise me.” By all accounts, the céad míle fáilte for which we are now famous was not always extended to the wandering cleric. Yet by the time he died around 462, it is said he had established over 300 churches and baptised more than 100,000 people. Not a bad result for less than thirty years of ministry.
Most accounts of Patrick’s early life tell a dramatic story. Captured by Irish pirates at the age of sixteen, he was taken from his home in Cumbria and enslaved for six years, minding sheep on a hillside in Mayo. Following a vision, he escaped his captors and made his way back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family. He then spent the next sixteen years studying Christianity before returning to Ireland as a missionary — fluent in Irish and ready to take on the formidable task of converting the locals.
It is hard to know which phase of his life was tougher: the lonely years spent in slavery as a young man, or the arduous journeys across the Emerald Isle preaching to people who were not necessarily eager to hear him. Saint Patrick himself attributed his strength to his faith in God. But if we take a closer look at the food available in Ireland in the 5th century, it’s quite possible he drew plenty of his energy and endurance from what was on his plate as well.
What Was Actually on the Menu?
The diet of the time was lush, abundant and surprisingly varied. Although largely dependent on the seasons, it was probably far more nutritious than the typical Irish diet of today. In fact, it was a very milky affair. Ireland’s lush green pastures supported healthy herds of cattle, providing people with an abundance of dairy. Fresh milk was drunk freely, but so too were sour milk, buttermilk and whey mixed with water. There were fresh curds, old curds and something intriguingly called “real curds”. Clearly, they took their dairy very seriously. One historian even described a thick, bubbling yellow milk as the king of milks — “the swallowing of which needs chewing.”
When milk supplies naturally dropped during winter and early spring, butter and hard cheeses helped sustain people through the leaner months. So while Saint Patrick credited his strength to his faith, he was also likely benefiting from a steady supply of protein, calcium, B vitamins and gut-friendly bacteria from these naturally fermented dairy foods.
A Remarkably Nourishing Diet
Meat was more of a rarity and was often cured and kept for the winter months, when fishing or hunting wild game was less reliable. For most of the year, the rivers, lakes and surrounding seas provided a wealth of fresh fish — particularly salmon, trout and eel. Saint Patrick would have had no shortage of omega-3s. His memory was said to be phenomenal, his mood remained upbeat despite the demands of his mission, and his joints held out well enough for him to climb Croagh Patrick and travel the length and breadth of Ireland several times over spreading his message.
Cereals grown at the time — mainly oats and barley — were plentiful and provided the kind of slow-release energy needed to keep a travelling missionary on his feet all day. Oats were often cooked into a porridge-like gruel, mixed with nuts and wild berries, or pounded into flatbreads and cooked on an open griddle. These early oatcakes may well have been the original travel snack, easily tucked under Saint Patrick’s green cloak for the long journeys between settlements.
Much of the barley grown in Ireland was used for brewing ale. And it’s fair to imagine that Saint Patrick enjoyed the occasional sup. It probably helped break the ice with the locals and made for lively storytelling — a handy way of sharing his message with a defensive audience. One particular yarn about snakes proved so memorable that it’s still being told today by pagans and non-pagans alike.
The rest of his diet would have included hen and goose eggs, honey, watercress, wild garlic, edible leaves and roots, apples and seaweeds gathered along Ireland’s rugged coastline. With such nourishing fare, it is hardly surprising that Saint Patrick managed to build churches across the country, baptise the nation and still find time for reflection — and perhaps even the design of the Celtic cross. Quite simply, he ate all round him — and more importantly, he ate what was in season and close to hand.
A Lesson from Patrick’s Plate
Nowadays we may have more food choices available to us, but not necessarily more nutritious food, and certainly not food that is as local or seasonal as our bodies might prefer. Saint Patrick’s diet offers a simple reminder that good nourishment doesn’t have to be complicated. Seasonal, locally sourced food, eaten in variety, has been sustaining people on this island for centuries. Perhaps there’s something in that worth remembering when we sit down to celebrate St Patrick’s Day – even if there is corned beef on the table.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig ☘️
