Thu 25 Mar 2010
Lost in the Supermarket
Posted by Clare under Healthy Food, Main Course, Moving to Ireland, Recipes
[4] Comments
Food should be colorful and inviting
Grocery shopping in a new country is always a treat for me. I honestly believe that the food and eating habits of a country reveal insights into its culture and people. So far in Ireland, I’ve managed to shop at Tesco, the large UK-based grocery chain; Dunnes and SuperValu, both Irish-owned companies; and Aldi, a German grocery chain.
Drogheda Farmers’ Market – my lifesaver!
If I had to summarize the Irish based solely on what I’ve found at their food shops, here is verdict: They love beige and yellow food. By this I mean breads, cakes, crackers, cookies, potatoes and various breaded and fried proteins. In fact, about 75% of the frozen food sections at all of the aforementioned grocery stores is comprised of breaded chicken (sticks, fingers, patties) and breaded fish (same as the chicken). They love them some chicken nuggets, so they do. You can buy them in the form of smiley face circles, chunky chunks and even “Southern Fried,” which, by the looks of it, would make Colonel Sanders roll over in his grave.
(Click “more” below to read on…)
So gorgeous you almost want to cry
The produce section leaves much to be desired. A typical vegetable selection includes bell peppers, two kinds of lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, garlic, a few herbs, green beans and broccoli, most of which looks like its seen better days. There are some highlights, like gigantic turnips and several varieties of potatoes; I am certain those turnips would make an absolutely fantastic mash and am plotting a turnip champ for a future dinner party. But for the most part, after moving from a city where you can get every variety of vegetable and fruit, it’s been disappointing.
Beautiful artisan breads at Drogheda Farmers’ Market
So you can imagine my sheer giddiness when I went to the Drogheda Farmers’ Market this morning and saw a wealth of colorful fruit and vegetables, as well as displays of fresh-baked breads, artisan hummus, handmade Italian pastas and sauces and a mobile creperie. It’s not the produce Mecca that is the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, but to me it’s just perfect. Overflowing on the tables was leafy green cabbage, arugula, blood-red tomatoes, fava beans (known as broad beans here), spring peas, garlic, flat leaf parsley, grapefruits, plums, avocados and more. I had been so underwhelmed by the produce at the grocery shops that this encounter nearly gave me heart palpitations. Needless to say, I am in love.
As soon as I got home I grabbed the exquisite organic bell peppers, onions, scallions and avocados and got to work. The result: A batch of delicious and healthy [Irish] pork fajitas. I hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I did!
An easy and healthy meal to enjoy any time
Fabulous Pork Fajitas
(Serves 4)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into strips
½ large yellow onion, sliced into strips
Fajita Spice Mix (see recipe below), or a packet of your favorite fajita spice mix
1 lb pork loin, cut into strips (you can use chicken, beef or lamb if desired)
8 flour tortillas, warmed
1 large avocado, sliced
2 spring onions, sliced thinly (garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Cook the bell peppers and onions, stirring occasionally, for about 6-8 minutes or until tender (but not completely soft). Just before taking off the heat, add ½ of the spice mixture and toss to coat. Put the cooked bell peppers and onions into a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan, still over medium heat, add the pork, plus the rest of the spice mixture. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until completely cooked through. Toss the pepper/onion mix back into the pan with the pork and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
To assemble: On each plate, lay out two tortillas. Add about a ¼ cup of the pork and pepper mixture, then top with avocado and spring onions. Bring the sides of the tortilla together and insert a toothpick to keep it into place. You can serve with hot sauce and salsa if you’d like!
Fajita Spice Mix
1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
Mix all the spices together in a dry bowl and it’s ready to use!
Just A few pointers, Aldi only a carry a basic range of items, Tesco drogheda is pretty much a convience store and Dunnes and Supervalu are on the same line. In most country towns this is the norm, the main shopping would be done in these stores but fruit, veg, meat, poultry and bakery wold be done in specialist shops or the market. Tesco and superquinn (Irish owned) in the main citys are much larger and carry a wider range. There is a disparity in eating habits in Irish society as in most cultures where the poorer the elements eat the less healthy options, a single unemployed mother is more likely to give her child chicken nuggets then a middle class mom. Sad but true.
Andrew: Yes, it’s true back in the states as well about the poorer eating less healthy food. Fast food, like McDonald’s, is so cheap back home; you can feed a family of four for $10 (7 Euro). It would cost them twice that much to buy fresh produce at the store, which is very sad.
Thanks for the tips – will check out the grocers out of town when I get wheels (next week)!
Hi Clare, Drogheda supermarkets are not great, though the Tesco in Rathmullen retail park is bigger and better than the one in town. There are good farm shops in Ardee and Termonfeckin but sad to say you have to go to Sainsburys in Newry or Fallon and Byrne in Dublin for a real wide choice of quality produce.. Nothing quite like Whole Foods in the US, but then what is?
You might be interested in Shane Hegarty’s book “The Irish (and Other Foreigners)” – at one point he mentions that women selling vegetables in Dublin’s Moore Street in the 1980s had started selling shockingly exotic veg… like green peppers! So if you think the choice is poor today, be grateful you weren’t around a few decades ago.
Ireland doesn’t seem to have a strong food culture. Around the world there are Indian, Japanese, French and Italian restaurants… and Irish pubs. Food was just something to have between drinks. More seriously, I was really surprised by how fascinated Japanese people seemed to be by food when I lived out there – this fascination is weaker here.
(Speaking of Moore Street, it’s an interesting place to visit if you’re in Dublin some day. Still has outdoor fruit, veg and fish stalls, and is now surrounded by Chinese, African and East European shops selling their own produce.)