Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and Drink

Bookish cooks and culinary historians will welcome Mahon's collection of every imaginable folkloric and literary reference to the hunting, growing, cooking, distilling, serving and consuming of fish, meat, poultry, grains, vegetables, herbs and dairy products in Ireland. Mahon (While Green Grass Grows: Memoirs of a Folklorist) writes about food with a spare sensuality that can make the mouth water, whether she's cataloguing the hams, puddings, sausages and stews made by farmer's wives after a pig-killing or quoting a 17th-century text describing the ""great platters of boiled flesh"" served at a wake. She is less successful, though, in organizing her material in a cogent and engaging manner. Each chapter contains all references to a particular food type, and once grouped, the information does not develop as much as it accrues. Transitions, such as, ""It is but a small step from curds to cheese,"" highlight the problem. Clusters of folkloric tales are sometimes linked so perfunctorily (""An earlier tale tells.... Yet another story tells.... Still more wonderful are the stories of.... An equally delightful story...."") that the reader may look upon the arrival of the next delightful tale with some trepidation. The ingredients in this book are excellent, but they might have proved more satisfying had they been cooked a little longer. (Sept.)