For some reason this morning I was thinking about food and my family history so you'll have to bear with this stream of consciousness. On my father's side I have very vivid memories of zesty spaghetti sauce and home-made pasta, but any ethnic memory from my mother's side (Irish and Scottish) probably faded out over a century ago. In fact, if my research is correct, the last person on my mother's side who came from another country died in 1911 (85 years old) and lived 75% of his life in the United States.
It's easy to find Italian restaurants anywhere you go, but I don't think I've ever seen Irish or Scottish restaurants. I searched Google for Irish and Scottish eateries, in the US and came up with many pubs and a few restaurants who say they serve authentic Irish or Scottish food, but nothing like you would find in Baltimore's Little Italy or one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Denver. After searching Wikipedia, I did find histories of food in Ireland and Scotland as well as in England and Wales (I love some of the names of Welsh food). While there are many variations, the food in these areas of the Europe actually appear to be much like the mainstream food we eat in the US today...many of you may be wondering what I expected since the country was an English colony and absorbed millions of Irish immigrants, but I can be a bit slow at times...I'm now finished with my Saturday morning food stream of consciousness...
Here in Syracuse we have Coleman's Authentic Irish Pub http://www.colemansirishpub.com/ which offers Irish food. The restaurant is located on Tipperary Hill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipperary_Hill), which has a world-famous upside-down traffic light (i.e. the green is on top).
When I visited Ireland 4 years ago, people there were actually aware of the traffic light!
Posted by: Blaine | March 08, 2008 at 12:52 PM