Try the best local food while studying in Ireland

Taste the best of Irish cuisine as part of your adventures studying abroad or working on an internship in Ireland. Buying, cooking, and eating local food is a fantastic way to learn about a country’s local culture, and Ireland has a rich and colorful culinary history. Discover new dishes and take home a love of Irish culture and food.

Dublin coddle

A favorite winter dish among Dubliners, coddle is a one-pot sausage and potato dish that dates back to the first Irish famine of the late 1700s. Traditionally, cooking a coddle was an easy way to use up leftover food, so there’s no specific recipe, but the most common coddle contains bacon rashers, slices of sausages, chunks of potatoes and sliced onions. The coddle was convenient because you could cook a pot early in the day and leave it to be reheated later.

To try a coddle while you’re studying at Trinity College Dublin or University College Dublin, go to The Quays in Temple Bar and order a Guinness with it. Or try this coddle recipe if you have a kitchen and want to cook for friends.

Limerick Ham

Limerick is known for its distinctive cured ham smoked with juniper berries and branches and earned the nicknamed Pigtown in the 1900s, thanks to its thriving pork and bacon industry. Today, Limerick has an international reputation for quality meat. So, if you’re studying at the University of Limerick, you can learn about the local culture and the people of Limerick by loading a sandwich with a few slices of tender local ham. Visit the award-winning O’Connells Butchers, which cooks Limerick ham in store.

Irish Stew

This hearty stew originated as a peasant dish in Ireland in the 1800s and has become a symbol of Irish cuisine. Modern Irish stew is usually made with lamb or beef and plenty of vegetables, but in the past, an Irish stew would just have mutton, onions, and potatoes in it. Today, Irish stew is served in pubs and restaurants across Ireland, including both Limerick and Dublin. It’s also simple to make your own Irish stew if you have a kitchen.

Soda Bread

A staple in Irish households, soda bread is a quick, simple bread made using baking soda (also known as bicarbonate of soda and bread soda) and goes perfectly with butter, jam, and a pot of tea. The history of the bread dates to 1836 when a London magazine mentioned it in a piece about the loss of potatoes during the Great Famine. The bread had become a popular alternative.

Traditional soda bread ingredients are flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk, and it’s an easy recipe to follow if you fancy baking it yourself. Plenty of bakeries and local supermarkets in Ireland offer their take on soda bread, with brown, white, sweet, and savory varieties widely available.