Why Don't The Irish Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Corned Beef And Cabbage?

In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, St. Patrick's Day, the holiday celebrating the Emerald Isle's patron saint every March 17, looks a whole lot different than it does in the United States. You won't find green beer or dyed rivers, and, until the 20th century, not even any parades. While alcohol has often flowed freely on the holiday Stateside, from 1927 to 1961 the Republic of Ireland banned the sale of booze on that day. Similarly, the food eaten on St. Patrick's Day looks a bit different than what Americans have come to associate with the Irish celebration.

You're unlikely to find corned beef and cabbage, since it's not a traditionally Irish dish. The closest thing you'll find Irish folks eating on St. Patrick's Day might be bacon and cabbage, corned beef and cabbage's predecessor, which is considered Ireland's national dish. In order to understand why corned beef and cabbage has become so associated with St. Patrick's Day in the U.S., we have to go back to the 19th century.

The relationship between beef and the Irish runs deep. In Gaelic culture the cow was considered sacred and thus typically used as a working animal and for its milk, rather than for its meat. The one exception was when it came to the rich aristocracy, who could afford to eat beef. These privileged few often enjoyed it salted, as that was how it was preserved. Irish commoners instead ate salted pork. In the 17th century, when England conquered Ireland, they brought their love of beef and commodified Irish cattle. Corned beef became a huge Irish export while the people, if they were lucky, continued to turn to pork for protein, with cabbage and potatoes making up a major portion of their diets.

When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in the 1840s, millions of Irish immigrated to the United States, mostly moving to the large urban centers of port cities like New York City, Boston, and New Orleans. They often lived in close proximity to other newly arrived ethnic groups, including Jewish people who came from Europe.

It was in the United States that the Irish were finally able to eat beef, which was cheaper and more plentiful in their new homeland. With their proximity to the Jewish diaspora, they most often got corned beef brisket from nearby kosher butchers. For the immigrant Irish, St. Patrick's Day went from being a religious holiday to a secular celebration of their heritage. In America, corned beef and cabbage replaced bacon and cabbage as the go-to holiday meal.

Today in Ireland, while you're unlikely to find corned beef and cabbage being eaten on St. Patrick's Day, there are a variety of other dishes you will find. Besides bacon and cabbage, which is made from boiled pork shoulder or loin and cabbage and often served with a parsley sauce, there's colcannon — mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage and butter. Pot roast, soda bread, lamb stew, and scones are also enjoyed on the holiday. Irish immigrants not only transformed St. Patrick's Day when they left their homeland looking for a better life, but they also incorporated other cultural foodways into the mix. This created a thoroughly American celebration with corned beef and cabbage as its centerpiece.