Burnt Barley

Book excerpt: Winner of Best Literary Food Writing (in English) category at the World Cookbook Fair, this is a lively journey discovering Ireland's food, people and music. If Peta hadn't known of her Irish ancestry, her love of potatoes would have betrayed it. Peta always connects with a place through its food, and in visiting the country of her forebears she set herself a difficult task. But it didn't take long for Peta to find the world-class restaurants hidden up windy cobbled streets, to savour the delights of grand country cooking, high-quality primary produce and seafood from sleepy fishing villages. She dances her way between such traditional fare as Guinness, barmbrack and black puddings and refined fusion dishes of roasted tomato and goat cheese charlotte with lentils and basil oil and cured wild salmon topped off with slugs of fine Irish whiskey. In this wonderful account of travelling through Ireland, Peta searches for its gastronomic heartland, introduces her intriguing relatives, discovers her love of music is intricately intertwined with Irish social life and eating habits, and spins tales both traditional and true.