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The Way We Were. ( And The Way We Eat!)
In "The Way we Were; Catholic Ireland Since 1922" Mary Kenny points out she was a latecomer to writing history, in what she describes as, “In the second part of my working life.” Be that as it may, she can hold her own with any historian that I can think of. Also, she holds a more balanced view of the Catholic Church than most writers, historians or others. She is true to her word when she promised to, “. . . brings to remembrance of Catholic Ireland . . . balance, perspective and measured reflection.”
She doesn’t pull any punches; “Alas, nuns didn’t educate me
very well-the Loreto nuns I attended paced pupils the regarded as dunces
in B stream classes to be taught by dunces, mostly lay teachers either
distinctly under par, or, in a couple of cases, certifiably insane.”
Mary Kenny wouldn’t dream of writing about a subject that
she didn’t have a comprehensive knowledge of, ”I regret that a very
central aspect of Irish life-sport, and especially the Gaelic Athletic
Association ( GAA)-is absent, but my total ignorance in this field
would, literally, deprive the text of the authority of ‘ writing about
what you know’” Kenny tells the reader that they can, “ . . . read
whatever sections that that interest you in whatever sequence you
choose.” Yes, it is that type of book but it would be a terrible
mistake to skip any section of it permanently. In Profiles From my Time,
she gives us autobiographical essays on twelve public figures. Gay
Byrne gets a well-deserved twenty-two pages all to himself while Alice
Glynn only gets ten.
We are given a list of and a lot of information on the
stately homes burned during the troubles and some lesser known facts
about the Irish State giving the vote to women before Britain did with
the reason why the latter dragged its feet thrown in.
Chapter 5, The Women’s Revolution and the Advance of the
Liberal Agenda, is 40 pages about how women were treated in Ireland from
1922, wouldn’t make any of my genders to be proud to be male.
Mary Kenny covers everything from Charles Haughey’s “Irish
solution to an Irish problem” to her own mother’s approach to priests.
“She liked a priest if he was cultivated; one Jesuit friend of my
father’s was welcome because he had read Balzac. She was proud of her
uncle, canon Michael Conroy of Athenry, who had a stable of hunters and a
fine wine cellar. But she was critical of priests who were ‘narrow’ or,
worse, ‘uncouth.”
This author shares openly and honestly about her own life
without hijacking history, "I lived my life between London and
Dublin_flying back and forth about ten times a year. My family life had
placed me in England, but Ireland always represented the roots that
called compellingly, and it was always an imperative to be there too.
And then there is nearly always a tension, for women, between what they
want for themselves and what they feel is their duty."
No matter how much history you have read about the Irish
State, since its foundation, don’t miss this 450-page hardback if you
want to really know, “The Way We Were.”
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Published by Columba Books. www.columbabooks.com
* * * * *
It all started at a Dinner Dance in Blessington last June.
During the meal, a member across the table was gazing fixedly at me. I
was sitting beside a neighbour and I said to him, “I think that person
fancies me.” He initially informed me that the person to whom I had
been alluding was not into necrophilia. He then said. “You are being
watched because you are chewing with your mouth open and that is the
height of bad manners. “
I said “It’s not bad manners. Civilisation has rotted our
imagination and political correctness has made us victims of the
convention.” Then, because I knew his area of expertise (he has a degree
in animal husbandry) I continued, “It’s not natural to chew with the
mouth closed, there are 200 species of ruminant animals on the planet
and you won’t see any of them chewing with their mouth closed,” I
then pointed out that the Late Norman Wisdom used to do it playfully to
“annoy” his family.
The man then quoted some philosopher or other whose name I
can’t recall who, according to him, said, “Just because you can thrill a
toddler by chewing with your mouth open doesn't mean you should.”
This cross between a discussion and an argument continued
between us until the dessert came around. At which point I said;
“Listen. Before the year is out I’ll prove beyond doubt that chewing
with the mouth open is the most beneficial way to eat.”
You see I already knew that an expert from the University of
Oxford had established that eating with your mouth open is the best way
to consume food, Prof Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist,
found that it maximises flavour and allows you to derive as much
pleasure as possible out of each mouthful.
Professor Spence and his team of researchers found that
chewing food with your mouth open can make food taste better and can
help “volatile organic compounds” reach the back of the nose which can
improve the taste of food. As you know Volatile organic compounds are
molecules that can create aromas and contribute to the flavour of food.
So the benefit of them reaching the back of our nose means it can
stimulate cells responsible for our smell, which can “enhance” the
dining experience.
Charles Spence, points out that we have,
“. . . been doing it all wrong. When it comes to sound, we like noisy
foods – crunchy and crispy. Both crisps and apples are rated as more
pleasurable when the sound of the crunch is amplified ”. So, to best
hear the crunch of an apple, a potato crisp, a carrot stick, celery or a
cracker, crispbread or a handful of popcorn, we should always ditch our
manners and chew with our mouths open. The professor also points out
that people should use their hands to eat their food where possible.
“Our sense of touch is also vital in our perception of food on the
palate,” he says.
The research shows that what you feel in your hand can
change or bring out certain aspects of the tasting experience. Feeling
the smooth, organic texture of the skin of an apple in our hand before
biting into it is likely to contribute to a heightened appreciation of
the juicy, sweet, crunch of that first bite. This can be extended to the
feeling of grains of salt sticking to the fingers when eating say a
smoked cod and chips with our hands or the sugary residue of buttercream
on a hand after biting into a slice of such dangerous food as a wedding
cake. The experts say the first taste is with the fingers/hand.
Texture provides useful information about the freshness of produce such
as apples.
Wine experts and professional coffee tasters know to let the
air in while tasting, so why not try the same by eating an apple with
your mouth open? It may help to make the most of the taste that comes
from the retro nasal olfaction – that’s the smell that emerges from the
back of back of your mouth into the back of your nose when eating and
drinking.”
New York Post editor Maureen Callahan spotted a raft of
celebs chewing with mouths open. I’m not going to name them but Ms
Callaghan did in her piece in the Sunday Edition of the paper.
I contacted Professor Spence and asked him what sort of
feedback he got from writers of food etiquette and allied politically
correct institutions.
He said his discovery had hit a nerve. He told me, “I have received some of my first hate email!!”
The wine/coffee experts appear to be in agreement and had
been in touch with him and Debrett's, who publish all kinds of handbooks
on etiquette now allow their readers stroke fine diners to eat SOME
things with their hands.”
I have come up with a poster for eateries that may want to attract less than polite customers.
Now, with Oxford approval isn’t it time that we,
open-mouthed chewers, formed some sort of association. How about CAVE,
C.A.V.E. “Chew and View Enthusiastically?”
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