Page 106 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2020

welcome home | build

U.S., the Irish did what almost every ethnic group does faced with
similar conditions. They searched for a way to recapture and celebrate
their identity. It was natural that they would gravitate to their nation’s
Patron Saint, Patrick, as a symbol of their national heritage. By the
early 20th century, St. Patrick’s Day parades were organized in cit-
ies with large Irish populations, most notably New York, Boston, and
Chicago.

As a group, the Irish were still largely laborers, and low wage earners,
and as such they gravitated to the less expensive corned beef. It was a
nostalgic food that had been viewed as a delicacy in their native Ireland,
but very reasonably priced in their new homeland. The tradition of
corned beef as an Irish staple was born.

If you go to Ireland today, you’re likely to be met on the Feast of St.
Patrick with salted pork or ham as the protein for the meal, not the
corned beef that has become ubiquitous in this country. The corned
beef meal was an American creation. Created by Irish people, sure, but
not a traditional meal from Ireland.

The ultimate irony of corned beef as the St. Patrick’s Day meal, is
that if it hadn’t been for losing their land to cattle, transitioning to
potatoes, which ultimately caused the potato famine and led to the
Irish diaspora, we wouldn’t think of it as an Irish dish at all. Laboring
to produce a food they were not wealthy enough to buy in their home
country, led them to value it when they found it to be inexpensive in
their new land. Corned beef may be one of the best testaments to the
Excellence resiliency of the Irish people.
in the Heart
of Jacksonville

“MOST ROMANTIC INN
IN OREGON”
Gerry Frank, Portland Oregonian

“BEST OF AWARD OF
EXCELLENCE”
Wine Spectator,
(one of just 600 worldwide)

“ONE OF AMERICA’S TOP 50
BEST RETAIL WINE SHOPS”
GQ Magazine

CATERING – A SPECIALTY!

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P: 541-899-19001 • 800-321-9344
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