Monica’s Kitchen by Monica Sheridan

Caroline

Food writer, broadcaster and author Caroline Hennessy has been focused on food and writing since editing Ireland’s first food website for RTÉ in 2000. Chair of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, she established the award-winning Bibliocook: All About Food in 2005, is the author of two books about beer and food and has a column in the Irish Examiner in which she writes about small food producers and the ways in which they develop and maintain a sustainable local food system.

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8 Responses

  1. Martin says:

    A great find, she was way ahead of her time and at one stage had a huge reputation in Ireland and her own television programme.She is well due re-discovering.She fell from grace because she fronted a campaign to advertise pig meat-Bring home the Bacon-which was reckoned to be too partisan in the early, innocent days of RTE.Ignore the eccentricities, she talked continental food in days when a whiff of garlic was thought to kill.

  2. Caroline says:

    I was amazed to read the book and discover her talking about the kind of ingredients and dishes that we take for granted in the oh-so-enlightened-2000s – jerusalem and globe artichokes, spaghetti, garlic, risotto, tomatoes fresh off the vine. Where and when I grew up (the countryside of counties Limerick and Cork during the 1970s and 1980s) there was precious little pilaf and paté de foie gras knocking about and I still remember clearly the first time I ever tasted garlic – an Easter lunch at my aunt’s house in Naas (big city life!) when I was about 11. I absolutly love the book. I’m still giggling when I think of her green dye in the pea soup!

  3. plum says:

    Oh she sounds very funny. What really makes me treasure a cookbook is not simply the recipes but the wit and personality of the writer shining through. Don’t fancy the odds of finding a copy here though!

  4. Caroline says:

    The book made me laugh so much in the shop that I just had to buy it and – demented take on pea soup aside – it is brilliant. Alongside Ms Sheridan’s hilarious comments, there are plenty of usable recipes and she definitely has oodles of character. I’m not sure if she made it as far as Melbourne…

  5. maggie says:

    I well remember Monica – she was famous for licking her fingers and tasting from the wooden spoon. When brought to task over it, she sniffed “my hands are clean”.

  6. Caroline says:

    I did come across a comment somewhere about “finger licking Monica” – I’m sure that didn’t go down too well!

  7. Kate Cone says:

    Caroline: I’m just reading this post in 2017. Great job. I am also a beer writer in the USA. My 2d beer book was published last year. What’s Brewing in New England, by Kate Cone. I just ordered your Slainte. I have loved Monica Sheridan for years, after I came across her book, The Art of Irish Cooking, at a used book sale. She is very funny! I’m using it as background in a novel (set in Ireland) I am writing. Would love to be in touch. My email is kateconewrites@gmail.com

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