While Ryan has been drinking his way through the country, I have been slurping my way.  All the food in Ireland is very good, whether it is at a nice restaurant, a hotel bar, or some random pub we stop at in a small town.  In general, the menus contain similar items, with almost all containing the following: seafood chowder with brown bread, soup of the day with brown bread, steamed mussels, fish and chips, and beef and/or lamb stew.  Ireland is very conscious of allergies, and many menus list which items contain fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, gluten, soy, and in one case celery (didn’t know this was a common allergen).  They are also a very farm/lake/sea to market country, with many menus including where their food is sourced from.

Now, back to the soups.  With the summer weather being rainy, windy, and cold, I could see why soup is such a big hit.  The typical soup of the day was some type of vegetable soup, of which I tried almost all, and they were almost all delicious; tomato, tomato and basil, mushroom with cream, mushroom without cream, potato with cream, potato and leek, potato and sweet corn, cauliflower and cheese, and my favorite carrot and dill.  Delicious!  This is definitely something we should adopt in the U.S. in the winter time.

Ryan’s seafood chowder at Giant’s Causeway Visitor Center – His absolute favorite meal of the trip

Potato soup and chicken and avocado sandwich – Room service at Ashford Castle

Lamb stew in Clifden

Not soup, but a delicious dessert in Galway with mango sorbet, passionfruit, and chocolate

Cottage pie and veggies, with vegetable soup in the background and of course a Smithwicks!

Shared lunch platter in Dingle consisting of fish & chips, seafood chowder, and smoked salmon. Delicious!

Carrot and dill soup and a salad in Cork

Ryan’s seafood chowder at the English Market in Cork

I opted for the toasted veggie sandwich

It turns out that we apparently take many more photos of the beer we drink than of the food we eat!