School: Derryhanee (roll number 16228)

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1. Food in Olden Times

   

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   Food in Olden Times.
   In olden times the people used to have three meals a day, breakfast, dinner and supper. For breakfast they usually took oaten porridge and milk the meal being ground by their own querns For dinner they had potatoes and buttermilk and For supper oaten cake and milk. Often three hours work was done in the morning before the call to breakfast reached them. More goats' milk was used in those days than now because people had much faith in it for delicate children
   At mealtime the table was placed in the middle of the floor and all sat around it and drank rounds of noggins. Noggins were wooden vessels holding about a quart of liquid and made of bog oak stoves held together by an ash hoop. To make rounds a quantity of oatmeal was steeped in water and left for about a week. It is then strained and the liquid is drunk. Sounds are still drunk on three days of the year namely Ash Wednesday, Spy Wednesday and Good Friday.
   The table was on hinges and was lifted up when not in use and let down at mealtime It was usually placed against the wall when not in use. Some of the old people always carried a portion of oaten bread and butter in their pockets for fear of taking weaknesses. Tea was first used in this district in 1846. People then used the tealeaves instead of the juice extracted from them.
   The vegetables used were cabbage, onions lettuce and turnips

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. products
      1. food products (~3,601)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eileen Mc Donald

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   12

   Address

   Termonbarry, Co. Roscommon

   Informant

   Pat Moran

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   72

   Address

   Termonbarry, Co. Roscommon