Who am I?

Family is in the Kitchen

All the world, daily, culture is being passed down to the next generation, as parents and caretakers provide the meal for their children. America is no different, as families prepare grandmothers recipe. The family recipes always taste better than any restaurant meal; as the meals in the kitchen include the love of the past and current family.

I would rush home from school when I knew my mother made her Sheppard pie. As I prepare Sheppard pie now, 30 years later, in my own kitchen; I recall the first conversations with my mom about the family of the past.

"What is Shepherd pie?" I remember asking more than once.

"It's a meal the Sheppard would eat in Ireland," my mother would quickly respond as she worked at mashing the potatoes.

"Like the Jesus Shepherd?"

"Just like the Jesus Sheppards." My mother again quickly responded as she pours the perfect amount of milk to cream the potatoes.

I was always confused on why it was called a pie; it had now fruit and wasn't sweet. Mom was patient with her 5 children and told us all again, "it is the leftovers used by the shepherds." The story was told how Irish shepherds were poor and lived in one room cottages. "The shepherds made a pie of meat, potatoes, and vegetables."

This, of course, led to the questions, "where is Ireland?" and "Why are we eating Irish food in the United States?"

It was during these conversations of  mother and son time that I learned my grandfather was Scottch- Irish. He served in the Navy during World War Two, and his name was Andrew. I never got to met my grandfather as he passed before I was even thought of but through the food, my mother prepared I was able to meet him.

Shepherds pie is a chore; everything is homemade, from the gravy made from the beef/lamb grease to the potatoes freshly peeled, chopped and boiled. The butter in the potatoes is homemade. All ingredients are placed in the baking dish with care, the cooked beef/ lamb/ vegetable mixture first. The homemade gravy is poured over and the mashed potatoes are layered on top, made smooth to it look like a pie crust. The who pie is then baked for 20 minutes until the potatoes are a golden brown, with crispiness on the sides.

As I prepare to place the pie in the oven I give thanks to the Irish heritage that gave me this dish. I did not have to grow or pick the potatoes, I have done it before and it is not an easy process. The Irish women worked all day to prepare this dish for the men as they tended to the flock, and the land. I am not alone in the kitchen, and I am not alone as I eat this meal, I am surrounded by the hard working Scotch-Irish lineage that makes up my maternal grandfather's family.

Shepherd pie did more than starting a conversation about family history, it allowed me to learn about the cultural history, and give reasons to why my family is in the United States. Potatoes were a staple crop in Ireland due to the Corn Laws. Ireland fell under the rule of the British Empire, and the Corn Laws placed a high tax on imported grains.

During this time the British Monarchy prohibited most of the Irish from buying land, gaining an education, and living in established towns. The poor Irish families were left to live in small cottages on tenant farms owned by the British upper class. The families lived off of the potato crops of the land. The potato crops failed between the years of 1845-1849. During this time the British Crown did little to assist the lower class Irish. It is not known how many Irish starved during the famine. Ritschel wrote about the famine stating, "Clearly, during the years 1845 to 1850, the British government pursued a policy of mass starvation in Ireland with intent to destroy in substantial part the national, ethnic and racial group commonly known as the Irish People ... Therefore, during the years 1845 to 1850 the British government knowingly pursued a policy of mass starvation in Ireland that constituted acts of genocide against the Irish people within the meaning of Article II (c) of the Genocide Convention of 1948." It is not know how many of the lower class Irish died during the famine. During these years the Irish started the migrated to other counties, including the United States.

I have to wonder what stories the ancestors have to tell about this time in Irish history. My maternal grandfather's Great Grandfather, his name is also Andrew, was only 6 years old the first year of the potato famine. Andrew survived had a son, William, which becomes the first the Scotch-Irish ancestors to immigrate and make a home in the United States. Four generations later I am in the kitchen cooking up a dish with them.

Ritschel, D (1996), The Irish famine: Interpretive and historical issues. Department of history, University of Maryland, archived from on 21 February 2009