Abstract
This article examines the origins of farmhouse cheese in Ireland, which began in West Cork in 1974 with the creation of Milleens by Veronica Steele. This new farmhouse cheese industry is an example of food production that had no comparable reference in Ireland at the time. The farmhouse cheese industry is examined as an expression of a growing countercultural movement on the island in the 1970s and 1980s. This paper argues that the re-emergence of small-scale cheese production in Ireland is one expression of broader changes in the country and is both connected to and instrumental in the development of contemporary Irish culture. This offers a wholistic view of Irish gastronomy that repositions food at the centre of Irish cultural identity and understands food production as a key part of culture production.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Deery, Finbar
(2025)
"Breaking the Mould: The Origins of Irish Farmhouse Cheese in the Countercultures of the 1970s and 1980s,"
European Journal of Food Drink and Society:
Vol. 5:
Iss.
1, Article 10.
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ejfds/vol5/iss1/10