The Menu: Irish food is something to be proud of — here's why

Why not celebrate with an Irish meal based entirely around finest Irish produce cooked in whatever fashion you like

Traditional Irish soda bread, a popular tool in the soft power arsenal.

With the weekend that’s in it, we’re nearing the annual apex of “Paddy Power” — not the betting company, but that particular brand of soft power Ireland has deployed so successfully for decades, a soft-focus melange of green-tinted, misty-eyed Irishness in the form of a party that straddles the globe, with the 70m Irish diaspora as honoured guests.

Soft power, a term coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye, refers to a country’s ability to prosper by dint of its charms and attractions rather than through use of force or financial leverage, the projection of a benign global image furthering its economic and political goals.