The Menu: Ireland is one of the best countries in the world in which to produce food

Before the arrival of the potato and before the enormous impact of British colonialism, Irish peasants had the best diet in all of Europe

A young girl eating oysters by Carlingford Lough, in Co Louth, in 1952, in an image from Irish Food History: A Companion.

My middle child turns 18 this summer and he will go to a restaurant with his teenage tribe to celebrate. He and his friends have been marking their birthdays in restaurants, flying solo without adult supervision, since they were 14 and it’s entirely of their own choosing.

My firstborn, now in his mid-30s, is similarly inclined. Though not averse to a party, he can nonetheless go for an age without the pub, more than happy to socialise in a restaurant or a coffee shop.