‘Grand-mère’ Allen honoured

After half a century of putting Cork at the centre of the world’s food map, Myrtle Allen was honoured at a civil reception in Cork City Hall last night.

Unfortunately, as Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy put it, the event was a bit like the wedding without the bride, as Ms Allen was unable to attend as she was suffering from a bad cold.

However, friends and family made sure many toasts were raised to the woman who, as her daughter-in-law Darina Allen put it, is now considered by chefs across the world as the “grand-mère who gave them confidence to serve their food simply”.

At last night’s event, Myrtle Allen’s granddaughter Fiadh Little received a plaque on her behalf, honouring her achievements and contribution to the culinary world.

Darina Allen said it was a fitting tribute which was greatly appreciated by the family.

“Sometimes grandchildren particularly, do not necessarily realise what an extraordinary woman their grandmother was and it’s so interesting for them to discover the high esteem that she is held in, not just in Ireland but all over the world,” she said.

“She was a complete maverick in how she believed so much in the quality of Irish produce at a time when we really had an inferiority complex about Irish food. What she did was quite extraordinary. She opened up a restaurant in 1964 in her own house. Nobody had ever done that before. It was right out in the middle of a farm in East Cork so it was miles away from a central population and then she wrote a menu everyday depending on what happened to be in season, what was in the garden, what fish came in from the boats in Ballycotton.”

She said the opening of the restaurant came at a time when most restaurants upon opening for the first time, “wrote the same menu as was there 10 years later”.

“The interesting thing is that what she did from 1964 on, serving food from the farm and the local area, this farm-to-table approach, is completely what people are talking about now. As she jokes, if you live long enough people will come round to you in the end. She is so revered by the French chefs and the Euro-toques chefs in Europe. She is like their grand-mère who gave them confidence to serve their food simply.”