Vegetarianism in Ireland

Introduction

Having long been viewed as an eccentricity, vegetarianism is finally gaining ground in Ireland. These days, just about every restaurant will offer at least one vegetarian option and usually more. Also, for functions such as weddings it’s part of the normal protocol to inquire if those being invited have special dietary needs such as vegetarian or vegan dishes. The proliferation of health food shops in even the smaller towns with their selection of natural foods and animal friendly cosmetics testifies to the existence of a large market of vegetarian and pro-animal people willing and able to use their purchasing power in the name of their ideals. Many people who play a prominent role in the life of the country are vegetarian and their example leads more people every year to at least consider the possibility of a meat free diet.

Continuing controversies over the treatment of animals - whether it’s live exports or the persistence of certain cruel sports such as hunting– have focussed national attention on the issue of animal rights.

Also – events in the food industry in the last ten years or so have lead many if not most Irish people for the first time to think about their food. If we are to believe that we are what we eat, then the “food” many of us were putting in our mouths did not reflect very well on our current or future health.

There’ll be more on these points later. For now we need to go back a little bit to see where we got to this situation today where vegetarianism is not only pretty mainstream but to some extent even “cool” (a word I hate, incidentally). It would be tempting to believe that the last several centuries have been a slow but steady forward progression in the wholesomeness of the national diet and in the way we treat our animals. It is not so – there have been many steps forwards and backwards and were our animal cousins able to look back in time, they might well envy their distant ancestors.

Use the links below to navigate through the various sections of this article.

The Past
The Present
The Future