In some ways, demarcating what makes a special regional cuisine is almost impossible because there is a constant shifting, intermingling and transference between cultures.

So curry in Britain may actually date back as far as Richard I (or at least the word may).

Of course there are certain signature dishes for any culture, but when one examines the actual origin of ingredients, then it becomes clear that culinary history is as deliciously complex as any other history.

I mention this because I'm doing research and I have James Trager's book The Food Chronology open on my lap. And the discussion of what is Irish food is sort of falling into my thoughts (though I'm researching food along the silk road, so I'm looking more at things like apples, peaches, noodles, grains that were transformed by contact with either the West [in China] or the East [in the Roman Empire]).

Also, I'm learning why Buddha is in a loincloth in India, but wears robes in Japan and China.

Well, Charles Lindberg wasn't the first person to fly across the Atlantic.

But he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, right? I enjoy Jaywalking immensely (when it doesn’t make me cry), but I agree that they need to get their shit straight when being snarky about others’ knowledge.

Ah, the old stereotype about Irish food. I used to try to get out of it by saying that the Irish had known how to cook and that the Brits forced boiling on them with colonization. Unfortunately, I read an article about a Pre-Norman archaeological site on the east coast of Ireland which consisted of beachside rock-lined pits the anthropologists thought were used to boil meat.

What is true is that Irish cookery has had a real overhaul over the last 15 years or so. Irish chefs have made the world scene. That same generation of chefs is looking at traditional Irish cuisine and doing to it what Alice Waters has done for American cuisine.

The food the average Irish person has is very close to what the average British person has. But there are Irish dishes like soda bread, Irish brown bread, Barmbreac, Colcannon, etc. I’ve never been to Ireland, unfortunately. It’s a dream of mine to be able to afford that. But I have sampled upscale Irish food from Irish cooks in the Bay Area. And I’ve made my own nearly every year since college when I host a St. Patrick’s dinner for friends. (I didn’t like the way St. Pat’s had been turned into a green leprechaun cirrhosis holiday and wanted to celebrate actual Irish culture.)

Just as an aside: Corned Beef & Cabbage is an Irish-American dish in origin. It is thought that the newly arrived Irish wanted to make (Irish) Bacon & Cabbage, a traditional dish, and couldn’t find Irish Bacon. So they sidled on down to the Lower East Side and got corned beef.

The "overcooked grey food" stereotype was true in the 1950's, and it was true in the US as well.

Having never traveled to Europe, I can't comment on Ireland's food, but I can definitely comment on the blandness of American cooking in the past. My mom (an Irish-American Midwest farmer's daughter) grew up on the most basic of meat-and-potatoes cooking, and until she took a cooking class when I was in high school, that's all she knew how to cook. The only cookbook I remember seeing around the house was the red-and-white checked Betty Crocker cookbook that hadn't been overhauled in a few decades. The only "ethnic" food we got was spaghetti and meatballs and my dad's chop suey, which I thought was representative of Chinese food until I went to college.

Only after her cooking class did we get some interesting stuff, and even more noticable was her eagerness to explore other cuisines and low-fat options (as a nurse with two overweight daughters, she was definitely interested in the latter). We started getting flan and quiche (well, it was the early '80s!), more Mexican items, and a wider variety of Italian dishes as well. It helped that the local grocer's started carrying wider varieties of staples.

But he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, right?

That's right. His flight was also longer being New York to Paris while the Brits did Newfoundland to Ireland. However, his plane (most importantly the engine) was much better. I believe that the Brits had to walk onto the wings and fix the engines several times during the flight.

As long as Irish food lacks lutfisk it can't be the worst cuisine in the world.

But he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, right?

The prize he ended up winning was just for the first pilot(s) to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. Lindbergh wasn't even considered a contender for the prize because he was the only one going solo--everyone thought that the long flight would be impossible without taking a nap, thereby necessitating two or more pilots. He recognized that weight was needed for fuel more than a copilot, and went without sleep for the 33 (IIRC) hour flight.

Ha! Yeah, the Swedes got it goin' on with the lutfisk and the surströmming.

Hey, the Swedes got limpa bread, Swedish meatballs, and my favorite, Swedish pancakes (the latter was as ethnic as our family got, since they were recipes from my Swedish grandpa)!

I can definitely comment on the blandness of American cooking in the past.

Oh, definitely. When I was growing up, the standard way to cook vegetables was, "boil until all the flavor and texture are gone, plus 10 minutes."

Pasta wasn't exotic, as long as you were talking about spaghetti or macaroni. Chinese was exotic, and most everything else that didn't fit your own ethnic background wasn't even on the map.

As late as 1990, my father commented while on the way to a Chinese restaurant, "I hope we get the Chinese waitress."

The prize was for flying from New York to Paris non-stop.