Fond of a few scoops? A seven-nation team helps to give Kerry ice cream a taste of the exotic, writes Kieran Murphy
"I was tempted by people still unmet, roads yet untravelled, skies yet unseen. The desire to cross the border, to look at what is beyond it, stirred in me still." - Polish journalist Rystzard Kapuscinski, from Travels with Herodotus
"Are there any Irish people working here at all?" a Swiss woman asked me in our Killarney shop, as I walked among the tables, checking that our Murphys Ice Cream crowd of regulars and tourists were happy. I looked at our team, who were busy scooping ice cream, making coffees, and delivering cakes and sundaes. "Yes," I said, a bit defensively. "Two." She laughed. "Don't worry," she said. "I've been in here every day of my holiday and the service is excellent. I just find it surprising how much Ireland has changed."
Don't we all! My father had to emigrate for work, but now he has returned, joining hundreds and thousands of both Irish and non-Irish seeking a better life in Ireland. The range of immigrants is remarkable - every continent is represented among our population, and the list of countries is a long one. The UK sends us the most people by far, with Poland coming second. At the other end of the scale, there are 26 people living here who hail from tiny Luxembourg, and I know that Ireland has at least one native of the South Pacific Island of New Caledonia. Christophe makes most of our ice cream.
Murphys Ice Cream and many other service businesses would be lost without the new pool of labour, especially those of us who are highly seasonal. Our payroll triples in the summer, and although we love our Irish university students and hire a number of them, our season starts earlier and ends later than the college break. Thankfully, there are many EU citizens who come here for six months or a year - mostly students or recent graduates. They want to learn English, make a bit of money and expand their horizons before returning home, and we're happy to hire them.
This season, we have 14 Irish, five Poles (including our excellent Killarney shop manager, Sylwia), a Czech, a Russian, an Algerian, a Frenchman, and our New Caledonian. The mix works, and I think both our team and our customers are enriched by the variety.
It certainly helps that each of them shares our love for ice cream, coffees and chocolate, and the Polish recipe below is just one example of the cultural exchange. No matter how different our traditions, and whether we call it "ice cream", "lody", "zmrzlina" or "glace", we all find it tasty on a sunny (or rainy) day.
Bakaliowe Ice Cream (a Polish recipe)
Ingredients:one cup sugar; five egg yolks; 1 cups cream; 1 cups milk; ¼ vanilla bean, cut lengthways; ½ cup raisins; ½ cup dried fruits; ½ cup chopped almonds and other nuts What to do: 1 Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow; 2 Bring the milk to a simmer; 3 Remove from the heat; 4 Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream; 5 Pour the mixture back into pan, add the vanilla bean and place over a low heat; 6 Stir until the custard thickens (around 700); 7 Remove from heat immediately and place in the fridge until cool; 8 Remove the vanilla bean; 9 Stir in the fruits and nuts; 10 Whip the cream and fold into the mix; 11 Freeze in an ice cream maker, or cover and put in the freezer.
• Kieran Murphy is director of Murphys Ice Cream, in Co Kerry
