You need to be pretty optimistic, if your job is the business of writing about Irish food. For one minute, something delightful and delicious comes your way, and then, the next, some intellectual moronism and staggering cynicism steps right up and knocks the stuffing out of you once again, reminding you that all the good stuff is little more than individual fingers shoved into the dyke, trying to stop the flood.
Here is the delightful and delicious stuff. Last week I visited the brand new Sheridan's Cheesemongers shop, on Dublin's South Anne Street. It is the latest arrival in a family firm run by brothers Seamus and Kevin Sheridan, and it joins their delightful market stalls in Galway's Saturday morning market and Dublin's Temple Bar Market, and also their smashing shop on Kirwan's Lane, in Galway, which I also visited during the week.
I picked up some fab, 14-week-old Cashel Blue, from Tipperary, a lovely piece of French brie, and some of their altogether amazing Montgomery cheddar. I also bought some good olive oil, and basically had to stop myself from buying everything else they sell.
The Sheridans are vital to Ireland's food culture, because they are experts in their field, with an expertise matched only by Peter Ward, the major-domo of Irish cheeses who runs the Country Choice shop, in Nenagh.
The Sheridan brothers have made themselves experts, the hard way. All the time that they have been selling cheeses, they have also been visiting the Irish farmhouse cheesemakers, staying with them, and seeing the process of creating a farmhouse cheese at first hand, right down to helping with the production.
This graft has given them a judgment for cheese which is positively talismanic. Just by looking at a cheese and assessing it, they know if it will be good. They know which are the seasons when the cheeses exhibit their unique characteristics at their very best: "From now to Christmas is the very best time for the semi-soft cheeses like Ardrahan, Mileens, Durus," Seamus Sheridan told a customer as I was browsing around their smart South Anne Street space. He knows that the late summer milk is caught up in these cheeses, and he knows exactly how long they must be matured to bring them to their peak of perfection. If you eat your Cashel Blue young, then just wait until you try it when it has been wisely aged to 14 weeks: it is a riot of flavours.
The Sheridans are also educators, in the finest, most practical way. The first time I was ever in the Kirwan's Lane shop, a lady and her friend were buying a rake of cheeses. "And I'd like a piece of Gubbeen, please," she asked. "Sure, but I do have some Durrus which is just amazing," said Seamus. "I'll have the Durrus," she replied, utterly trusting. And, no doubt, when he has a cracking Gubbeen, then that is the cheese which the brothers will recommend. It is a logical, respectful relationship, cheesemonger to shopper.
Sheridan's Cheesemongers, 11 South Anne Street, Dublin 2 tel: (01) 679 3143, fax: 679 3132. Open 8.30 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon-Sat. Also at Kirwan's Lane, Galway, tel: (091) 564829 and the Saturday morning Galway street market and the Saturday morning Temple Bar Market.