Sir, – It is gratifying that the blaa, forever associated with my home town and eagerly sought after on my occasional visits there, has been given European recognition as to its source. But I must take issue with Eddie Hearne (November 21st) when he says it was introduced by French immigrants.
There are a number of problems with this theory. For a start, there were much bigger Huguenot communities in other Irish cities, most notably Dublin, and the unique and tasty bap never appeared anywhere other than in Waterford. Also, when I was a cutter in Waterford Crystal (better known locally as “The Glass” in those days) I was told by another cutter, one McEvoy, that the blaa had been started in the Gold Crust bakery, now also sadly defunct, by bakers who wanted what would, in the present day, be called a mini-loaf to have with their tea in the middle of the night, when all the bread was baked.
McEvoy knew this because his father was one of the bakers. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS McKENNA,
Farrenboley Park,
Windy Arbour,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Well done to Waterford for getting EU recognition for its blaa. Let there be no more pun fights involving dough, the Rising, proving or even having the Powers to do it. With the revival of the economy, Dublin will ready to play its jumbo breakfast roll with its Blaa Cliath. Incidentally, whatever happened the giant cookies, “Connie dodgers” in Cork, said to have been named in honour of Bishop Lucey, which were used to circumvent the strict Lenten rules pre-Vatican II? – Yours, etc,
PATRICK JUDGE,
Rochestown Avenue,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.