Sir, – Whatever about Oliver Cromwell's connection with the introduction to Ireland of the wholesome cabbage, unloved by so many (Frank McNally's Irishman's Diary, August 8th), Charles Kickham wrote in Knocknagow in praise of the delicacy "a pig's head on a bolster of cabbage" as the pièce de résistance of dinner.
Perhaps the memory of watery-yellow, overcooked offering of the much malingered brassica in country hotels of the past, still rankles! – Yours, etc,
VERA HUGHES,
Moate,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – Frank McNally’s Irishman’s Diary (August 8th) alludes to the fact that it was Cromwell’s troops who first introduced the vegetable cabbage to the Irish.
That the Gaels took the delicacy, augmented it with potatoes and bacon and made it a national dish, is surely the strangest of ironies. At least Cromwell can be credited with enhancing our culinary universe. Unlike some of our native politicians who treat us like mushrooms and feed us with . . . – Yours, etc,
SEÁN WHELAN
Ormond Keep,
Nenagh, Co Tipperary.