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20th December 2016
12:18am GMT
The quality of the produce here in Ireland is some of the very best in the world.
It turns out that everything, from beef through to cheeses and milk, do pretty well on a wet island with loads of grass – and so, unsurprisingly, our exports are flying.
But despite that produce, and that global reputation for fantastic raw materials, I always struggle to tell people what our national dish is. Bacon and cabbage? Irish stew?
Hmm. Irish, they are. But how often have you eaten them in the last year?
Unlike the French with their wine and cheese, or the Italians with pizza and pasta, we do struggle in terms of international perceptions of our culinary delights. World-class restaurants like Chapter One, Thornton's and Loam put us on the map for food, but nothing has swept the nation with such furious popularity as... the humble spicebag.
I made two friends on holidays in Spain and one now plays for Barcelona and the other is a vogue model and I'm sitting here eating spicebags
— laurakinsella (@Lauraa_Kinsella) May 22, 2016
Wish I craved green tea and healthy food the way I crave spicebags
— sarah (@Serdahhhh_) May 10, 2016
Spicebag???????????? @orla_kgn98 pic.twitter.com/YcKTXGT1Lp
— Alan (@alanariordan13) January 13, 2016
Of course, this will hardly be a revelation for its legions of devoted fans – but it will be a hard one to swallow for those who consider themselves foodies. I mean, spare a thought for Darina Allen – a lifetime spent crafting a foodie legacy only to be usurped by a fried dish thrown together (we hear) in a Cavan takeaway.
So why has the whole nation fallen for deep fried chicken and chips in a bag with spicy seasoning?
None of these factors are necessarily new in their own right, but they've come together like a culinary tsunami here. As a result, takeaways are furiously rolling their own versions out to try and outdo each other.
That need to connect and "break bread" as a group hasn't gone away, but in Ireland – amongst a generation that struggles to afford accommodation where you could throw a dinner party – it's just been replaced by a glorious takeaway dish and a "bag of cans".
Italians mingle over espresso, the Aussies light up a BBQ and we talk shite while eating deep fried chicken.
If Jesus had tasted a spice bag in his lifetime I'm not sure he would've been as willing to leave this earth and die for our sins.
— Alison Ring (@alisonringrang) May 20, 2016
All hail the SPICE BAG! ???????? Where REALLY is the best place to get a spice bag in Dublin???? #foodie pic.twitter.com/ZEqdxkMxLE
— Ciamhie Mc Digital (@CiamhieMc) April 28, 2016
Whether you turn your nose up at the dish and laugh of the notion of it being our national dish – or whether you're the sort of person who tries to limit yourself to two portions of spicebag a week – one thing for sure is that they're here for the foreseeable.
Opinion is sure to be harsh and divided but the spicebag has come out of nowhere on the bend to make a potential race to the finish line as Ireland's national dish.
Who'd a thunk it?
