Many countries have very distictive foods or tastes associated with
them such as the spicy foods of India and Mexico or escargo (snails) of France. Even
American has some very distinctive foods that no matter where in the world you are they are
identified as American such as the hamburger.
The only way I can think to label traditional
Irish food is good, farm style home cooking. Hearty soups and stews, home made breads and of
course lots of potatoes, often prepared several ways with one meal.
Many common foods found
on Irish tables are things you would not normally think of as Irish, such as lasagne, altered
to Irish tastes. Where in America a dinner of lasagne would most apt be served with a green
salad of some sort, in Ireland it is commonly served with a plate of chips (french fries).
There are many foods here that would seem to be familiar but taste (and sometimes look)
very different to what we would expect because they are the Irish version altered to local
tastes or availability locally of ingredients.
Once in a while the reverse is true such
as with corned beef and cabbage. In Ireland it is called bacon and cabbage and is a salted
joint of bacon where in the states for some reason it has become a brisket of beef marinated
in brine and seasoned. In the end both taste very similar even though one is beef and the
other pork. Both are served with boiled cabbage, carrots and potatoes.