Irish Stew

I've been stewing over something since the book 'Angela's Ashes' became so popular quite a few years ago. My problem is this: if Frank McCourt (the author) was so badly nourished as a child, how did he grow into such an intelligent, literate man? I mean, every nutrition text book will tell you that if a child is poorly fed, then his mental and physical development will be seriously impaired...the worse the diet, the greater the impairment. To hear McCourt tell it (or read McCourt write it) his childhood subsistence diet consisted mostly of tea and bread with some potatoes thrown in if he was lucky. So I'm thinking it was the potatoes that did the trick.

For openers, let's consider the potato's nutrient content. While some people have swallowed the myth that once a potato is peeled it loses all its nutrients, it is true that the more they're aggravated (chopped up, drowned, over-cooked, boiled in oil and bludgeoned) the fewer B vitamins and vitamin C they'll deliver. Baking in their jackets preserves more nutrients, but for people who hate the skins, nude potatoes still pack a nutritional wallop if the peel is only removed after cooking. In any discussion of dietary potassium, you know who gets all the glory...bananas and oranges. Not a word about the potato (or milk either, for that matter), which contains more potassium than either of those foods, and is a good source of magnmesium and phosphorus with almost no sodium. From a nutritional point of view the worst cooking offence is to cut them up into small pieces, drown them in water and cook for an excessively long period of time. The next greatest offence is to under-value the importance of the spud. Other sources of carbohydrate or starch have recently tried to push the potato off the dinner plate; big mistake. Compared to potatoes, white rice and white pasta are definitely small potatoes. The sweet potato is an even bigger winner, nutritionally speaking, but that's for another day.

Meanwhile, back at Angela's Ashes (and I hear that Mr. McCourt is not currently enjoying good health) a plate of Irish stew along with some whole grain bread and a glass of milk will not only cover the four food groups, it's the essence of comfort food. As winter has us in its icy grip, a little comfort is what we need right now. If you have a slow cooker you can put all the stew's ingredients in it in the morning, and come dinner time, after doing battle with the crowds out Christmas shopping there will be a big batch of comfort. Gourmet dining might be fun and exciting, but for down-to-earth nutrition nothing works better than simply prepared foods of years gone by. Remember that good nutrition depends on a balanced diet with lots of variety...nutrients delivered by real food, not supplements.