Irish people living in London tend to value their national identity. This characteristic manifests itself in many ways. It is to loudly proclaim that the city’s Guinness recognition is insufficient. Histrionic despair over the lack of Taito chips and Barry’s tea. They cluster in areas of the city that are considered sufficiently Gaelic (formerly Kilburn and Camden, but the migration to Hackney and Clapham is almost complete). Instincts are mostly harmless. However, if left unchecked, it can lead to a kind of self-parodying automatic rice paddy hustle.
However, I understand the urge. Nations are important to people. Just ask the French. France’s language watchdog, the Académie Français, is so patriotic that it has suggested at least once that increased use of English vocabulary in France could disrupt the country’s entire social structure. . Or consider the Italians and their fiercely arbitrary stance on the ingredients of carbonara (La Panna?! Nonciamo Americani! ). And of course, there are the English football fans. The Irish are not unique in waving the proverbial flag.
In a city as vast and anonymous as London, tapping into your Irishness can be an easy way to establish your identity. Nearly 9 million people live here, but only about 120,000 of them are Irish. Embracing an Irish passport, a fool, and a neighborhood seems like the perfect way to find community in a place of cacophony. For newcomers to London, it’s probably also a way to prevent homesickness. But it’s a habit the most successful London-Irish people tend to avoid.
This came to my mind as a new Irish man settled in London. Ryan Tubridy has moved beyond Montrose to join Rupert Murdoch at Virgin Media. Broadcasting from a glass news building towering over the Thames, Tubridy is as intelligent and enthusiastic as we’d expect, right to Tweet’s right. The bookworm’s enthusiasm seems genuine. On Tuesday, he recommended “John Boyne’s Water” to his listeners, setting up a kind of pseudo-book club.
So far, so good. But what does it mean to be Irish? It would be easy for Tubridy to rest on his laurels with stereotypes, place his Irishness at the heart of his proclivities, and hope that British listeners will be charmed by his gentle Celtic lilt. This is wrong. I don’t speak for all Virgin Radio listeners, but I’m confident in guessing that Ireland is not at the center of their mid-morning light listening interests. I would also wager that we can exaggerate how interesting things like our nationality are to other people. In any case, Tubridy managed to sit on the right side of the line.
[ Ryan Tubridy’s new radio show review: Buttery charm, frothy good humour and A-list interviews on Virgin Radio UK debut ]
The influence of the late Terry Wogan cannot be overlooked. Although he was shaped by national identity, he never became attached to it. This trait is shared by London and Irish on-air stars Graham Norton, Laura Whitmore and Craig Doyle. They’re not successful because they’re Irish. This could be a coincidence at best. A great broadcast is just a great broadcast.
I think of Irish restaurateur Richard Corrigan. His restaurant Portrait recently received a glowing review by Tim Hayward in the Financial Times. “It’s the most romantic presentation I’ve ever come across,” Hayward said of the artichoke and crab dish. According to him, his rice pudding is not only better than your mother’s, but probably even better than God’s. “I think Corrigan has become a national institution,” he concluded. What a shame of wealth!
“Corrigan is Irish,” Hayward states matter-of-factly. Like all nationalities, this is just a value-neutral descriptor (unless, of course, it’s a British person discussing a French person). Hayward didn’t think Corrigan’s Club was “the most visually striking London specialty of the last decade”. because Corrigan is Irish. Already a leader in London’s restaurant scene, people don’t go to Portrait because the kitchen is graced by a Celtic chef. And Hayward is unconverted about the snail, who was driven from Dorset to London out of respect for “Ale.” The tricolor does not hang from the rafters.
No, like Graham Norton, Corrigan is loved and considered worthy of such superlatives, not because he’s Irish, but because he’s great. Irishness resonates in the background and can influence food and restaurants in ways big or small. Of course, everyone is a product of where they come from and various inputs throughout their lives. Just as it is impossible to completely separate a person from their hair color, it is impossible to completely separate a person from their national identity. But the distinction is important. Hayward loves Portrait because it’s a great restaurant. The chef’s tradition is secondary.
London is a city of immigrants. Having a national identity other than British is not an important quality. To most Londoners, that’s not even interesting. Despite talk of Britain and its regressive descent into narrow-minded navel-gazing, and the rejection of international values at the ballot box in 2016, the capital None of this is clear.