Myrtle Allen - a great lady

On 13 June 2018, the news reached us that Myrtle Allen had died, RIP. I believe that the farmers of Ireland will mourn her, understanding that she lifted our produce into the spotlight. She put farmers firmly in the food story. Myrtle was one of those extraordinary women that one expects to go on forever.

Determination, creativity and productivity defined her for those of us who didn’t know her very well. In my younger days I regarded her with reverence. I considered her to be the Mrs Beaton of old who had knowledge of all things in the culinary world. Yet, she reminded me of my grandmother who delighted in her work; toiling daily with her hands in the soil, water or flour only pausing to enfold a child in her arms.

OUR FIRST MEETING

I remember vividly the first time I met Myrtle Allen. It was in 1997, the first year that Tim was IFA county chair in Cork. Myrtle invited us down to Ballymaloe for dinner.

She was having some of “her local food producers in” and asked us along because of Tim’s position in the IFA. She respected and understood the value of the farmer lobby. Her passion for Irish food is well-documented. Her dedication to the Irish food story “from farm to fork” continues to be the ethos of Ballymaloe. She built a dynasty in the true sense of the word but she built it from very meagre beginnings.

She married a fruit and vegetable farmer, the late Ivan Allen. They bought Ballymaloe House and Farm, had six children and a large farmhouse to run. Like many other young women, providing for and feeding her hungry family demanded Myrtle’s attention. She learned to grow and to cook good wholesome food. She learned to manage a large house with a small budget. She never wasted a morsel, turning it into something else. Her solution was to open a restaurant. The rest is history.

MY FAVOURITE COOKBOOK

In her Ballymaloe Cookbook first published in 1977, she says: “Some of my best turnovers are from leftovers!” I love this little book. It’s full of no-nonsense, straightforward recipes.

There’s no colour in it and but a handful of pictures. Among them is a toddler paging through a cookery book with a myriad of ingredients laid out before him. A gaggle of geese going home through the farmyard at dusk features. Heading up the meat chapter is a picture of Mr Cuddigan’s butcher shop in Cloyne. We see Myrtle filling her basket in the garden with vegetables for the restaurant. She’s in conversation with the gardener while a young chef looks on.

The kitchen in Ballymaloe is featured. All five cooks at work are oblivious to the camera, as is the young girl in the frame. The little girl’s hair is tossed from being outside and she’s wearing a coat that’s much too big for her. You can sense her ruddy, healthy complexion from country air and good food. Another page reveals two little girls collecting eggs from nest boxes. Again, there’s industry and determination visible. In just a few black and white pictures we get the sense of Myrtle, her family, her restaurant, her place in the story of Irish food and her regard for the soil and its produce.

DINNER AT BALLYMALOE

That first evening in Ballymaloe, Myrtle spoke with utter respect for her producers and her butcher, getting them to tell their stories. She was interested in us and the story of our family and farm. I came home with a real sense of pride in what we do as farmers. I have not lost that. Each farmer, each artisan producer brings life to the story of Irish food. Myrtle Allen started that story and she placed huge value on local, sustainably produced, seasonal food.

Myrtle built a brand and made it world famous. She did it by adhering to her principles. She was also politically astute and knew how to communicate with departments and agencies. She knew how to force change in order to protect the ethos of the family business. Every time she thought something should be developed to promote Irish food, she went away and did it herself.

When you read about Myrtle Allen you realise that she approached all challenges in two ways; she did it herself or she cajoled or organised someone else to do it. Either way she got the job done. Euro Toques International, Euro Toques Ireland, Blue Book Ireland, for a time the Parisian restaurant, La Ferme Irlandaise, the first woman in Ireland to glean a Michelin Star…and the development of the axis that is Ballymaloe House Hotel.

While it is time to express sincerest sympathy to the extended Allen family on the death of Myrtle. It is also a time to celebrate her legacy. RIP. CL