Myrtle Allen - A life well lived

On her first birthday in 1925, Myrtle Allen’s parents gave her a present of a myrtle tree, which was planted in Tivoli, where she was born. Then it moved to their new house in Monkstown, overlooking Cork harbour, and later when she married her husband Ivan, that same tree moved to the grounds of Ballymaloe. Today that myrtle tree sits proudly in front of Ballymaloe House, greeting each visitor that arrives, overseeing the workings of the busy country house, at one in nature just as Myrtle Allen was in life. It will forever be a poignant reminder of the lady of the house.

Over the past week since Myrtle’s passing, there have been fine descriptions of a life well lived. She was a pioneer in Irish food, a chef ahead of her time, the matriarch of the Ballymaloe brand. However, at the service celebrating her life on Sunday, the story of her success came through in the lives she touched.

Always quiet, thinking, hardworking and appreciative of the smaller things in life, Rory Allen, Myrtle’s son told the hundreds of people who had gathered that she was a woman who was always reading and writing, gaining knowledge and jotting down her thoughts. “In my whole life,” he said, “I never saw her raise her voice.”

Gerard McGrath, whose family was a neighbour of the Allens from the time they moved to Ballymaloe in 1947, agreed, speaking of his time in the Ballymaloe kitchen. A laugh went out among the crowd when he recalled a story from his teenage years in the early 70s, when he spent a month working in the kitchen. “She took me quietly aside, suggesting I would be more suitable to the dining room. I take it she didn’t see a budding chef in me.”

There was never a harsh word though. This respect and quiet appreciation is far from the stereotypical image of a red-faced temperamental chef. Yet, this lady made a bigger impact that many chefs could imagine. Some might say her journey beyond the farm gates of Ballymaloe began when she first started writing in the Irish Farmers Journal. It was 1962 and Ballymaloe hadn’t yet opened as a country guesthouse but Larry Sheedy saw the contribution she could make to the Farm Home section of the paper. In her first column, which you can read opposite, she describes her guiding maxims as producing meals that are simple but varied, tasty and popular, but well within the budget of a farmer’s wife.

In 2013, 51 years later, when Irish Country Living celebrated the life of Myrtle Allen with our Women & Agriculture Lifetime Achievement Award, she said those guiding maxims hadn’t changed. “Why should they?” she asked. “I still live on a farm and I still use the fresh ingredients that are closest to hand.”

Half a century had passed and her message never changed. In that time, she had become the first woman in Ireland to gain a Michelin star, she was a founding member of the Blue Book brand that put country houses on the map and one of the small team that set up Euro-Toques International, which supports traditional cooking and promotes producers. As Rory Allen said himself, there were so many awards – simply too many to name.

She has influenced and inspired a generation of chefs and started a family business that will keep the Ballymaloe brand alive long after her passing. And yet it all comes back to the food on the farm. She brought Irish food forward in a way that had never been seen before. The key to her success? Keep it local, keep it seasonal, keep it simple and treat your food with respect.

From Ballycotton Bay to the streets of Paris, Myrtle Allen made an impact at a local, national and international level

Richard (Dick) Coffey Walsh

Ballycotton Seafood

Long before I opened Ballycotton Seafood, I supplied Ballymaloe House with fresh fish daily. I built up a great friendship with Myrtle. One of my fondest memories is working late in the kitchen with Myrtle preparing wild sea salmon, which she not only served in the restaurant but would also take to the continent and serve at functions she was hosting. Always promoting the best of Irish, her motto was simply quality and freshness. She taught me how to appreciate our fresh fish and to give it and our naturally grown foods the respect they deserved. She used to say to me: “We must respect the food we eat, Dick.” Ireland should be forever grateful to Myrtle Allen for all she has done for the Irish food business.

Matt Dempsey

Irish Farmers Journal

Myrtle Allen cared deeply about the things that matter: family, faith, farming and food. She was far ahead of her time in her quest for real quality. She began doing a cookery column for us here in the Irish Farmers Journal in 1962 and opened Ballymaloe tentatively at first as a country guest house. That was a different Ireland. When Ireland joined the then Common Market, she and Paddy O’Keeffe – then editor of the Irish Farmers Journal (and chair of FBD) – opened up La Feirme Irlandaise in central Paris to bring a taste of real Irish food to the French. Myrtle made regular pilgrimages to the French capital with Irish brown bread, smoked salmon, lamb and cheese. She also helped the Irish Farmers Journal organise a national farm guesthouse competition with substantial support from Allied Irish Bank. She welcomed visitors from all over the world. As Ballymaloe’s reputation grew at home and abroad, it expanded, but quality and atmosphere were never compromised. For example, she would never allow it to be categorised as a hotel because of the constraints that that would impose on what she considered essential. A remarkable woman has left us but she has left an indelible mark.

Manuela Spinelli

Euro-toques Ireland

If you met Mrs Allen, you couldn’t help but be in awe of this wonderful, energetic, minute woman whose gentleness, passion and respectful ways were reflected in everything she did. She undoubtedly left a long-lasting impression on anybody she met. Chefs around Europe may not always be aware of the trends in Ireland, but they surely know of Mrs Myrtle Allen from Ballymaloe House in Co Cork, the lady who together with Paul Bocuse, Gualtiero Marchesi, Juan Mari Arzak and Pierre Romeyer set up Euro-Toques International with the intention to protect and defend our culinary heritage and traditions, starting from a strong collaboration with local artisan producers. She was so proud to be associated with Euro-Toques but would never revel or boast in the fact that she was the visionary responsible for starting the organisation internationally and in Ireland.

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Myrtle Allen - a great lady

Myrtle Allen's first column in the Irish Farmers Journal