For the Irish, their shoreline of readily available cockles, mussels, and oysters give them foods they can eat raw or quickly cooked, with nothing more than a slab of Soda Bread and a smear of butter. Salmon is the king of Irish fish, but sole and herring also hail from local waters. Some of the most unique ingredients, seaweed and sea vegetables, work their way into soups, vegetables, and mashed potatoes, as in the case of champ made with dulse, a type of seaweed. The oats have a pleasantly chewy texture, making them excellent additions to breads. They also appear commonly in desserts, such as cakes and crumbles, and of course as cooked oatmeal and porridge for breakfast.
Irish flour is so soft it reacts poorly with yeast, but works well with baking soda.
Irish soda bread, so named because it's leavened with baking soda, is another staple at most meals, and every cook has his or her own personal recipe for making it. Originally the bread was baked on cast-iron griddles over open peat fires, but today the loaves are baked in regular ovens. Equally as well-known as Guinness stout is Ireland's other fermented grain drink, Irish whiskey. Old Bushmill's and Jameson are the leading brands of Irish whiskey, which is spelled with an 'e' to distinguish it from Scotch whisky. Reportedly, the art of brewing whiskey, the water of life, was developed in the monasteries that once dotted the land.