WordSmith: A takeaway of evolving palates
I’m writing this from Market Square in Cavan town. It’s Friday, mid-morning, and the town is gearing up for lunch time. The Sushi-Van has arrived, followed by The Kombucha-Van. That’s fresh-sushi with all the condiments, and fermented tea with all the flavours.
Lunch-time arrives, and there’s a healthy demand for both takeaway tea and sushi. Feeling my place might be needed by a lunch consumer, I pack up and take off down the street. I stop outside the Townhall, and during my pause, I switch from present to past tense.
For me, Townhall on Friday nights were Bingo, and the Chipper-Van. At that time, chips were the only takeaway I knew of. Granny handed me my Bingo Book, and I followed her into a thick fog, cigarette smoke so dense it caught the back of my throat and stung my eyes. It didn’t matter if my numbers came up or not, for there was always a win at the end of the night: CHIPS! Eaten on the slow walk home, culinary-carby-salty-bliss.
A few years later and my entertainment needs had evolved. Friday nights were spent mulling over life’s important decisions, like whether Saturday Night Fever would be caught at The Kilmore or The Springs Disco’s? Regardless of which venue was chosen, there was always an undisputed certainty; the early hours of Sunday morning would be spent in Bedlam – otherwise known as the chipper on the corner of College Street and the Barrack Hill.
The young, drunk, and hungry descended in droves to do battle, and the prize was: CHIPS! Chaos would ensue and tempers flared as alcohol soaked young folk grappled for carbohydrates to soak up the beer in their bellies. I recall the women who worked in that chipper as Gladiators without shields, they used their deft delivery of chips to hold back a baying crowd. Once I’d bagged mine, I’d smother them in salt, drench them in vinegar, then take them outside to devour. I’d lean against the wall to enjoy my beer-soakers while watching the end of night entertainment, the inevitable fight.
Now, long before MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), there was CCC (Cavan Chipper Clashes). It was usually a Town-Lad Vs Country-Lad clash. There were no rules or referee; nor was there much strategy or technique, it was all flailing arms and cursing expletives. Sometimes it would end in a full on brawl.
Later that morning in Mass, I’d spot the bruised egos and black eyes. Black-Eyed-Chips, there’s a band name in that recollection.
Moving onwards from the chipper nights; my sister Maria became engaged to a Chinese man.
And thus my culinary palate evolved when he introduced me to his cuisine. I loved it from the get go; Mam and Dad were less enthusiastic, preferring roast chicken to sweet and sour chicken balls, “Chickens don’t have balls,” the mammy quipped.
Maria brought her fiancé to visit the family in Cavan. He looked like the movie star Bruce Lee, his celluloid exoticism lent him a certain kind of celebrity amongst the Cavan populace. Yet he was no actor, his talent lay in his eye for business; and that summer he had his beady-business eye on Cavan, “This town needs a Chinese takeaway; I’ll open one,” he suggested.
Alas, his suggestion caused much spluttering along the lines of, “You’ll not get a Cavan man to go near Chinese food, let alone pay for it.”
After this negative unofficial market feedback, he abandoned his Cavan food emporium plans and set up shop in Manchester. Soon after, The Happy Valley opened in Cavan; and amongst their first customers were Barry McGuigan who regularly travelled from Clones to pick up his Chinese Takeaway.
Back to present tense. Monday morning I’m walking up main street as the town gears up for the working week.
I’m thinking about the superb takeaways and take-ins that now populate our place. From Luso to Latte Da, to Bing Bing, Chilli Lounge, and on to the wholesome home cooked fayre from the iconic: Harvest. We are spoilt for choice with the eclectic cuisines and culinary choices from multiple award winning eateries in Cavan.
There’s no doubt our palates have evolved, to the point where on Friday afternoon in Cavan, sushi is the best food in the Tunaverse.
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