【Gourmet IQ】 What to eat on St. Patrick's Day

St.Patrick's Day is March 17.  It began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. Now, it becomes an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green. 

Talking about food, corned beef, cabbage and lamb stew accompanied by traditional Irish soda bread are something to taste on St. Patrick's Day. The corned beef  (from kosher butchers) and cabbage are essentially Jewish corned beef put in a pot with cabbage and potatoes. This is American-Irish food.  The authentic traditional St. Patrick's Day meal in Ireland is still lamb or bacon.

St. Patrick Day is known as one of the biggest drinking holidays. On St. Patrick's Day, there are parties with a lot of beer and cocktail! 
For beer, you would have Guinness, Bulmers (also called Magners) Cider, Smithwick's Ale, Jameson Irish Whiskey or some Bailey's Irish cream. ​ 

Guinness

Bulmers ​Cider

Jameson Irish Whiskey

Smithwick's Ale

Where to Celebrate
Before you go to any St. Patrick's Day celebration, you would learn some jargons so that you can understand others:

• What's the craic?" means  "What's happening?".
• "I'm grand" is a perfectly acceptable reply to the question "How are you?" 
• ​If someone does something silly or stupid, you can comment "Ah ya big eejit!" ​

The following are some good places to go in Austin. 

ST. PATRICK'S DAY AUSTIN 
The festival is committed to the authentic Irish culture. The event starts from 1:00 PM  to 8:00 PM with food, performance, and games. 
​Website: http://www.stpatricksdayaustin.com
10621 PIONEER FARMS DRIVE, Austin, Texas 78754

Fado Irish Pubs 
Many Irish pubs or bars offers St. Patrick Day celebrations. Fado is one of the biggest. It has Irish drinks and live music. 
Website: http://fadoirishpub.com/austin/st-patricks-day
West 4th Street, Austin