A blessing or a curse? Culinary discourses on convenience food in Ireland during the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on a qualitative content analysis of selected Irish local and national newspapers as well as women’s magazines, this paper explores discursive construction of convenience foods in Ireland during the 1960s and the 1970s, when such products started to gain in popularity. The article discloses various negative commonly occurring associations with convenience foods, such as the lack of flavor, unhealthiness, and high prices, and juxtaposes them with the positive characteristics, including saving time and labor and becoming modern. The research illustrates that discourses revealed ambivalent attitudes toward convenience foods, which were viewed as a blessing on the one hand and a curse on the other. The aim of this study is to add to the growing body of scholarship on Irish culinary history of the second half of the twentieth century, and ultimately, acknowledge the significance of various discourses in the context of discussion on convenience foods.