A Pleasant Surprise
As previously mentioned, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Sean O’Callaghan’s very much. I don’t absolutely love pub food, as often times, I find it rather bland. However, I was pleasantly surprised with all of the flavors that danced across my tongue. The fried cod was mild, but the texture was wonderful. The Irish chips actually tasted like potatoes, which I had never even experienced in a french fry, so that most definitely put us off to a good start. The curry was bold with flavor, which definitely exceeded my expectations because I didn’t even know that Irish curry existed. Therefore, this dining experience must have taught me something.
Much to my dismay, there was no soda bread, or the sweet butter that I remember tasting and falling in love with in Ireland. That is something I would most definitely recommend to the restaurant to put on their menu. The more Americanized meals were average at best, but I wasn’t going into Sean O'Callaghan's with the expectations that the American food was anything extraordinary. I was going for the Irish cuisine. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking I would try any of the American foods, because why go to an Irish pub to eat a buffalo chicken wrap? Well, no one goes anywhere just to eat a buffalo chicken wrap… At least I hope.
I also was pleasantly surprised with how beautiful the inside of the restaurant was. It actually did remind me of the Irish pubs I went to when I visited Ireland. It had that almost old and rustic feel and the building was dark with the dark walls and dark floors. However, it was illuminated with TVs and old men sipping beer at the bar at three in the afternoon, so it had a very familiar feel. It was almost a little more rustic than some of the other pubs I have been to, but I really enjoyed the “old” vibe it gave off. It added something small to make it feel all the more special and personal somehow.
I’m not going to lie, the idea of “authenticity” came up during this meal quite a lot. Before we had read about authenticity, I feel as if I was very ignorant about the term. I had used it, more often than not, specifically pertaining to food, and it made complete sense in my mind. After thinking about it and further understanding what Long wrote, authenticity is a bland word with no flavor. There is no meaning. What I believe to be authentic could be quite the opposite of what someone else believes to be authentic. Who can actually be the true judge of what constitutes something as “authentic”, if everyone perceives that word a little bit differently?
So, honestly, if we hadn’t done that reading, in my review I would have written that the food did, in fact taste like the authentic Irish cuisine that I have tasted in the past. I wouldn’t have thought about where my assumptions were coming from and I would have continued the the false ideas in my head. The idea that simply if you are eating a meal in the country of origin, or just because a real, Irish human being cooked the meal, it is then authentic. Reflecting on my past experiences and the amount of times I have actually called something authentic because of the person who is cooking the meal, makes me cringe with embarrassment. I’m so mortified that I don’t think I will ever use that word again, unless to make fun of it.
My embarrassment continues further with my assumptions about the food in downtown Plymouth also. Being a predominately white area, I had absolutely no faith in their “ethnic” cuisines. After tasting a wonderful Mexican restaurant there, I decided to take a closer look. I feel very silly for thinking that because there are not many different ethnicities that live within plymouth, which I was completely judging based off of physical appearance, that the food would not be “authentic”.
I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity of being introduced to Long’s “Culinary Tourism” because it enlightened me and pushed me to think about the world, and what I say, in a very different way. I’m much more careful to scrutinize my initial thoughts and assumptions and ask myself- where are they coming from?
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