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Essay on The Great Famine of 1845-51
Ireland's Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, is historically dated 1845-1851, although its effects lingered until 1852. A parasitic fungus, Phytophthora infestans, transmitted to Ireland from North America and continental Europe by diseased potatoes and through bird droppings imported as fertilizer, first infected the Irish potato crop in September 1845. The disease, also known as blight, caused the potato to rot in the ground, making it inedible. Recurrent infestations of the blight, which led to the failure of the potato crop in three seasons out of four, had a catastrophic effect upon the Irish peasantry who were largely dependent on potatoes for subsistence.
They had little opportunity to diversify because of restricted rental holdings, large families with consequent hereditary subdivision of land, and conditions of tenure that included the extortions of land agents, rack rents (excessive and frequently increased rents), and an absence of compensation for improvements. Potato consumption in Ireland just prior to 1845 was enormous, with the average male consuming 6.5 kg/14 lbs daily. Pigs, an important source of cheap meat and income for Irish farmers, ate potatoes as a basic fodder and their number dramatically fell from 1,412,813 in 1841 to 565,629 in 1848.A yawning gap developed between the diet of the rich with their imported truffles and the poor living off bread, lard, porridge and potatoes.
As high bread prices, poor harvests, potato blight and famine in Ireland and parts of Scotland and England brought 19th century Britain to the brink of revolution, Alexis Soyer, chef of London's Reform Club, launched soup kitchens and created recipes (of questionable nutritional value - mostly made up of vegetable peelings) for feeding the masses.Nearly a million people died from malnutrition-related diseases such as a cholera, dysentery, and typhus and at least the same number again emigrated, mainly to America.......
