![\"Helena](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5026820_19_articleinlinemobile_Helena_on_a_boat_off_the_coast_of_Dingle_1_5BDSC01741_5D.jpg\" "\\"Helena")
Helena Ni Chonchuir on a boat off the coast of Dingle <\/p>\nFor Helena N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair from Cill Maoilch\u00e9adair in the Kerry Gaeltacht, food has always been central to her sense of place and community, a way of sharing with family, friends and neighbours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always had meat,\u201d she says. \u201cI was reared on a farm, so it was just natural that we had the best meat and the best fish available. We were just used to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fluent gaeilgeoir with that lovely knack of incorporating both Irish and English in her stories, she\u2019s a compelling voice in Sl\u00e1n go Feoil, a four-part series currently showing on Monday nights at 8.30pm on RT\u00c9 One and available on the RT\u00c9 Player. It follows seven meat-eating participants from Kerry, Belfast, and Donegal, documenting their reasons for and responses to giving up meat for a month.<\/p>\n
Having grown up on Corca Dhuibhne, the Dingle peninsula, in a farming family, N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair struggles to think of a time in her youth when she didn\u2019t eat either meat or fish. \u201cOur freezer would be full. My father would kill a lamb, maybe two lambs. I remember we fattened a pig on a number of occasions,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When in season, local seafood was similarly plentiful. \u201cThe local fishermen would bring up a bag of crab claws to my father. He\u2019d wait until the fire died down in the front room and he\u2019d throw them into the ashes. So there was no such thing as actually boiling them. That\u2019s the best way to have cr\u00fab\u00f3ga, crab claws, and there\u2019d be fierce excitement in the house. And as soon as the mackerel was in season, you\u2019d get mackerel. We just had this accessibility always in our lives. So I suppose there\u2019s always been a gr\u00e1 for food.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been a constant throughout her life and is also part of her work: N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair, who owns hospitality business An Capall Dubh in the centre of Dingle, is just after saying goodbye to the latest group of visitors when we speak. The B&B is in the same building that once housed her husband\u2019s family butcher shop. Patrick grew up in the business, learning his trade in the on-site abattoir from an early age.<\/p>\n
When it became unviable to have a butcher\u2019s abattoir operating in the middle of a town, the couple turned the space into a popular B&B where they serve up grilled breakfasts of Mallon\u2019s sausages, Annascaul Black Pudding and \u201cgood Irish bacon,\u201d says N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair, although she points out that less meat-focused options like French toast and omelettes are also popular.<\/p>\n
Being conscious of her health and wellbeing \u2014 she\u2019s a sea swimmer and regularly attends Pilates classes \u2014 N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair had noticed over the years that she was eating less meat. It wasn\u2019t a huge leap for her to make the decision to give it up for a month.<\/p>\n
\n I figured that I might be able to give this a shot. And I was curious. I just thought \u2018I\u2019m going to see how I feel,\u2019 but the one thing I did ask was \u2018will there be some sort of medical guidance on this?\u2019.\n <\/p>\n
N\u00f3ra N\u00ed Fhlannag\u00e1in, a registered dietitian and sports nutritionist at Atlantic Technological University, Galway, was involved in the programme, explaining the nutrients that a diet without meat might lack and how to get them from other sources.<\/p>\n
Jens Walter, professor of ecology, food and the microbiome at University College Cork, was also on hand to describe how diet can shape and change the microbiome, the community of microbes that lives in our guts and has a direct effect on our health.<\/p>\n
For the month gan feoil, N\u00ed Fhlannag\u00e1in noted that participants had to be particularly conscious that they didn\u2019t miss out on iron and vitamin B12. This was already something that N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair was aware of: \u201cI listen to my body. I know that I have often had a craving for liver and I would just go down to the butchers in Sheehy\u2019s [Supermarket]. They have the best liver. So I have to keep an eye on my iron and I\u2019ve learned over the years that my B vitamins and my iron, they\u2019re all linked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helena Ni Chonchuir on a boat off the coast of Dingle <\/p>\n
Nutrient-dense liver is a rich source of protein, minerals \u2014 including iron \u2014 as well as vitamins B12 and A. While N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair needed to keep an eye on her nutritional intake, levels while leaving the liver behind, she wasn\u2019t daunted by cooking food that put vegetables as the centre of the plate. \u201cIt was the height of the summer [when we were filming],\u201d she says, \u201cand I felt confident in the fact that it\u2019s a wonderful time of the year with your fruit and veg and everything. Plus, I was willing to ask [for ideas] and I have learned so much by questioning people and asking, \u2018Would you have any good recipes without meat?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Like some of the other participants in the programme, her husband Patrick was a bit concerned: \u201cI\u2019d say he was afraid there\u2019d be nothing up on the plate for him,\u201d says N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair. \u201cBut he was willing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had, almost unbeknownst to himself, already eaten vegetarian meals cooked by their daughter, Ali Curran, after her return from travelling in India. \u201cShe\u2019s a great woman for spices,\u201d says N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair. \u201cShe brought back so many spices from India, and we made dhal and different things. I was making them at home for Patrick. He wasn\u2019t even aware there was no meat.\u201d<\/p>\n
N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair also had family support from her daughter-in-law Claire Aherne, who runs Nourish organic bakery and caf\u00e9 in the courtyard of An Capall Dubh. \u201cWhat saved me during the challenge was the fact that Nourish was on my doorstep. We\u2019re blessed that Claire opened the business here. Her ethos is to keep it as organic as possible and she has a lot of vegetarian options, yummy fortifying homemade soups and egg salad sandwiches [that] wouldn\u2019t have you missing a meat option.\u201d<\/p>\n
The month of fasting from meat for N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair was also a time of reflection. \u201cIt was an emotional time because of [what] was happening all around us in the world. And there were days when I thought, I am blessed. I\u2019m blessed to have food in the cupboard, food in the fridge, clean water. We have to honour it and appreciate it and enjoy it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\n Food is the central part and getting around the table. It reinstated the traditions we have in Ireland, the connection we have with food, and how important it is.\n <\/p>\n
While N\u00ed Chonchuir didn\u2019t turn into a vegetarian, during the course of the programme she \u201clearned so much. It was a great challenge. I learned how to make my dishes more imaginative. I got great guidance and I don\u2019t panic now if I don\u2019t have a piece of meat. I had meat yesterday. I might not have meat today,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I am also aware of how important it is for women\u2019s bodies. And when my body tells me I need meat, I\u2019ll go and I\u2019ll get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sl\u00e1n go Feoil is on RT\u00c9 One on Mondays at 8.30pm and on the RT\u00c9 Player<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Helena N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair from Cill Maoilch\u00e9adair in the Kerry Gaeltacht, food has always been central to her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33970,1649,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-380169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-health-body","9":"tag-health-nutrition","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}