Blood. The Irish have been dining on it for centuries and they love it. 

It has sustained warriors in epic battles, staved off hunger, offered protection from bad luck and provided sustenance during winter. It’s been drawn from living animals and caught from dead ones, stuffed into guts and boiled or stirred into bloody porridges over turf fires. It’s even in the mortar of castle walls.

Mostly we know it as the moody melange of blood and guts that completes the breakfast fry. But this food is older than potatoes, soda bread, whiskey, stout and coddle. Blood is an ancient food from a time when the Irish diet was one of milky, oaty, salty things. No surprise, then, that the best puddings are made when all four unite to form a singularly perfect food.

Yet Ireland’s ancient tradition of consuming the fresh blood of animals as food is in danger of disappearing forever, and with it an intricate, nuanced foodway that ties together the history of Ireland, its people and their communities, rituals and recipes, craft and custom.

Blood, Guts and Black Pudding charts the complete history of Ireland’s great pudding tradition, from pre-Christian times to the modern era, celebrating the many ways blood has been cooked, eaten and enjoyed, and questions what else is lost when the blood is gone.

'One cannot but be in awe of the phenomenal amount of research that went into this incredibly important book. It makes for riveting reading for all of us who care deeply about our traditional food and the imminent loss of a vital part of our food culture.'
– Darina Allen, Ballymaloe Cookery School

'Utterly fascinating, eminently jocular and written with a charming personal touch that runs throughout. A poignant record of a disappearing craft.'
– Ken Albala, Tully Knoles Endowed Professor of History and 2023 Distinguished Faculty Award Recipient, University of the Pacific

'A timely, thoroughly researched volume containing many interesting snippets for food enthusiasts – a must read.'
– Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, chair, MA Gastronomy and Food Studies, TU Dublin

'Blood, Guts and Black Pudding proudly and persuasively places black puddings as a pivotal element of Irish gastronomy. A landmark work that is both eye opening and jaw dropping.'
– John McKenna, food and travel writer