Food & drink in sixteenth-century Ireland explored in FoodCult lecture series at Dublin Castle

Posted on: 21 January 2026

Trinity’s FoodCult research project is partnering with Dublin Castle to present a six-part public lecture series in February, exploring how food and drink shaped everyday life, social relationships, and authority in sixteenth-century Ireland.

The series draws on new research from the European Research Council–funded FoodCult project, led by Trinity historian Dr Susan Flavin, and brings together history, archaeology, science, craft, and film. Through talks, film screenings, and guided tastings, audiences are invited to explore how food offers a powerful way of understanding lived experience in the past.

Running at Dublin Castle on 6–7, 13–14, and 20–21 February, the interactive lecture series moves between the Castle kitchens and reconstructed Tudor brewhouses, examining the rhythms of everyday work, the experiences of servants, and the role of food and drink in shaping social interaction, religious life, and authority. Hosting the series at Dublin Castle allows visitors to engage with this research in the very place where many of the original records were created and where food and drink were central to the performance of authority.

The series is designed for general audiences, heritage professionals, brewers, and anyone interested in food, craft, and Ireland’s past. Booking and full programme details are available via Eventbrite.

Speakers across the three weekends include:

• Susan Flavin, Associate Professor of History, School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, and Principal Investigator of FoodCult
• Shreepali Patel, Professor of Multimodal Storytelling, London College of Communication (University of the Arts London), and Director of Drunk? Adventures in Sixteenth-Century Brewing
• Marc Meltonville FSA, Consultant Food Historian and Historic Brewer
• Maurice Deasy, Founder and Head Brewer, Canvas Brewing, County Tipperary

Each event includes a guided tasting, allowing visitors to connect historical research with sensory experience and to explore how archival evidence can inform the reconstruction of past food and drink practices.

Dr Susan Flavin said: “Food offers a way into everyday life in the past — not just what people consumed, but how they worked, interacted, and understood the world around them. What began with archival records led us into brewhouses, fields, and kitchens. Collaboration made it possible to ask questions we could not have answered otherwise.”

A distinctive feature of the series is its focus on brewing as historical practice. Several events highlight a long-term collaboration between the FoodCult project and Maurice Deasy of Canvas Brewing, a farmhouse brewery in County Tipperary.

Dr Flavin added: “What began as a historical reconstruction has developed into an ongoing partnership, exploring how early modern brewing knowledge can inform contemporary craft and agricultural practice. Working with Irish-grown heritage grain and hops, malted on site, this research shows how historical methods can actively shape modern brewing and farming today.”

Dr Peter Darby from the UK’s National Hop Collection and Dr Susan Flavin in a field of hops

Research for the FoodCult project began at Dublin Castle itself, where a remarkable set of sixteenth-century household accounts provides an unusually detailed record of food, drink, and daily routine within one of the most important elite households of the period. These records underpin both the lecture series and the experimental reconstructions explored during the events.

FoodCult is an interdisciplinary research project exploring food, drink, and material culture in Ireland between c.1550 and 1650, using archival research, archaeology, scientific analysis, experimental reconstruction, and film.

Further information about the project is available on the FoodCult website.

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