Returning to Our Roots: Food as Medicine in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands

As a holistic health practitioner studying Indigenous foods of Celtic regions, I have become fascinated by how traditional dietary patterns in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands offer profound wisdom for nourishing wellness today. The Indigenous foods of these regions are not just a story of cultural heritage—they provide a blueprint for optimal nutrition that resonates with the genetic makeup of its people. This ancestral approach to "Food as Medicine" offers valuable insights for health and wellness in our modern world.

Ancient Foundations: Nutritional Wisdom Encoded in Celtic DNA

The traditional Celtic diet developed in harmony with the land which provided specific nutrients that shaped the genetic makeup of its people. Modern nutritional genomics is revealing how our ancestral dietary patterns influence our genetic expression and health outcomes. For those with Irish and Scottish heritage, reconnecting with traditional foods can be a powerful way to honor genetic predispositions and optimize health.

While continental Europe centered diets around cereals and daily bread, the Irish developed differently. From the beginning of the modern period, cereals in Ireland were merely supplements in the form of gruel or flatbread. Instead, milk products, wild meat and fish played a primary role in the traditional Irish diet, providing essential nutrients that supported robust health in challenging environmental conditions.

Scotland's temperate climate and abundant indigenous game similarly shaped a distinctive nutritional profile for its people. The wealth of omega-rich fish available from coastal waters nourished generations of Scots, supporting brain development and cardiovascular health. For the average person in medieval Scotland, a typical meal consisted of herb and root pottage with meat or fish, providing a balanced mixture of nutrients, medicinal herbs, and healing compounds that supported cellular health.

The Potato Revolution and the Great Famines

Perhaps no single food transformed Celtic diets more dramatically than the humble potato. Introduced to Ireland in the late 17th century by English conquerors, it quickly became the staple food. By the 1840s, nearly half of Ireland's then 8.4 million people had become almost exclusively dependent on potatoes for their diet. Immense population growth, from about 2 million in 1700 to 8 million by the time of the Great Famine, led to increased division of holdings and a consequent reduction in their average size. By 1845, 24% of all Irish tenant farms were of 0.4–2 hectares (1–5 acres) in size, while 40% were of 2–6 hectares (5–15 acres). Holdings were so small that no crop other than potatoes would suffice to feed a family.

The Famines and Forced Migration: A Heartbreaking Chapter

Between 1845 and 1856, both Ireland and the Scottish Highlands endured catastrophic potato famines that led to profound human suffering and mass emigration. In Ireland, when the water mold Phytophthora infestans destroyed potato crops from 1845 to 1849, nearly half the population who relied on this staple food faced devastating choices. The year 1847, known as "Black '47," saw approximately one million people perish from starvation and disease. Faced with unimaginable loss, another two million Irish people left their beloved homeland, seeking survival elsewhere.

The Scottish Highlands experienced a similar trauma during this period, though on a smaller scale. When potato blight struck the Hebrides and western Highlands in 1846, approximately 200,000 people faced starvation risk. While the mortality rate was lower than in Ireland, the crisis forced many Highlanders to leave their ancestral lands, carrying both their cultural heritage and their deep connection to traditional foods with them across oceans.

These forced migrations created a global Celtic diaspora, spreading Irish and Scottish people to North America, Australia, and beyond. Today, descendants of these courageous survivors carry not only the memories of their ancestors' resilience but also the genetic imprint of generations who thrived on traditional Celtic foods—a heritage that continues to influence nutritional needs and responses in people of Irish and Scottish descent worldwide.

The Great Diaspora and Dietary Transformation

The famines set in motion a global dispersion of Celtic peoples, primarily to Britain, North America, and Australia. By 1851, Liverpool's population was one-quarter Irish-born, while approximately a third of the western Scottish Highland population emigrated between 1841 and 1861. Today, roughly 80 million people worldwide carry Irish ancestry, with half residing in the United States.

This mass migration dramatically impacted Celtic dietary patterns. Immigrants found themselves adapting to new environments where traditional foods were unavailable or altered by different growing conditions. In America, for instance, wheat and corn replaced traditional oats and barley, and even though they brought many plants with them these plants were then grown with different soil and microbes. These dietary shifts, while necessary for survival, often meant moving away from foods that had sustained genetic health patterns for millennia—a transition that continues to influence the wellness of Celtic descendants today.

Traditional Foods as Medicine: Cellular Nourishment from Celtic Soil

The pre-industrial diet in Celtic regions offers remarkable examples of "Food as Medicine" principles that modern nutritional science is only beginning to understand. These ancestral eating patterns provided balanced nutrition that supported cellular health, immune function, and metabolic wellness. These same foods are now celebrated by nutritionists as "superfoods."

Ordinary people in Scotland consumed "broses" made from barley, oats, beans, and peas cooked in cauldrons over open fires. The slow-cooking process released nutrients and made them more bioavailable, while the combination of legumes and grains created complementary protein profiles. Fermented foods and sourdough preparations enhanced digestibility and nutrient absorption. The ubiquitous kale and cabbage, prominent in Irish and Scottish diets, are recognized for their powerful anti-inflammatory properties and dense nutritional profile.

The traditional Irish diet centered on abundant fish, especially varieties rich in omega-3 fatty acids that support brain health, reduce inflammation, and protect heart function. Salmon—held sacred in Irish mythology as a source of long life, strength, and good fortune—provides health benefits that modern science now confirms. Traditional vegetables included mineral-rich turnips and beets, nutrient-dense cabbage and kale, sulfur rich onion and garlic supported detoxification, and wild herbs provided micro-nutrients provided by the rich soil. In modern times we recognize these foods as “superfoods” and these foods shaped the genetics of our Celtic ancestors and remain a key component to maximizing our potential for the best health and longevity.

Nutritional Transitions: Understanding Modern Dietary Shifts Through a Wellness Lens

The 19th century marked a significant nutritional transition for Celtic populations, as traditional food patterns gradually gave way to European dietary standards. In post-Famine Ireland, as economic conditions improved between 1845 and 1911, flour consumption increased fourfold, and commercially produced bread replaced nutrient-dense traditional cereals as the dietary staple. This shift toward convenience foods often came at a nutritional cost—the new diet based on baker's bread, butter, tea, and sugar contained fewer vitamins and health-supporting compounds than traditional potato-based meals complemented with wild greens and fermented dairy.

From a nutritional perspective, these dietary transitions illustrate how cultural and economic pressures can sometimes lead away from optimal nourishment patterns. While some aspects of historical Celtic diets persist today—such as Ireland's remarkably high consumption of butter (providing essential fat-soluble vitamins) and significant intake of quality animal proteins—many of the most health-supportive elements were lost in the modernization process.

Understanding these transitions provides valuable context for health practitioners seeking to reconnect people with nutrient-dense traditional foods that support their genetic heritage.

The nutritional wisdom embedded in traditional eating patterns often anticipated modern scientific discoveries about optimal nutrition. For instance, the emphasis on organ meats, bone broths, and fermented foods provided bioavailable nutrients and compounds that supported gut health, immune function, and cellular regeneration—therapeutic properties that nutritional science is only beginning to fully appreciate. By examining these historical transitions through a wellness lens, we gain valuable perspective on both what was lost and what might be beneficially reclaimed in contemporary healing diets.

Ancestral Foods and Genetic Heritage: A Blueprint for Optimal Wellness

Modern research in nutritional genomics is shedding light on why traditional Celtic foods work so harmoniously with the genetic makeup of those with Irish and Scottish ancestry. Our DNA carries the adaptive memory of generations who thrived on specific regional foods, influencing how we process nutrients today. For those with Celtic heritage, traditional eating patterns may provide the ideal nutritional framework for optimal gene expression and cellular function.

People with Irish ancestry often carry genetic variations that developed in response to traditional dietary patterns. For instance, the higher prevalence of the HFE gene variant among those with Celtic heritage reflects an adaptation to historically lower iron environments, illustrating how our ancestral diet shapes our nutritional needs today. Understanding these genetic factors helps explain why some people experience profound improvements in health when adopting eating patterns that resonate with their ancestral heritage.

Foraging, essential for dietary variety, provides phytonutrients and medicinal compounds rarely found in conventional produce. Wild edibles like blueberries, blackberries, and sloes deliver potent antioxidants that support cellular health, while traditional herbs incorporated into daily cooking served as preventative medicine. These foraged foods not only provided essential vitamins and minerals but also contained adaptive compounds that supported the body's resilience to environmental stressors.

Indigenous Herbs and Medicinal Plants: Nature's Pharmacy in Celtic Traditions

The Celtic regions have developed a profound relationship with medicinal plants that blurred the boundary between food and medicine. This traditional wisdom anticipated modern understanding of functional foods and phytonutrients by centuries. Common herbs like nettles, dandelion, and chickweed—often dismissed as weeds in modern contexts—provided concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals, and medicinal compounds that supported robust health throughout the seasons.

These indigenous plants contain bioactive compounds that support specific aspects of human physiology. Nettle, for instance, offers natural antihistamine properties and exceptional mineral content that supports bone health and reduces inflammation. Dandelion supports liver function and detoxification, while chickweed provides cooling properties for inflammatory conditions. These plants have co-evolved with human populations in Celtic regions, developing properties that specifically address the health needs of people living in these environments.

The traditional use of herbs and medicinal plants in Celtic food culture represents an intuitive understanding of preventative health that modern functional medicine is only beginning to rediscover. By incorporating these plants into daily meals rather than reserving them only for times of illness, Celtic food traditions embody the principle that food itself is medicine—a proactive approach to wellness that builds resilience rather than merely treating symptoms.

Moving Forward: Integrating Ancestral Wisdom into Modern Life

For those with Celtic heritage, embracing traditional food patterns offers a practical path to optimal wellness. Start by incorporating key Indigenous foods into your daily meals: wild-caught fatty fish, fermented dairy products, hearty root vegetables, and nutrient-dense greens like kale and cabbage. Consider foraging for seasonal herbs or growing traditional medicinal plants like nettles and dandelion, which provide concentrated nutrition tailored to our genetic needs.

Modern life does not require abandoning ancestral wisdom. Simple practices like preparing bone broths, fermenting vegetables, or using traditional herbs as both food and medicine can bridge the gap between past and present. These ancient foods work synergistically with our DNA, supporting cellular function in ways that align with millennia of adaptation.

If you are of Celtic descent and seeking nourishing food choices, the Indigenous Irish and Scottish foods provide a tested blueprint for wellness. By mindfully integrating these time-honored foods into contemporary diets, you honor your heritage while actively supporting your health—proving that sometimes the best path forward is through reconnecting with the wisdom of the past.

Julie Wardwell, CAP, LMT

Holistic Health Care Practitioner