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State Papers
What did Ronald Reagan eat on his visit to Ireland?
Not too much butter, anyway.
THE VISIT TO Ireland by then-US President Ronald Reagan was both hotly-anticipated and debated.
Part of the State visit was a dinner in his honour, as happens with many visits.
The swanky event took place in the State Apartments in Dublin Castle on Sunday, 3 June 1984 and this, courtesy of the National Archives of Ireland is the menu from that night:
Starting with Dublin Bay prawns and turtle soup (a soup made from turtle flesh), guests moved onto a fillet of Irish beef with carrots, potatoes and cucumber, a cheese board and strawberries.
However, not everyone was getting everything on the menu.
A separate note advises the chefs that President Reagan didn’t want “too much butter” on his prawns, while Garret Fitzgerald’s wife Joan opted for a wedge of melon instead of the prawns altogether.
The red wine came from the Chateau Lynch Bages winery, which is named for an Irish family who oversaw the region of Bages in France in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Dress up
And what did you have to wear? Luckily, the guesswork was removed for guests as the Taoiseach’s Department sent out to the point instructions.
And who got an invite? Here’s the guest list:
Not everyone got to attend, though. Former editor of the Irish Independent Vincent Doyle couldn’t go because of the “organised chaos” of putting the paper together for the Monday morning.
He told the Taoiseach in a letter that his wife was not happy about missing her chance to see President Reagan’s wife, Nancy.
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