Myrtle Allen (13 March 1924 – 13 June 2018) was an Irish

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

-winning

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef that manages multiple kitche ...

and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeats Room at

Ballymaloe House Ballymaloe House () is a country house with a hotel and dining facilities, located in Shanagarry in County Cork, Ireland. Traces of a 15th century castle remain within its fabric. The Yeats Room of Ballymaloe is a restaurant, It is a fine ...

in Shanagarry,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. Besides her career in cooking, she had also been a writer, hotelier and teacher.

Personal life

Myrtle Hill was the daughter of Henry Houghton Hill, granddaughter of Arthur Hill, and great-granddaughter of

Henry Hill Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testi ...

, all respected architects in Cork. She was a member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

(Quakers). In 1943, Myrtle Hill married Ivan Allen, a vegetable grower, who was working at the farm Kinoith in Shanagarry. In 1947, the couple bought Ballymaloe House and the surrounding farm. Ivan managed the fruit and vegetable farm and worked on Kinoith, while his wife took care of the children and the manor. Later, in 1958, Ivan Allen inherited Kinoith from Wilson Strangman, the deceased owner. As her husband was a successful grower of fruit and vegetables, she had an abundance of fresh products in her kitchen. Under the guidance of her husband, an avid gourmet, she learned to cook by taking cooking courses at the School of Commerce and self-study. By 1962, she was cookery correspondent of the ''

Irish Farmers Journal The ''Irish Farmers Journal'' is a weekly agricultural newspaper (published Thursdays) which provides farming news, specialist advice, market data and country living features to the Irish agricultural industry. As of October 2019, it reportedl ...

''. Originally the ''Irish Farmers Journal'' was a publication of

Macra na Feirme Macra na Feirme (; officially meaning 'stalwarts of the land') is an Ireland, Irish voluntary rural youth organisation. It provides a social outlet for members in sport, travel, public speaking, performing arts, community involvement and agricult ...

. Myrtle Allen was very active in this young farmers' organisation, eventually becoming vice president for the Munster Region of the National Council of Macra na Feirme in 1959. A bid for the presidency in 1963 was unsuccessful. She was married to her husband Ivan until his death in 1998. Allen, aged 94, died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on 13 June 2018 at Cork University Hospital.

Culinary career

In 1964, she decided to start a restaurant in her own dining room dubbed The Yeats Room., as the Allens had several paintings by Jack Yeats. Her philosophy of using local artisanal ingredients and changing her menu daily to reflect the best offerings of the season was "revolutionary at the time." She summed up her philosophy of food in the following nine words "local, seasonal, organic, flavoursome, sustainable and superbly cooked food". Later she changed a few unused rooms into rooms for a guesthouse, which grew into the hotel Ballymaloe is today. By the 1960s she and her sous-chef, Darina O'Connell, started giving courses in cooking. Later Darina, by then married to Myrtle's son Tim Allen, moved the cookery classes to Kinoith under the name of Ballymaloe Cookery School. In 1986, Myrtle Allen was part of founding Euro-toques International and founder of Euro-toques Ireland. Euro-toques is an organisation of professional cooks promoting and protecting Europe's culinary heritage, and defending the quality of local and carefully cooked food. She served as president of the international body from 1994 to 1997. In 2013, Myrtle Allen was the subject of a documentary, ''Myrtle Allen: A Life in Food'', which aired on

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...

Legacy

She has been called the "renowned matriarch of Modern Irish cuisine," "the leading light of modern-day Irish cooking," and "as important to her country's cuisine as

Alice Waters Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, food writer, and author. In 1971, she opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for ...

was to America's."

Awards

* 1975–1980: one

* 1975–1981, 1983–1984 and 1987–1988: one star in the Egon Ronay Guide * 1981–1994: ''Red M'' awarded by the

Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

* 1984: Cesar Award in the Good Hotel Guide * 1988: Ballymaloe House included in the Courvoisier book of best hotels * 1990: the Ackerman Martell Guide the black four-leaved clover for excellence in all aspects of the hotel and restaurant business * 1991: Ballymaloe House included in Harpers and Queen 'The one hundred Best Hotels in the World' * 2000: Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa – awarded by the

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

* 2011: Taste Icon award – presented by Taste of Dublin * 2011: Lifetime Achievement Award – Women and Agriculture Awards * 2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Food Writers' Guild

Books

* ''The Ballymaloe Cookbook''; 1984 * ''Myrtle Allen's Cooking at Ballymaloe House''; 1990

References

External links

Official website Ballymaloe House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Myrtle 1924 births 2018 deaths Irish chefs Writers from Cork (city) Irish women writers Irish women chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Irish women food writers Deaths from pneumonia in the Republic of Ireland Irish cookbook writers