"Never for a minute relax your vigilance". Myrtle Allen wrote that to us, in 1998. It explains exactly why she has been the most important person in Irish food since she opened the doors of Ballymaloe House in 1964.
This eternal vigilance exists alongside a self-deprecating manner that beliefs her steeliness: it would be easy to take Mrs Allen for granted, but it would be a mistake. Despite being a well-bred girl – the daughter of an architect, with a lightly plummy accent - she has a folksy manner, especially in public speaking, and a style that has become extremely unfashionable. Her power lies in two things: she understands almost better than anyone what makes a food special; and she has never flinchd from practising and expressing that belief in the intrinsic goodness and valour of food since 1964. Empires have fallen around her feet, bright stars have fizzled out, societies and cultures have changed, but she has not. In Ballymaloe it is always 1964, and time for a dinner of local foods - Ballycotton fish; Cloyne beef; garden gooseberries; Milleens cheese from down the Beara peninsula. Her power is such that her status as the most important person in Irish food is completely unchallenged. You can hardly even hear anyone begrudge Ballymaloe's status.
We would go further than this, however: Myrtle Allen is the most important person to have practised and expressed an individual culture in the history of the Irish state.