National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day

March 17, Sunday

Many people think that corned beef and boiled cabbage is a traditional Irish dish for St. Patrick's Day, but this is actually not true. This is an Irish-American invention, that is why we celebrate National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day on March 17.

Corned beef is a salt-cured product. The term “corn” is derived from the name for coarse grains of rock salt and refers to treating meat with salt and preserving it in a salty brine. The original Irish dish consists of bacon and cabbage because back in the day, pork was widely available to low-income Irish families, since they raised their own pigs, whereas beef was an expensive delicacy that only a select few could afford.