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Myrtle Allen

Myrtle Allen (born 1924, Tivoli, Cork, County Cork), 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 was to America's." is an Irish Michelin star winning head chef and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeats Room of Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, County Cork. Besides her cooking duties, she has also been a writer, hotelier and teacher.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 Myrtle took care of the children and the manor. Later, in 1958, Ivan Allen inherited Kinoith from Wilson Strangman, the deceased owner.With her husband a successful grower of fruit and vegetables, Myrtle 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 with the Irish Farmers Journal. Originally the Irish Farmers Journal was a publication of Macra na Feirme. 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.In 1964, Myrtle decided to start a restaurant in her own dining room dubbed The Yeats Room. 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." 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 thru 1997.Myrtle Allen's husband Ivan died in 1998.In 2013 Myrtle Allen was the subject of a doumentary, Myrtle Allen: A Life in Food, which aired on RTÉ Television.