We like them with "red lead," sausages, crisps, butter, and sometimes fancier stuff. We consider them our native food and rightly so - they have protected status in the EU! They're floury, sometimes soft, and sometimes crusty. But whatever way you choose to eat yours, one thing is for certain, we do love the blaa in Waterford!
How old is the blaa?
While Walsh's Bakehouse is celebrating 100 years, in actual fact, the blaa is way older than that! Dermot Walsh tells us the floury favourite has been around for a whopping 300 years. Long before the invention of "red lead," we'd imagine!
Our Aoibhin from The Big Breakfast Blaa caught up with Dermot, whose family set up Walsh's Bakehouse 100 years ago in 1921. "Our family bakery was started by my grandfather in 1921. And it was then he passed it on to my father and his brother, my uncle. And then the mantle was eventually taken over by myself and my brother Michael, and we've been at this for longer than I care to admit," Dermot said.
Dermot went on to tell Aoibhin that despite a stint in college in Limerick in the early 80s, he always knew making blaas was his first love. He left the course and headed off to Dublin to pursue a career in baking.
Celebrating the 'Big Birthday' at Harvest
To celebrate 100 years of blaa making, Walsh's Bakehouse is hosting a free event in Waterford City for the Waterford Harvest Festival. "A Century in the Baking, celebrating 100 years of baking in Waterford" takes place between 11am and 4pm at the Lacken Road Business Park between 11am and 4pm. Dermot says they're really excited about it, "..and the main part is that it is free, It's on us. It's our thank you to the people of Waterford for for supporting us for the last 100 years."
You can catch Aoibhin's full interview with Dermot Walsh on The Big Breakfast Blaa with Vinny and Aoibhin, this Friday morning on WLR.
