 The introduction of the potato in the second half of the 16th century heavily influenced cuisine thereafter . Great poverty encouraged a subsistence approach to food and by the mid @-@ 19th century the vast majority of the population <unk> with a diet of potatoes and milk . A typical family , consisting of a man , a woman and four children , would eat 18 stone ( 110 kg ) of potatoes a week . Consequently , dishes that are considered as national dishes represent a fundamental <unk> to cooking , such as the Irish <unk> , <unk> and cabbage , <unk> , a type of potato <unk> , or <unk> , a dish of <unk> potatoes and <unk> or cabbage . 
