Street View Street Food
Barm Brack
History
Usually sold in flattened rounds, it is often served
toasted with butter along with a cup of tea in the
afternoon. The dough is sweeter than sandwich bread,
but not as rich as cake, and the sultanas and raisins add
flavour and texture to the final product. In Ireland it is
sometimes called Bairín Breac, and the term is also used
as two words in its more common version.
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Culture
The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various
objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of
fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were: a pea, a
stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin and a ring. Each item,
when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a
meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person
would not marry that year; the stick, would have an
unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth
or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would
enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed
within the year.