Growing up in South Jersey, there are lot of traditions and culture-related “quarks” that I grew up with. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with South Jersey, you’ll need to know that South Jersey is heavily influenced by “Philadelphian culture”, as well as Italian heritage.) Many of these traditions or culture based ideas come so natural to me, that it wasn’t until I moved away that I realized it was “just a South Jersey” thing. Think about it. Seriously. Stop reading this stupid blog and think. Do you have culture influences or traditions that seem normal to you, but might not be as popular in other areas? Yeah. Ok. Stop thinking. Chances are, you probably can’t think of any because you won’t think of them as anything but normal. To which, I suggest you get a life, stop stocking mine, and go make some friends with different backgrounds. JUST KIDDING!
Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, the store shelves are stocked with Irish Potatoes. Irish Potatoes aren’t, in fact, Irish at all or contain any sort of potato. Irish potatoes are an extremely sweet candy, made out of white coconut rolled into a ball and covered in brown cinnamon. These little balls of goodness and joy are shaped and sized to look exactly like Irish Potatoes during the time of the famine. Irish Potatoes were originally made to help commemorate and remember the Irish famine. And when’s the best time to market such a product? St. Patrick’s Day!
Everyone knows what Irish Potatoes are. We used to make them every year in grade school. Every store in town sold small green boxes of Irish Potatoes. It is a St. Patrick’s Day tradition.
It wasn’t until I moved to Florida that I learned (and rather quickly) that Irish Potatoes were not a popular item outside of South Jersey. Most people never even heard of them! How insane?!?!
There’s an old candy story in Lincoln that is owned by an old lady from Philly. So every year at St. Patrick’s Day, they sale those famous green boxes of Irish Potatoes. As soon as I found this out, I was sure to make sure I bought enough Irish Potatoes to teach everyone about this tradition.
The best part of all these nonsense? This year, when I picked up that famous box, I saw something that I never before noticed in my life. Right there, on the side of the box, in big green letters. “A Philadelphian tradition for over 100 years.” After 19 years of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Irish Potatoes and walking through stores every year and seeing thousands of these famous boxes, and there it was, right on the box. “A Philadelphian tradition.” Needless to say, I apologize if I ever made fun of you for not knowing about Irish Potatoes, because clearly, I didn’t read the box.
If you’re still confused as hell as to what Irish Potatoes are. OH’RYAN’s is the name of the only company that makes them. I can’t promise you’ll like them, but it’s a cultural experience that’s worth trying!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
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