Veronica Steele
Veronica Steele | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Veronica Barron 26 November 1947 Dublin |
| Died | 4 January 2017 (aged 69) County Cork |
| Occupation(s) | Cheesemaker; businesswoman |
Veronica Barron Steele (26 November 1947 – 4 January 2017) was an Irish artisan cheesemaker from Eyeries, West Cork. She created Milleens cheese, "Ireland's first modern farmhouse cheese".[1]
Career
[edit]Steele earned a degree in philosophy from University College Dublin.[2] She pioneered the homegrown Irish artisan cheese industry in the 1970s, with the introduction of Milleens cheese,[3][4] which achieved national attention when it was picked up by Declan Ryan for use in the Arbutus Lodge in Cork.[5] She started cheese making on her Beara Peninsula farm, as a way to preserve excess milk,[3][6] and to develop jobs in rural areas.[7] She was influenced by John Ehle.[8] "Any fool can make cheese," she later explained. "It takes genius to ripen it. You are dealing with an innocent-looking blob of mainly protein and fat, which is the favourite food of almost every beast that roams the face of the earth."[4]
The Steeles were featured in a short documentary film, The Cheesemakers of Beara, televised in 1986.[9] Steele was a founder and chair of CAÍS, the Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers.[10][11] In 2000 she and Seamus Sheridan gave a workshop on Irish Farmhouse Cheese at the Salon de Gusto in Turin.[12] The Steeles' herd was lost to bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2001. She retired for health reasons in 2003, passing ownership of the Milleens production to her son Quinlan.[13][14]
In 2016, she was honoured with a "Best of the Decade" Good Food Ireland Award.[5] She also received the first Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Cheese Awards.[15]
Personal life
[edit]Veronica Barron, a Dublin native, was married to Sussex-born philosophy lecturer Norman Steele.[16][17] They had four children.[2] She suffered from multiple system atrophy later in life, and died in 2017, at the age of 69, at Bantry General Hospital.[5][16]
References
[edit]- ^ Harbutt, Juliet (7 July 2015). World Cheese Book. Penguin. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-4654-4372-4.
- ^ a b Cross, Dick (5 April 1981). "Veronica's cheese wins a connoisseur market". Sunday Independent (Dublin ed.). p. 15. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Andrews, Colman (21 December 2012). The Country Cooking of Ireland. Chronicle Books. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4521-2405-6.
- ^ a b Sheridan, Kevin; Sheridan, Seamus (3 May 2016). Sheridans' Guide to Cheese: A Guide to High-Quality Artisan Farmhouse Cheeses. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-63220-777-7.
- ^ a b c "Obituary: Veronica Steele". The Irish Times. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ Goldstein, Darra; Merkle, Kathrin; Mennell, Stephen; Sport, Council of Europe Directorate General IV--Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and (2005). Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity and Dialogue. Council of Europe. p. 239. ISBN 978-92-871-5744-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The Oxford Companion to Cheese. Oxford University Press. 25 October 2016. ISBN 9780199330904.
- ^ "An Irish Chef in France - Remembering Veronica Steele". Ireland-Guide.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- ^ "Channel 4 listings". Sunday Independent (Dublin ed.). 4 May 1986. p. 31. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "A soft and strong Steele". Evening Herald. 18 July 1986. p. 15. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hallgarten, Elaine (7 August 1987). "Green Cheese". The Guardian. p. 18. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ McWeeney, Myles (17 October 2000). "Cork can now claim to be the Big Cheese". Irish Independent. p. 14. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Tamara (19 December 2023). "Brexit and Covid put these Beara cheesemakers on the brink after 48 years". Irish Independent. pp. T12. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Q&A: Quinlan Steele". Irish Independent. 19 December 2023. pp. T13. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Lucinda (17 January 2016). "Magnificent Irish cheese, a long way from plastic slices". Sunday Independent (Dublin ed.). p. 36. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Downing, Con (6 January 2017). "Death of pioneering West Cork cheesemaker Veronica Steele". The Southern Star. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ Scanlon, Anne Marie (26 January 2014). "Meet a businesswoman who has the complete package". Sunday Independent (Dublin ed.). p. 26. Retrieved 30 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- The history of Milleens, milleenscheese.com