A new book by a Ballymena man is serving up a nostalgic slice of local life, blending food and anecdotes while raising funds for charity.
Bate It Intae Ye: A Ballymena Cook Book tackles the thorny subjects thrashed out by north Antrim food lovers and home cooks - the core ingredients of a fry, the perfect traybake and the best place to buy a Ballymena Biscuit.
Recipes encourage you to chop ingredients and then “buck it all in” the saucepan and a reminder that the only kind of salad you should be serving visitors is the one from your childhood - slices of ham rolled like cigars, lettuce, coleslaw, boiled egg, cheddar cheese and lashings of salad cream.
Nigel Flynn (64) has channelled his love for his hometown into two self-published books inspired by the history, people, and everyday conversations that define the Co Antrim town.
His first book, From Harryville Bridge to the Chapel: a Ballymena Pub Crawl, came out at the end of 2020. A limited print run quickly sold out, after proving to be a popular Christmas gift.
Mr Flynn said writing the book was part of how he “integrated” back into the town having lived elsewhere for a number of years and returning after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
“After the first one, I continued writing books and work on other things like podcasts, mainly dealing with my disability,” he explained.
“Two years later we were in the pub, where I would go on a Friday afternoon for my weekly two pints of Guinness, and always the conversation turns to food.
“Things like, where makes the best food, how do you really make a fry or how do you really make champ. I was always sort of recording these discussions in my head and then I began to write them down and that’s how this book came about.”
The introduction to Bate It Intae Ye: A Ballymena Cookbook is witty and nostalgic, through a blend of personal anecdotes and observations Mr Flynn paints a vivid picture of life in Ballymena, tied together through the theme of food.
“It then goes into 15 recipes, they start off very seriously with how to make a proper Irish stew, but by the third recipe it gets less serious and we look at things like crisp butties”, he adds.
“And it ends with a few stories about good places to eat in Ballymena.”
Of all the recipes, some of which are more of a “discussion” around what makes the dish rather than a step by step plan, his favourite is number 12: A Fry.
“It’s a very contentious issue, if you go out to a pub and you start talking about what’s the difference between an Ulster Fry and a Full English Breakfast, there’s all these differences,” he explains.
“So in the book I’ve set out the rules; change these and you’ll lose your passport.”
In the book the section on the fry opens by saying: “Oil or lard? is the only real bone of contention in this great debate.
“All other matters discussed in this subsequent article are constitutional issues which could lead to enforced changes to your national identity and confiscation of your passport.”
It’s perhaps no surprise that he later confesses the fry is his favourite recipe in the book.
“A fry is what brought me up, I grew up eating fries and I liked them, if they’re properly done and properly cooked and the beans aren’t touching the egg - which is the most important thing - then I like the fry,” he said.
Funds raised from the sale of his first book benefitted local animal charity the Dog’s Trust. Mr Flynn hopes his second book will be as successful with any money raised donated to another local charity.
“This time we’re asking people to tell us what charity the money should go to,” he explains, “personally myself because it’s a food book I would like it to go to a food bank, but it’s not my say.”
The book is on sale in Diamonds Newsagents and Charlies Bar, both on Broughshane Street in Ballymena. Customers will be asked for their charity nomination when they make a purchase.
