Myrtle Allen

Who is Myrtle Allen?

Myrtle Allen is an Irish Michelin star winning head chef and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeat's Room of Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, County Cork. Besides her cooking duties, she has also been a writer, hotelier and teacher.

In 1943, Myrtle Hill married Ivan Allen, a vegetable grower, who was working at the farm Kinoith in Shanagarry. In 1947 the couple bought Ballymaloe House and the surrounding farm. Ivan managed the fruit- and vegetable farm and worked on Kinoith, while Myrtle took care of the children and the manor. Later, in 1958, Ivan Allen inherited Kinoith from Wilson Strangman, the deceased owner.

With her husband a successful grower of fruit and vegetables, Myrtle had an abundance of fresh products in her kitchen. Under the guidance of her husband, an avid gourmet, she learned to cook by taking cooking courses at the School of Commerce and self-study. That went quite well and in 1962, she was cookery correspondent with the Irish Farmers Journal. Originally the Irish Farmers Journal was a publication of Macra na Feirme. Myrtle Allen was very active in this young farmers organization, eventually becoming "Vice President for the Munster Region" of the "National Council" of Macra na Feirme in 1959. A bid for the presidency in 1963 was unsuccessful.