Butter Intervention

by Ellen Dillon

Nothing less than a history of Ireland sculpted in semi-solid emulsion, ‘Butter Intervention’ is sceptical about narratives and their revisions alike, as refined and as salty as the creamery product it subjects to forensic documentary survey and lyrical deconstruction.

140 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2022

Reviews

[segosha · Rating 4 out of 5]

so original, i wanted more butter talk!!!

[Jessyca · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We were all made with care at home, with farm women and their daughters sharing the work of churning and of stirring vats of warming milk for cheese, oats for porridge and blood for pudding."

At some points, I honestly forgot we were talking about butter, as much of the book explores the labor and manufacturing; unseen or unsavored by the standard consumer. It is honestly a love letter to those who had a hand on every level of food processing; demanding respect on the contents of your plate and to grieve the cultural loss of food rites.

It is a haunting of loss, like a bean sí (Banshee) seated next to you at the dinner table, that whispers of cultural (and labor-based) currency in the form of a semi-solid history involving butter, cream, and chewy milk.

It is a recollection of ancient stories and modern musings of a poet-scholar that shakes things up, breaks them down till "volatile substances are released, and new worlds become possible."

[Ellen]

‘sometimes, odd things crystallise and clump into forms of their own making. Good things come from agitation’