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Myrtle Allen (13 March 1924 – 13 June 2018) was an Irish Michelin star-winning head chef and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeats Room at Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, County Cork. Besides her career in cooking, she had 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 his wife took care of the children and the manor. The emergence, development and influence of French Haute Cuisine on public dining in Dublin restaurants 1900–2000: an oral history. Thesis DIT by Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire, 2009. 3 downloadable volumes.. Part 2, pp. 459–462 Later, in 1958, Ivan Allen inherited Kinoith from Wilson Strangman, the deceased owner.
As her husband was a successful grower of fruit and vegetables, she 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. By 1962, she was cookery correspondent of 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' organisation, 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. A voice for the country – 50 years of Macra na Feirme; by Jim Miley; pp. 191–2 (1994)
She was married to her husband Ivan until his death in 1998. Allen, aged 94, died of pneumonia on 13 June 2018 at Cork University Hospital.
In 1986, Myrtle Allen was part of founding Euro-toques International and founder of Euro-toques Ireland. Euro-toques is an organisation of professional cooks promoting and protecting Europe's culinary heritage, and defending the quality of local and carefully cooked food. She served as president of the international body from 1994 to 1997.
In 2013, Myrtle Allen was the subject of a documentary, Myrtle Allen: A Life in Food, which aired on RTÉ Television.
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