Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Especially in America. And U.S. Irish pub owners make the most of it.

There’s something about the Emerald Isle that attracts nearly 900,000 American tourists every year. One can’t deny a significant part of the Irish culture we Americans flock to is the traditional public house, aka the Irish pub. And if you can’t make it to Ireland to visit a real Irish pub, the next best thing is likely right around your corner.

In the U.S. and around the world, there’s usually an Irish pub or two in every city. They are renowned for their music, drink, food, camaraderie and “craic,” which is Irish lingo for fun. After an evening of sharing some laughs, Guinness and chips (fries for us Americans) with friends, one can see why the Irish pub in America is one trend that stands the test of time.

While we Americans typically associate a certain type of food with our Irish pubs—be it shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, or fish and chips—food wasn’t always on the pub menu in Ireland. In fact, eating out for the Irish was uncommon. It wasn’t until tourists began invading the country in the 1980s that the Irish pubs started serving food in order to capture the tourist eating trade. Still today, if one would venture off the tourist-beaten Irish path into more rural areas, they would more than likely find a real, traditional and foodless pub.

So what do the Irish think of America’s version of their beloved pub? It’s a mixed bag.

“When we go away to foreign cities, we nearly always end up in an Irish bar mainly because we know it’s going to be an English-speaking place and we’ll more than likely get food we are familiar with,” said Niall O Riordan, who lives in Cavan, Ireland. “Unfortunately, 95 percent of these pubs aren’t even owned by Irish people. It’s a bit like seeing an Italian pizzeria and going in and having a slice made and served to me by the owner who is from Albania!”

Liz Lamb Fisher, who grew up in Dublin and now resides outside Washington, D.C., explained why both the Irish and Americans seek out pubs. “I think it’s mostly because there are a lot of people that feel in some way connected with Ireland, even if the connection is many years ago. When I lived in France, the Irish contingent went to the pub because we could feel like we were closer to home somehow.”

But she warned, ”No self-respecting pub in Ireland would ever have a red, checkered tablecloth or, for St. Patrick’s Day, display anything that reads ‘Happy Patty’s Day.’”

In Ireland, it’s simply referred to as “Paddy’s Day.”

Renowned for their friendly atmosphere, “pub grub” and a place to meet someone from Ireland, Americans make the most of an Irish pub, especially if a sport is being televised. You can be sure most Irish pubs will be filled to the doors if a basketball game or soccer match is on the television. The same is true for Ireland, whose pubs are standing room only if hurling or a World Cup match is being played.

“The main attraction for us in an Irish pub abroad is that we will be able to see our favorite English soccer team live on big screens,” said O Riordan.

Whatever the attraction is for Americans, whether it’s watching a game, eating a hearty dish of meat and potatoes or sipping a Guinness, you can be sure the Irish pub is here to stay whether it is St. Patrick’s Day or any other day of the year.

Truffles, a mushroom that grows underground in the roots of certain types of tree roots, have been sought and savored since ancient times. Today, truffles are a firm favorite of foodies and demand continues to grow.

Mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, pasta, polenta and risotto typically serve as classic backdrops for the intense flavor of truffles. Chefs at high-end restaurants often mince truffles into meat sauces or use them to garnish mouth-watering seafood dishes.

Truffles have been a cultivated crop since the late 1800s. Today, most cultivated varieties are grown on farms in Spain, Italy and France. But restaurants and food/mushroom brokers are constantly looking for suppliers of the scarce gourmet commodity, which is why some U.S. growers are poised to take a bite out of the burgeoning market.

“Historically, the demand has always been higher than the supply and is expected to remain so for the next 50 years,” noted Franklin Garland of Garland Truffles in North Carolina on his Web site, www.garlandtruffles.com.

Garland, known as the “Johnny Appleseed of truffles,” is the pioneer of truffle cultivation in the Western Hemisphere. He was the first person to successfully cultivate the French black winter truffle, Tuber melanosporum, in North America.

A North Carolina Department of Agriculture-certified nursery, Garland Truffles has been in business since 1979 and starts about 20,000 truffle-bearing trees each year, selling most of them to new growers. Trees are densely planted in orchards – about 500 trees per acre.

Many trees produce the fungus in as few as five years, provided the proper soil conditions and climate are met. Yields typically run up to 125 pounds per acre under ideal conditions. Growers deploy specially trained sniffing dogs to pinpoint the location of mature truffles ready for harvesting, which is all done by hand.

On the wholesale market, truffles run between $300 to $800 per pound, making them a prized and pricey culinary option for discriminating chefs and foodies.

Learn more online by watching America’s Heartland (http://bit.ly/6v1fl3), the weekly half-hour television series that explores agriculture in all 50 states.

In a recent segment on the “CBS Early Show,” Bon Appetit’s restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton predicted meatballs would be the biggest trend of 2010. “Not grandma’s meatballs,” said Knowlton, but ethnic versions of the dish, such as French and Vietnamese, will be popular. Knowlton also said the food theme of the year will be “New Austrian,” such as homemade pretzels and microbrew beers (the magazine accurately predicted last year’s food trend would be Southern foods). The spicy chili sauce Sriracha will be the ingredient of the year, according to Knowlton, who said it will likely be on restaurant tables alongside ketchup and mustard.

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