Dublin: 8 °C Friday 24 January, 2025
Advertisement

How Gerald Kean's tweet about potatoes became one of the great Irish memes

“Bite a large whole thro”

CELEB LAWYER GERALD Kean is well known for his appearances in the social pages, on reality telly and as one half of Ireland’s tabloid golden couple (with Lisa Murphy).

Here he is holding the chequered flag at charity road race in Dublin in 2009:

geralkean Source: RollingNews.ie

He’s also at the beating heart of one of the Irish internet’s best slow burning memes.

Back in 2014, he tweeted out this… recipe for a potato-based snack:

potatoe Source: Twitter

Aside from the comical spelling mistakes throughout, the actual technique itself is worthy of examination:

  • Peel potatoe
  • Bite a large whole thro it
  • Bacon on plate with anchovies or cheese on it black pepper herbs
  • push into potatoe

Biting a hole through a potato and then pushing said ingredients into it isn’t a traditional cookery method – and it really captured the imagination of people on Twitter.

Lines from it slowly became a very funny meme

It merged with other memes

You can just repeat the whole tweet as well

But people have always had legitimate questions:

The popularity of the potatoe tweet is curious enough, but the fact that it’s actually gone beyond the borders of Ireland is even better.

Enter London-based English Twitter user Peter Bowden - he’s not only aware of Gerald’s potato invention, he’s actually tried it out.

Yes, in January of this year – the meme became real:

“Peel potatoe… bite a large whole thro it”

peelpotatoe Source: Peter Bowden Twitter

peelpotatoe2 Source: Peter Bowden Twitter

peelpotatoe3 Source: Peter Bowden Twitter

“Bacon on plate with anchovies or cheese on it black pepper herbs”

peelpotatoe4 Source: Peter Bowden Twitter

“push into potatoe”

peelpotatoe5 Source: Peter Bowden Twitter

PUSH INTO POTATOE.

peelpotatoe6 Source: Peter Bowden

And this was the final result after being thrown into the cooker on skewers

peelpotatoe7 Source: Peter Bowden

Peter’s assessment was:

A lot to like, should’ve cooked for longer and used anchovies not marinated in lemon, also more cheese next time, 6/10

He told DailyEdge.ie how he came across the obscure delicacy in the UK: 

I heard about it from @healthuntodeath, who has put a lot of effort into importing it here. I don’t know where he got it from. But it is a work of art, one that’s only improved by me just now Googling who Gerald Kean is.

It only gets better with context.

You can apply it to any situation

Song lyrics work too

A catchphrase that stays with you

ost Source: @ostfprtrad Twitter

Peel potatoe.

Bite a large whole thro it.

*kisses fingertips*

Update: we’ve been informed that @goamoa15 and @mmegannnolan were integral to the creation and spread of this stellar meme – and we’re only delighted to acknowledge their important work. 

kean Source: @mmegannnolan Twitter

DailyEdge is on Snapchat! Tap the button below to add!

More An Irishman’s joke BBC breaking news ticker has become a huge meme>

About the author:

David Elkin

Read next:

COMMENTS (1)