Angela's Ashes:

The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests, bullying schoolmasters; the English and all the terrible things they did to us for 800 long years.
-Frank McCourt

During his childhood, he dreamed of being a prison inmate in the U.S. for the food and warmth. There were seven children in his family. The three youngest died due to disease and malnutrition. Years later as teacher in New York City, one of his students threw a sandwich at another kid. McCourt picked it up and ate it in front of the class. He knew the value of food.