Irish chicken, the end of the road?

Last week it was lambs.. now it's chicken. On Tuesday the Irish Times published the investigative piece I wrote on Irish chicken which has certainly excited some debate about what we're eating - debate being the polite word. I suppose strong reaction to any piece of journalism is what you want, and it's good to see that people are engaged with the issue and in some cases, simply frightened about what they're eating. I've had email comments sent on to me from the Times and a few strange phonecalls since the piece came out. One chap who called me this morning had a good old rant but I'm sure it's nothing a bucket of chicken at KFC can't sort out. After all, food and countryside issues often excite slightly over the top reactions. After directing an episode of Ear to the Ground (Ireland's farming programme) on fox hunting some years ago, I was delighted to find I was banned from the entire area of East Galway by the pro hunting lobby while at the same time an animal rights protestor chained himself to the gates of Leinster House. Have a look at the piece and see for yourself. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0329/1224293291679.html I'm off to write my presentation for a food event "For Food's Sake" tonight at The Sugar Club in Dublin. Really looking forward to it - myself, a representative from Bord Bia and the IFA will be presenting ideas and then responding to audience discussion on the future of food and farming. And there'll be artisan foods to sample afterwards... better leave some room in the tummy, though there's not a lot of room in there with an eight month old baby taking up most of the space... Tally ho x

How to survive a bullying on twitter - I blame the lambs

In my innocence I thought that most people knew that meat came from an animal. That it is born from a mummy animal, grows up, eats grass and is killed before it arrives on our plate as food. I guess not.

Last week I tweeted that seeing the newborn lambs in the fields around my house made me think of Spring lamb, which in turn sent me into the greenhouse to start watering my mint plants. Now this may be the behaviour of a rampant animal hater but hey, I simply like eating lamb.

Anyway, a while later someone responded to my tweet saying that I was a "sick and pathetic" individual. This sent me into paroxysms of excitement as obviously I had committed some truly awful deed in the league of Hannibal Lector. When I realised it was related to the lamb comment I (a) spent a long time laughing and (b) watched the twitter responses to the lamb issue get completely out of control and result in a lot of people taking deep offence.

The fact of the matter is that if we choose to eat meat we cannot ignore the facts of how that meat is raised and killed. And if we are grown up about it, we have to realise that burying your head in the sand doesn't change how animals are farmed and slaughtered. Farming is how food is produced and in terms of my daily life I live pretty close to the realities of it. Our house is sandwiched between two sheep farms which are currently midway in lambing a thousand lambs. Yes, a thousand. Some will be killed at twelve weeks old and sold as "spring lamb" - very young tender meat. Others will be killed at any stage up to about one year old, the rest will become replacement ewes (mothers themselves) and some quality males become breeding rams.

This is what happens to lambs. The way I reconcile eating lamb with the gorgeous little creatures gambolling around in the fields is that Irish sheep and lambs live as natural life as possible - outdoors, eating grass and in social herds. It is very different to the feedlot system often seen abroad where livestock live indoors, eat concentrate feed derived from maize and soya, with the biggest of these operations being essentially "factory farms".

Last year I bought a whole lamb killed at about 5 months old from Sweetbank Farm in Wicklow. (Some of it is pictured above) Their lamb is organic, grass fed and for me buying from farm gate from a farmer I know makes me feel what I'm eating is as ethically produced as possible. If I feel that certain meat is not produced with care towards animal welfare then I don't buy it, it's as simple as that.

I think we have to be real about food, know where it comes from and make a choice. It's interesting that if most consumers knew how their meat, especially imported chicken meat was produced they would probably not eat it. And as for twitter, you can follow my disgraceful views on food at @campbellsuz. I will atone, I promise.

www.sweetbankfarm.com

Talking, eating and swapping tales - For Foods Sake

In 2008 when myself and Philip started writing "Basketcase - What's happening to Ireland's Food" there were few places and gatherings that discussed the down and dirty aspects of what we eat. Agriculture was an unfashionable concept in Ireland; fields were for building houses in, not growing food. There was little crossover between the restaurant sector, farmers, artisan producers, mainstream agriculture, food manufacturing, food economists and of course, us, the consuming public.




Happily, three years later, we're in a very different place. People engage more with what's going into their shopping baskets and into their mouths, and it's not about food snobbery; but about wanting to know about where food is coming from, what it's doing to our health and the health of our economy. This change is mirrored in a new gathering designed for food enthusiasts who want to know more about food in Ireland; where it comes from; how it's farmed, how it's retailed, how it's served in restaurants and where the future lies for Irish food producers.


In a way it's ironic that it took the collapse of property developing in Ireland to reveal that one of the most solidly performing sectors of the economy was and still is, agriculture and food - currently earning us 8 billion euro in exports a year. In more chastened times we are returning to what we do very well - producing food - and examining it in much more detail. Forums like For Foods Sake have come out of this curiosity to know more, and put our money where our mouth is.

What were former separate channels of the sector have now become much more enmeshed. Restaurateurs source artisan produce, commercial pig producers talk about the dangers of having a future Ireland without pig farming due to international speculation on cereal prices. Some farmers are moving to organic or rare breed meat while new research shows that shoppers are buying more Irish products and know the value of what buying Irish means to the local economy. They are also more engaged with growing their own food, cooking from scratch and food knowledge, all of which is great news for Irish food producers and transmitting their message to consumers.



Many of these issues will be teased out at For Food’s Sake which is designed to be a bi-monthly evening of food discussion and tastings that will explore Irish food and its future possibilities. The first event will be held in Dublin's Sugar Club on Thursday 31 March. Aoife Carrigy, food journalist, blogger and and former deputy editor of Food & Wine Magazine, will be chairing the discussion. She is one of the brains behind the forum and is passionate about Irish food. All credit to her for bringing a great idea into reality and putting hard work and imagination into the project.


On the first evening of For Food's Sake I join a panel of speakers which includes the lovely Graham Roberts of Connemara Smokehouse; Irish Farmers’ Association’s Pat Smith, and Una Fitzgibbon who is Director of Marketing Services at Bord Bia. Here's the sort of issues under discussion on the first night -


What can we do to support sustainable growth of the Irish food industry, through consumer choices as well as policy decisions

Who are we producing Irish food for – for export or for home consumption – and what does this mean for how we produce it?

How heavily does Irish agriculture rely on subsidies, why and what happens if those subsidies disappear?

Can organic food production provide a realistic alternative model for Irish agriculture or is it by nature a niche market?

Does our indigenous fishing industry have a sustainable future, and do we care enough to demand that it does?

Happily, there will be food tastings on the night courtesy of several Irish artisan producers who will tell you about the wonderful products they make and let everybody check them out for themselves, and there will be a full bar so lots of chat and banter expected.

So put the date in your diary and as Aoife says - For Food’s Sake, come join us, and Eat! Drink! and Be Merry! We’ve a lot to be cheerful about. And much to discuss. Let’s get started. For more information, see facebook.com/ForFoodsSakeIreland and HolyMackerel.ie or contact Aoife Carrigy on 087 6100 826 or Aisling Rogerson on 087 961 4755, or email us on ForFoodsSakeIreland@gmail.com

Follow-up events will take place on the last Thursdays of May, July and every two months after that. Each evening will feature different artisan producer tastings, different topics and a different panel.

FOR FOOD’S SAKE – AN EVENING OF FOOD TALK AND TASTINGS
The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Leeson Street, D 2
Thursday 31 March
Doors 7.30pm
Adm €5 on the door

St. Patricks Day - Eat it

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everyone! If there was ever an excuse to celebrate Irish food this is it; after all, we've reached a mature stage where we no longer colour beer green or squeeze ourselves into Leprechaun costumes. Or have we?

All around Ireland and further afield it's lovely to see lots of foodie events happening in conjunction with the one and only festival of Irishness. Great to see chefs like Catherine Fulvio (a Wicklow local like myself) travelling with the Irish delegation to Washington to promote Irish food. Chef Donal Skehan is joining Bord Bia at their events in Paris and in over in Texas, County Cork born foodie Rachel Gaffney is doing tv and radio spots throughout the period to celebrate Irish food and involve the huge Irish diaspora in the States in learning about traditional Irish foods and recipes.

All over the world, little bits of Ireland will be popping into people's mouths throughout St. Patrick's Day. I just hope they're decent examples of the wonderful products we produce here and not orange coloured cupcakes with acid green icing.

The first St. Patrick's Day food I experienced abroad was in Kitty O'Sheas pub in Paris when I was a student there. A friends parents who were visiting kindly took us there for lunch and pints of Guinness - rescuing us from a dietary dependence on pain au chocolat and cheap wine - our favourite was a rancid concoction bought for 6 francs in the bakery that turned your mouth instantly black. God love us, I think we thought the look was somewhere between Simone de Beauvoir and vampires.

It was during this momentous "hey we're eating real food" occasion at Kitty O'Sheas that I first tasted crubeens, or pigs trotters. My parents, who were solid farming folk had brought them home once or twice but I had always managed to run out the back door, fast. So ironically it was in Paris that I first ate one of the stalwarts of the Irish menu.

And so it is with national days of any kind; we can use them as a way to try something new and extend our dietary range which for everybody can get caught in a rut. It was at a recent Christmas market in Galway full of German traders that I had proper German Frankfurter (made and cooked authentically) for the first time in many years. It reminded me to include them in my shop now and again, and only for the fact that I've a freezer full of gorgeous free range pork still on the go I would be eating them more often.

As for us Irish at home - this short piece in the Examiner puts the case pretty simply (via Good Food Ireland) for using the occasion of St. Patrick's Day to remind us to buy Irish food. After all, our food exports are worth 8 billion euro a year, it is the one part of the economy that is really thriving and if all of us throw a few more Irish food items into our trolley every week it makes a real difference.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/consumers-urged-to-buy-local-food-to-preserve-jobs-and-livelihoods-148203.html#ixzz1GfBDU82J

Inishfood - good food, enthusiasm and one hell of a celebration

What started off as online chat about a few food bloggers heading up to Harry's Restaurant in Inishowen has turned into a Glastonbury of food; a mash-up of partying, eating, food skills and hanging out in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

What began as essentially a get-together of a few food enthusiasts grew force as twitter and facebook suggestions came in about what could be added on to a night of dining in Donegal. 'Inishfood' became reality - a two night event with additional dining experiences, venues, accomodation, and workshops with food producers - a mini food festival.

As enthusiastic foodies, bloggers, and those in search of a bit of craic put plans into action, it grew even more legs. Information about the event began to feature in mainstream media. At this stage it seems half the country who are in anyway interested in food, write about food, produce food or in fact, eat it, are all heading up to Donegal this weekend. All credit to Donal Doherty from Harry's Restaurant in Inishowen, and food bloggers Caroline Hennessey from http://www.bibliocook.com/ and Kristin from the http://dinnerdujour.org/ for putting it all together, it really is testament to what enthusiasm, passion for food and simple collaboration can achieve.

What's particularly lovely about it is that unlike most festivals of any kind, it is not run by an entertainment company or money-making enterprise but a group of like-minded people who wanted to do something positive and celebrate what's great about rural Ireland and local food at a lacklustre point of the year.

Here's a run down of the programme -

Friday, 11 March; get-together at Linsfort Castle B&B

Darren Bradley is making pizzas in his wood-fired pizza oven (check out the photo sequence of the oven being built on Darren’s blog) and Donal Doherty will be providing food as well.

Seaneen and Collin from L. Mulligan. Grocer will also be conducting a beer tasting.

Rambling House storytelling and music will then take place

Saturday, 12 March is a busy, hands-on day - the fee for this day is €40, which will cover lunch and the Taste of Inishowen dinner (drinks will be extra). Donal will be donating €10 from this fee to iCARE, the local autism charity; any extra donations would be welcome.

9.45 Coffee Angel and Bailie’s Hand Roasted Coffee will demonstrate how to correctly brew coffee at home. Feel free to bring something to share with coffee.

10.30 Intro and welcome by Donal Doherty of Harry’s Bar & Restaurant and Caroline Hennessy and Kristin Jensen from the IFBA

10.45 – 12.00 Masterclass with butchers Ed Hick, TJ Crowe and Jack McCarthy making fresh black pudding – bring an apron! (hands-on participants for this will be limited)

12 – 12.45 Imen McDonnell will be demonstrating modern farmhouse butter making

12.45 – 1.15 A light lunch

1.15 – 1.45 David Tiernan will talk about how he started making his amazing Glebe Brethan cheese and will provide samples

1.45 – 3.00 Ed Hick, TJ Crowe and JackMcCarthy will show us how to cure pork (the Quality Mark pork has been kindly sponsored by Bord Bia!). Participants for this will be limited to 16 and you’ll need to bring a 2 litre container with a lid that you won’t need to use for 5 weeks while your pork cures in it!

3.00 – 4.00 Inishfood think tank and chat – an informal discussion on what we can do for Irish food to promote it and send a common message.

4.00 – 4.45 A visit to Harry’s new walled garden project and a talk with GIY Ireland about The Pledge. Gareth Austin, BBC Radio Horticulturist, will also be on hand with practical DIY help as part of GIY Week

5.00 – 7.00 Break for everyone to freshen up for dinner

7.00 A Taste of Inishowen feast at Harry’s, all made from local produce

9:00 Raffle of hampers and gift bags full of amazing Irish food as well as other prizes, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Barnardos charity. In addition, Georgina Campbell has generously donated a copy of her book, Ireland for Food Lovers, for everyone in attendance at Inishfood!

On Sunday, 13 March; a coastal walk at Malin Head, a boat ride around the Garvan Isles and a fresh seafood lunch.
An alternative is Donal Doherty's 1-hour shore walk on Lough Swilly, weather permitting, to take in the beautiful countryside around Inishowen.

If you like the sound of the above events but can't participate, book the date into your diaries for next year (do you hear that Donal, Caroline, Kristin?) or an even better idea is to enter the Inishfood charity raffle to win a plethora of great food prizes

There is a selection of prizes specifically for the non-attendees who donate via THIS LINK on the Barnardos website (please note that you must donate via this link only for your donation to be counted towards the raffle). Tickets are €5 each.

This online option is for the people who can’t make it to the event itself and delivery is limited to residents of Ireland (including Northern Ireland). Closer to the event, we’ll announce the prizes that will be raffled off in the three raffles, but they’ll be chosen from the list below.

It's a great scheme as the donors get to put their produce out in front of some of Ireland’s top foodies and food bloggers, Barnardos will get a donation towards their valuable work and some very lucky people will go home with some amazing prizes.

If you’re a food producer, cookbook publisher, restaurant or café or other food business and would like to donate something to be included in the raffle at what’s been described by the Bridgestone Guides as ‘THE foodie event of the year’, then email the organisers at

irishfoodbloggers@gmail.com for more details. You can follow events on twitter at #inishfood and all I can say is... Inishfood folks - please make it an annual event! Below is a list of the wonderful raffle prizes -

Bailies Handroasted Coffee – award-winning coffee
Burren Smokehouse – Irish Smoked Organic Salmon
Café Novo at the Westbury Hotel, Dublin – voucher for dinner for 2, including a bottle of wine of your choice
Carluccio’s - a signed copy of one of Antonio Carluccio’s cookbooks and chocolate truffles
Chocolate Here - a few bars of Gillian’s artisan chocolate
Country Choice – Peter Ward is parting with a magnum of Chateau Fontarache from his personal stash as well as a bottle of their own extra virgin olive oil
Dungarvan Brewing Company – craft beer
Dunhill Castle Sparkling Spirit – hand-blended fusion of Irish spirit (13% vol) and unfermented apples
Eilis Boyle – an apron from her forthcoming home wear range
Georgina Campbell - copies of her book, Ireland for Food Lovers
Glebe Brethan – award-winning cheese and David Tiernan’s renowned raw milk
Glenilen Farm – 2 hampers of their products (and congrats to them on winning Best Food & Drink award at the Small Firms Association National Small Business Awards 2011!)
Goastbridge Premium Irish Trout – smoked trout
Greenside Up Veg – a garden consultation or voucher for a workshop
Headland New Media – a week’s stay in Breasty Bay Cottage, the last home in Ireland
Inchhouse Black Pudding - traditional black pudding
J&G Seafoods – £50 voucher
James Whelan Butchers – a copy of An Irish Butcher Shop cookbook by Pat Whelan and a voucher for their shop
Kevin and France McGuinness – a bottle of Moët champagne
L. Mulligan. Grocer. – a €50 voucher
La Cucina – a three-course dinner for two, including a bottle of wine
Le Presbytère – dinner and one night’s free stay for 2 people at their B&B in Languedoc
Lynda McFarland (Athlone Nutrition Clinic) – nutrition wall charts
Mitchell & Son Wine Merchants – a bottle of Green Spot whiskey, cited in “100 Whiskies to Try Before You Die” by Ian Buxton
Mourne Seafood Bar – voucher for their new cookery school due to open this summer
Nutritious Nibbles – gourmet gluten-free cookies
Patchwork Veg – herb boxes
Pure Sushi – a voucher for a sushi platter
Red Nose Wine – a magnum of Anges Domaine des Red Archange 2007, an Irish-owned, Irish-made organic wine in Provence
Slated Ireland – handcrafted slate tableware
Tastefully Yours – gourmet artisan chutneys, relishes and pickles
The Bombay Pantry - 2 vouchers
The Bridgestone Guides – copies of their 100 Best books and Pizza Defined
The Cloister Restaurant and the Queens Hotel- dinner for two plus a cocktail & canape reception and one night’s accommodation in the Queens Hotel in Ennis
The Garden Kitchen Rowallane - their last jar (!) of chutney and jars of marmalade as well as a place at their baking workshop on 9 April
The Green Apron Artisan Preserve Company – artisan preserves
The Little Coffee House – a free gig where they will attend a party/event of the winner’s choosing and serve their selection of teas, coffees and hot chocolates for up to 200 guests
The Tannery – copies of their cookbook
TJ Crowe – organic ham, organic rashers and free-range sausages
Uluru Bistro – copies of the Cook for Ulster Yes Chef cookbook
Viewmount House - a tasting dinner for 2 people plus 1 night’s B&B accommodation
Williams’ Honey – jars of their two-time World Honey Cup winning honey, produced in Cahir, Co. Tipperary

Two day food tour prize from Good Food Ireland

This competition is so mouth wateringly good I couldn't resist posting it on the blog. Good Food Ireland is an organisation I've a lot of time for. It's the only all-island food and hospitality group that brings together restaurants, shops, hotels and food producers from all over the country that are committed to using local food. I've met many of their producers and they do exactly what's on the tin - make "real" food; authentic and Irish, mostly in rural locations from small, often family run businesses.


It's the antithesis of mass produced produce; the cheeses, hams, marmalades, organic lamb and range of goods made by these farmers and producers is exactly what keeps Ireland's food heritage alive. I try to include some of their food in my shop when I can as it is a link directly back to the farms and a way of supporting small Irish businesses. Plus it tastes great. A lot of their produce can be bought online at http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/ and you can also book hotels, restaurants and food tours there.

Food tourism is exactly the kind of thing I'm always banging on about - there's no reason why we should be doing more of in Ireland as we have the producers, eateries and venues already in place. It brings money into the rural economy where in turn it has a much greater multiplier effect than money spent on big brand tourism or indeed supermarkets. So great to hear about the food tour from Germany organised by Good Food Ireland taking in their hotels and food members ranging from Dublin to Cork. As a mini version of this, they are launching a competition - offering two people the chance to win a fabulous culinary weekend. Have a look -


Day 1:
· Arrive in Dublin and check into the fabulous 5-star Merrion Hotel located only a short walk from Graton Street and the main shopping district.
· Enjoy an overnight stay for two in a Superior King room overlooking The Merrion’s private Gardens..
· Begin your gourmet experience with lunch at the fantastic Nonna Valentina, owned by established restaurateur Eileen Dunne in The Italian Quarter on the banks of the River Liffey
· After lunch, owner Eileen Dunne will then take you on a walking tour to the famous Dunne & Crescenzi bakery in the financial sector (IFSC). Here you will be informed of how Irish food is incorporated into their Italian menus.
· Once this tour is over, take some time to explore all the historic wonders and cosmopolitan shopping Dublin has to offer.
· That evening, back in The Merrion Hotel you will indulge in a set three course dinner in the award-winning Cellar Restaurant with a specially chosen courtesy bottle of wine.

Day 2:
· Start your day with a tantalising Artisan Irish breakfast in the luxurious breakfast room at The Merrion Hotel.
· That afternoon you will travel out to the Dublin Cookery School in Blackrock. Housed in a stunning, state-of-the-art facility, you will enjoy a one day (hands-on) Contemporary Bistro-Style Cooking course (10am – 4pm). Dublin Cookery School is Dublin's top venue for cookery courses in the city and with the most experienced and professional team in the city, you know that you will be in good hands.
· After your lesson you will then sit down and enjoy this bistro feast with your fellow students and budding chefs in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere – the perfect end to a food lovers weekend.
· Head back into Dublin City and enjoy some retail therapy before heading home.

Check out the competitions website -
http://www.ireland.com/competitions/competition/win-a-good-food-ireland-culinary-weekend/597094

The answer to the competition question is on their facebook page -

http://www.facebook.com/goodfoodireland#!/pages/Good-Food-Ireland/119632236735

Behind the scenes at a five star - the g in Galway

It's funny that despite how messed up Ireland is at the moment, our food culture is punching way above its weight in a worldwide context. Among farmers, artisan producers, restaurants and hoteliers there is a strong awareness that not only is Irish food worth 8 billion in exports yearly but it is the one area bucking the recessionary trend.

I keep thinking that with the continuing drive of passionate chefs, producers and the food agencies, there is no reason why we can't make Ireland a food destination like Piedmont in Italy, where people visit here for not just hospitality and landscape but for food.

Last week I attended a food event in the g Hotel in Galway which illustrated this connection perfectly. The g is a five star hotel, but ten years ago in Ireland, five star hotels created bland menus that "ticked all boxes", with Italian food, trophy steaks, Caesar salads and mid-Atlantic staples that resembled a watery mix between Sheraton, Radisson and Celine Dion playing in the lobby. Sometimes a throwaway Irish dish to might make it onto the menu but far more important was the approach of trying to please too many people with descriptions and presentation of food while little thought was paid to where it came from.


Last week's event in the g proved that happily, things have come a long way. Their "g is for Gourmet" dinner mirrored their overall policy in sourcing as much food as possible from local producers - the lamb was from local farms, scallops and prawns from Gannets in Galway, salmon and beautiful smoked tuna from Graham and Saoirse Roberts' Connemara Smokehouse and cheese from Keane's Bluebell Falls herd of goats.


Executive chef Stefan Matz who heads up both the g and Ashford Castle made the point that it's no longer enough to talk about local food - "you have to practise what you preach and go and put it on the menu".

From the producers standpoint it's a win win situation - they see their food on top menus in Ireland which in turn sell it to an overseas audience. It is also wonderful to see a product like Bluebell Falls cheese transformed into three separate desserts; with three very different complex tastes - very technical cooking was in evidence but with a basic local foodstuff - it was a real eyeopener in what you can do with good simple quality produce.

The following day the g Hotel opened up their kitchens for a workshop with their chefs. Head chef Regis Heriaux took us through the cooking of a leg of lamb - opening up the leg to look at the four different types of meat within and what cooking suited them best. He pointed out how muscle closest to an animal's joint works the hardest and needs slow cooking, other parts of the leg had a lighter treatment. All were served up with turned local potatoes - he even showed us the correct technique for turning; leaving seven clearly visible sides on the vegetable.

I was fascinated by his tips from his years spent in top kitchens - "Buy good knives and use a diamond sharpener - I have the same knives for 24 years as a result, and don't let anyone else use them".

- "Touch produce that you want to eat, that's why supermarket's package everything - they don't want you to shop with your hands or sense of smell but with your eyes, which is not a way to learn which foods are fresh", and


- "Don't buy meat that is pinky red, it should be a darker purple red to show proper hanging time and give flavour".



Regis was entertaining, a great communicator and I expect to see him on television any day soon - any chef that says don't hold back on the butter is always pretty popular with an audience n'est pas? Being from Brittany he pointed out that olive oil is not synonymous with French cooking but with cooking of the South of France, in his neck of the woods it's pretty much butter all the way.


Shane Smith the pastry chef then took us through a basic Chocolate Ganache and a brownie base on which you can build any type of sweet item you fancy, he also threw some flames about and made a honeycomb from caramelised sugar, honey and liquid glucose, illustrating how it expands into a beast of a dish once the bread soda is added - literally spreading in size like "The Blob".


This was fascinating to watch as he made what looks very complicated, accessible in several easy parts. We were all given recipe sheets and explanations of the dishes and I would really recommend that if they offer more cookery courses at the g, foodie fans should definitely check them out.


It struck me that both the level of expertise, the recipes and experience they were communicating is a notch above what we're now accustomed to from wall to wall cookery programmes. I consider myself a half decent cook but rarely learn anything new so this was definitely a notch above the normal standard. I came away wanting to learn more and put what I'd just seen into practise.


I also left the g with a strong sense that Irish five stars are seeing what potential there is using local food as a USP. Customers aren't stupid, especially at this level they want an authentic experience not a bad Caprese salad with ingredients from six hundred miles away. They want food to tell a story and be regional, to have real people at the heart of it. Just like the producers who attended the event and provided the basics of what was on your plate, they want to sense a passion behind the dish, and to feel that it is "real food".

A big thanks to everyone at the g, I must credit their staff - they had great knowledge of the food and drink, the producers and the local area which is something lacking in many Irish hotels and restaurants. I cannot count the times I have asked "is the chicken/fish local?" and been told "I don't know." Customers want transparency, information, and enthusiasm. The staff in Galway had this in bounds and it felt like everyone was on the same page food-wise and in the way they wanted to present their hotel, their food and their region. Exactly as it should be.