So long, farewell, hospital food here I come

Thanks to all the readers of this blog; those who've been with it since the start and those who've newly discovered it; seeing the traffic to Basketcase from all over the world and the comments is a huge boost to anyone who blogs and I can't thank you enough for your interest.

I'm about to take a short break from my journalism and blogging as I've a baby due this week. But there'll still be plenty of food news, food safety scandals and other matters for me to write on as the summer unfolds. After all, I started the blog while looking after my first newborn so hopefully the reality of looking after two small vigorous creatures won't completely melt my brain. (I think I'll be looking back at this sentence and weeping in about two weeks time).

Over the past week Philip and myself have been overwhelmed with the reaction to "What's Ireland Eating" which aired on television here last Sunday. The documentary came out of our book Basketcase; What's Happening to Ireland's Food? which we published two years ago. Philip cannot walk through our local village, shopping malls, petrol stations, car parks etc at the moment without being stopped by viewers who all have something to say about what was in the documentary and compliments to share with us. Farmers I've been talking to this week for an upcoming story for the Irish Times are full of praise and heartfelt surprise that at last someone is taking an interest in their livelihoods.

If you want to watch the show it's available online here - http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1097870

If you can't watch it on the player check out a synopsis of the programme at Aoife Carrigy's excellent blog http://holymackerel.ie/ (the cheque's in the post Aoife).

The feedback has also reflected the power of social media. On twitter the day of the broadcast we used the hashtag #whatsirelandeating and it was the top trending topic in Ireland that day. People tweeted details of their diet that Sunday - everything from Skittle sandwiches to Irish St.Tola's cheese on toast - we retweeted many of them and momentum built fast, as the programme was being broadcast, nearly a million Irish people tuned into it and 574,000 watched the entire show which is a huge figure for a documentary in Ireland.

Again we were overwhelmed by the online comments and reaction and it has developed an online stream of debate on food since. We never imagined the amount of positive feedback we would get or the huge numbers of people really engaged with the issue of food, where it comes from, what's in it, and keeping food production in Ireland as part of our future.

As I'll be checking out of social life for a small bit, later this month I'll miss the second For Food's Sake event in Dublin, which is a cracking night for any of you food folk out there looking for what is at present, rare combination of food, chat and a lot of new ideas to come away with. Here's details of the event and it's a short goodbye from me. Take care all of you, talk to you soon and happy eating. I'll be tweeting a little; detailing the stand out dishes of the maternity hospital that deserve mention, (I'm desperately trying to rein in my enthusiasm) and any big food news that comes to attention. www.twitter.com/campbellsuz x

FOR FOOD’S SAKE – AN EVENING OF FOOD TALK AND TASTINGS The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2

Thursday 26 MayDoors 7pm sharp (discussion kicks off 7.30pm)Adm €5 on the door.



The Irish food industry is something we should all be proud of and deserves a platform for discussion. For Food’s Sake is a new bi-monthly evening of food discussion and tastings. Each themed night of discussion will be chaired by journalist and food blogger Aoife Carrigy (of HolyMackerel.ie, and former deputy editor of FOOD&WINE Magazine), joined by a panel of four guest speakers from across the broad spectrum of the industry. There will be tastings from several Irish artisan producers who will tell you a bit about why they do what they do. There will be a chance to win some great foodie prizes, and an inspirational talk from an Irish chef just back from a coveted stage at Noma in Copenhagen, recognised as the top restaurant in the world.



Manager of The Sugar Club and food writer Oisin Davis will host a Karaoke Cook-Off between DJs Conor G and David De Valera, who will pit their toastie sandwich-making skills against one another. And of course there will be a full bar to help get the conversation going. After the success of March’s inaugural night’s discussion (which focussed on the opportunities and challenges facing Irish food producers) we now turn our attention to the restaurant industry.


We will ask the following panelists: ‘Are Irish restaurants up the swanny?’ Joe Macken, restaurateur (JoBurger & Crackbird)Enda McEvoy, chef (Gregan’s Castle & Cook Wild Project)Paul Cadden, restaurateur (Saba restaurant & former President of RAI)Caroline Byrne, food writer (Bridgestone Guide Dublin editor) We’ll also be asking, if Irish restaurants are up the swanny, how did they get there? Did they paddle themselves up there on the back of the Celtic Tiger during the so-called ‘Rip off Ireland’ days? Why do we pay so much more for a meal in Ireland than the equivalent in Spain, and where is our money going?

Keep an eye on their Facebook page and their blog at forfoodssakeireland.blogspot.com to keep updated. Press release with more details below.

Finally, our food documentary "What's Ireland Eating" is about to go on the telly box

I left television in 2005 to write full time, but strange forces have kept pulling me back in, in particular the making of this documentary which airs on Sunday night on RTE one. Titled 'What's Ireland Eating?' it was developed from the book Philip and I wrote on food two years ago - the book gave birth to this blog and also to the documentary, so in a way it's going full circle to see it finally on the television.

Initially the book (Basketcase - What's happened to Ireland's Food) was so broad in focus that no one hour doc would encompass all the strands in it. So RTE and Stopwatch Television the producers, veered towards a consumer-focused piece of television which is probably more appropriate for the audience. It also relates to all of us in terms of how we behave around food - what decisions we make in the supermarket, how what we eat affects our health and our childrens health, and how in turn how these decisions affect rural Ireland and farming. How we shop will also have a huge bearing on the type of food model we have here in the future. Right now it's a remarkably good one, that sometimes, sadly we don't appreciate enough.

Here's a picture of Philip Boucher-Hayes my husband (standing beside some very strange fruit in a supermarket) who presents the documentary. He spent long days on the road travelling up and down the country meeting farmers, consumers and those passionate about what the effect of what we eat has on the wider economy and environment. Working with your spouse sounds like a nightmare but funnily enough we managed to get through both this project and the book without a major disaster. Our only real falling out on the book was when Philip had still not finished off his sections of the book and instead diverted himself with putting up insane amounts of Christmas decorations, despite a deadline looming. Our house looked like a Bavarian forest with branches of fir trees and tendrils of ivy draped from every possible hanging place. At one point I was going to write in the dedication of the book "You might not think much of this book but you should see our Christmas decorations, they're fantastic".

We finally finished the copy and sent in the disk just as I began labour pains on our first baby. This time it's kind of the same thing - the documentary was finished last Thursday - and I'm due baby number two in a weeks time. Fantastic timing again. My role on the production was Food and Farming Consultant - a grand title which in my fantasy world suggested a consultants wages but strangely it doesn't work like that. I'm also in the documentary for a little segment which we shot in the garden and looks a bit like a Timotei ad, this is no compliment to me, simply the wonderful summer light blasting either side of my head.

A big thanks are owed to the wonderful production team of Tom Johnston, Mary Murphy and Aisling Milton who put all the hard work in and to Colm Whelan who shot it and did a really lovely job. As a former director/producer who spent many years filming the countryside when I produced Ear to the Ground, I really can't emphasise how gorgeous he has made this production look, Colm you've surpassed yourself.

One of the really original things about the documentary is the specially commissioned research into the groceries bought by 3000 households, they re-scanned their goods once they got home and from that information we formed a picture of our shopping habits. Some of the stats were really surprising - we are the biggest consumers of breakfast cereals in the world and 43% of our diet in Ireland is processed foods. In the documentary Philip also visits a school and has a look through childrens' lunchboxes, the contents of some of which are hard to believe.

I hope anyone who tunes in will find something that connects to them in it and at the very least be entertained for an hour or so. For twitter users the hashtag is #whatsirelandeating and it's on RTE one television 9.30pm this Sunday May 8th. Enjoy and happy eating x

Below is a link to the RTE page on the documentary -
http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/heart_land_whats_eating_ireland.html