Waterford's soft white bread known as the "blaa" is applying for EU protection, but why aren't more Irish foods doing the same thing?

Going the way of the blaa

The Irish Times - Saturday, September 10, 2011
SUZANNE CAMPBELL

EU protection is being sought for Waterford’s blaa bread roll, in line with that for champagne. Shouldn’t other Irish foods also apply?

WATERFORD’S distinctive floury bread roll, the blaa, could soon rank with such delicacies as Parma ham and feta cheese if it is granted protected status for its regional characteristics. If the blaa achieves the EU’s standard of protected geographical indication (PGI) it stands to gain from being a unique product, like champagne, which is protected from imitation.
Yet while many Irish foodstuffs are produced using local ingredients or methods, few of our artisan foods have gained or even been submitted for PGI status. Research indicates that the PGI designation brings with it considerable economic and environmental benefits. An EU report found that French cheeses with PGI sold, on average, for three times the price of other cheeses. It also found lower unemployment in areas that produced these foods.
Consumers appear to be switched on to the value of PGI foods, too. According to the research they perceive food with PGI as more trustworthy.
So why aren’t more Irish food producers applying for this designation? Britain has about 50 foods, including the Cornish pasty and Cumberland sausage, protected by PGIs.
One of the difficulties is that the application process for PGI takes at least 18 months. “The words ‘time’ and ‘detail’ come to mind when you apply for this scheme,” says Dermot Walsh, one of four bakers who came together to apply for protected status for the blaa. “We had help from Bord Bia, the Taste Council and the enterprise board, but it’s a long journey. It took the Cornish pasty nine years to get protected as a regional food.”
Also, getting a food’s geographical origins and properties protected is more feasible for groups of food producers than it is for stand-alone brands.
Sergio Furno of Cashel Blue says, “As we are the only people producing Cashel Blue cheese, if we applied for and won a PGI, then anyone in the region around Cashel could start making a ‘Cashel Blue’. So, by not applying, we remain in control of the brand.”

HOW IT WORKS
Protected geographical status (PGS) is a legal framework within the EU that allows countries to protect the names of regional foods. Protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and traditional speciality guaranteed are designations within this framework.
Four Irish products have already gained PGI status: Timoleague brown pudding, Clare Island salmon, Imokilly Regato cheese and Connemara hill lamb.
A PGI product must come from one region, have a specific characteristic of that region and be processed or prepared there. To gain PDO status, a product must be wholly produced in a specific region.
Because the flour for the blaa comes from overseas, Waterford can apply for PGI status only.

Eating, talking, learning and possibly crying

Yes I'm getting around this week, in fact, it's quite ridiculous. Just like boyfriends and busses all arriving at the same time, it's pretty much the same with food events. Even for me, five in one week is quite exceptional. After cooking for 85 people last Sunday, (including kids and dogs), the week just past saw a plethora of food events; a fabulous madness of eating, debating, learning and being wowed by what's going on in Irish food.

In reverse I'll start with the GIY Gathering which starts tomorrow in Waterford. The city has had a great food festival on throughout this week, and this Saturday and Sunday, the Grow it Yourself movement is having a huge shindig - a conference, workshop and street feast all in one.

The GIY movement has been a huge success in Ireland with all credit due to Michael Kelly who left city life, literally, to start a rural smallholding in Waterford. He got stuck in, planted seeds, grew food and as with all of us, learned a few lessons along the way. After realising that growing your own veg and keeping hens and pigs were activities being shared right across the country, Michael set up the first Grow it Yourself group in Waterford so that local people could get together, share tips, stories and probably cry a bit over what the snails were doing to their crop. Since that first group set up in 2008, Michael has established GIY communities across Ireland, with new member groups cropping up continually, providing a social and learning resource for people starting their own vegetable gardens and who want to connect with others.

The movement has been a spectacular success and tomorrow I'm delighted to be asked to speak at their conference in Waterford on the topic of "Can GIY save the world?" My talk will be about the success of urban gardens all over the world, the return to growing your own food and how to live a life less reliant on supermarkets and to be ultimately more food secure. For more info check out http://www.giyireland.com/

For a run through of the weeks other food entertainments I'll have a few further posts up in the next few days. What's most remarkable about all the activity going on in Irish food at the moment is that it seems to be really touching people, and not just foodies. I feel in a sense that many people are reconnecting to the amazing agriculture and food producers we have in this country and finding ways in which to interact with it more. But if you still believe it's impossible to live without a weekly shop and vast amounts of imported foods, come along to my talk tomorrow, and I'll prove you wrong.

Outstanding in the Field - less Condé Nast, more the real deal

Who doesn't love a picnic, especially when it looks as gorgeous and as simple as this: one field, one long table, with all the food on that table supplied by local farmers and food producers.

I first came across the "Outstanding in the Field" long table dinners a couple of years ago via Condé Nast. Typically Vogue, or whatever publication I spotted it in, was wooed for the same reasons as everybody else - beautiful images, beautiful food and a brilliant but simple idea, executed with elegance and chutzpah. It made great editorial, and great images sell magazines. But behind the gorgeous visuals and were a bunch of genuine hardworking people: Outstanding in the Field were the real deal.

Started in America in 1999, Outstanding in the Field began as a series of long table dinners on farms in California. The key was to bring local food to the table in places where local food wasn't available in shops and supermarkets.

This is still something very relevant not only in the US but in Ireland. Plenty of us live within two to twenty miles of a farm, but haven't the first idea of how to actually buy the food grown there - saving the miles of travel, food spoilage, and the need for a middleman in the shape of the big retailers who control most of what we eat.

So the idea of the long table dinners was to bring together both consumers and producers of food. Very simple, and it's both surprising and sad that such a thing is a rarity in the way we all eat and procure food. This is something I try to do myself but the routes to market for farmers aren't always simple and connecting your produce with people who want to buy it is often difficult. Last week I bought half a lamb from my neighbours farm in Newcastle County Wicklow. It will be cooked this weekend for a lunch in our house that will feed around 60 adults - quite a task that I am, em, meant to start preparing for today.

We all have to start somewhere, and the Outstanding in the Field dinners have grown from a small group of enthusiasts into a huge food advocacy movement. Since their beginnings in California they've hosted long table dinners on farms and rural locations all over the world. They've had events in barns, in libraries, museums and on beaches. The theme of each dinner is to honour the people who bring nourishment to the table; and everyone sits down to eat together.

For the first time, the group are coming to Ireland and hosting a long table dinner at Ballymaloe in Cork on the 5th of September. Their message is particularly relevant at the moment as the US is currently the locus of so much bad news on food and farming - the "Ag Gag" bill banning journalists from recording inside factory farms and the huge dominance of the meatpackers (it's said now that Cargill isn't part of the food chain, they Are the food chain). In the US, campaigning for alternatives to "Big Food" have given birth to movements like Outstanding in the Field, and hopefully what happens in the US can have an influence on food advocacy here.

Check out more on the event and the organisation at the link below. As far as I know there are still tickets available. I'll be there, and am going to enjoy every minute of it. And for those of you who fancy a piece of Wicklow lamb, check out www.sweetbankfarm.ie
http://outstandinginthefield.com/events/2011-tour/

For more on the dinner and Ballymaloe Cookery School - http://www.cookingisfun.ie/

Enough procrastination, time for me to get into that kitchen..

Scandanavians are cool. They eat musk ox, forage on beaches and turn local food into two Michelin stars

For anyone who likes food, the saving-your-pennies dream trip has to be to Noma in Copenhagen, voted best restaurant in the world earlier this year. Chef and founder is Rene Redzepi (pictured left) who not just turns out exceptional food on the plate, but advocates supporting local produce and the farmers who produce it, building his reputation particularly on using foraged ingredients.

Noma is now justifiably world famous; apparently the day it was voted number one the restaurant received 10,000 bookings overnight, making the chance of getting a table there fairly slim. And you can understand why Noma is considered pretty unique; founder René Redzepi makes the point that his restaurant is not about olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives. Why should it be - it's hundreds of miles from the Mediterranean. On the contrary, he uses foods from Denmark and the Nordic regions to create their famous dishes: Icelandic skyr curd, halibut, Greenland musk ox and berries.

Redzepi also uses "old" ingredients such as grains and pulses in new ways - something I recently encountered in Cliff House (the Michelin starred hotel in Waterford) which served hake on a barley risotto. After all, who said risotto has to be made with rice? Barley is a traditional Irish food, used in stews and brewing but more recently to be found in animal food. Bringing back what we've discarded as unfashionable and serving it up in a new way as chef Martijn Kajuiter is doing at Cliff House is the way forward for Irish food.

Over in Copenhagen, Noma's prices are considerably more expensive than at Cliff House - Noma's twelve course lunch tasting menu is 187 euro. Not the cheapest I would admit but this kind of food is a very rare treat. What's more important is the ethos behind it which perfectly matches where we should be going with food. Why should Irish restaurants serve tiger prawns, curries or even mozzarella - all are notable foodstuffs from other regions of the world and if they're not grown here, why should we be shipping them thousands of miles to arrive frozen and stale onto our plates. This is also a custom which ignores the great foods we have on our doorstep - lobster, langoustine (Dublin Bay Prawns) award winning Irish cheeses of every kind and all types of meat from venison to quail.
What Rene Redzepi is doing at Noma is where all Irish chefs should be going.

In a recent interview Rene described his involvement in the MAD foodcamp coming up in Copenhagen at the end of August - Mad is the Danish word for food. The camp is a symposium about food, foraging and enjoying yourself - Redzepi calls it the "Glastonbury of Food". Earlier this year Donal from Harry's restaurant in Inishowen, Donegal put together a similar event, bringing food enthusiasts and food producers together. So now I not only nurse an incredible lust to visit Noma, but also have to cope with missing out on what is sure to be one of the world's greatest food events. Next year, next year, next year is all I can say. And after my planned trip to the Olympics in London next summer where the biggest MacDonald's in the world is said to be installed, I think I'll be badly in need of some decent grub.
Mr. Redzepi, I may be coming your way. And Donal from Harry's, bring on Inishfood #2

Stick to what you do best, believe in yourself and the passion will shine through. Finally, I visit the legend that is Ballymaloe

Breakfast at Ballymaloe House is the kind of breakfast you dream of. Gooseberries and pears from the garden nestle alongside natural yoghurt. The yellowest of eggs from hens on the farm fight for room alongside sausages, bacon, and puddings from pigs slaughtered and cured by a local butcher. A fragrant bunch of sweetpeas watches over the fresher than fresh orange juice and selection of home-made breads and scones.

As a seasoned examiner of hotel breakfasts who harasses waiters with "where does the raspberry jam come from?", breakfast at Ballymaloe was up there with some of my Great Food Experiences. In fact it's best if you eat breakfast here not to go to another hotel within a short space of time, or in fact ever. Simply because few meals are going to match this standard, and that's even before I get started on the Blackwater salmon and Ballycotton lobster at dinner.

It was last week that Philip and I found ourselves in Ballymaloe; we visited the hotel, cookery school and farm for a speaking engagement on our book Basketcase; What's Happening to Ireland's Food? and the follow-up documentary What's Ireland Eating? which aired a few months ago on RTE. Doing these talks is seldom hard work as the reaction and energy from people interested in food and which direction Irish food is going is so wonderful to be around. If anything, every time we speak at a food event together or separately, I learn so much from the people in the audience and take away many personal stories from farmers, food producers and enthusiasts. These chats have led to relationships with people from all over the country (in fact all over the world) and have informed a big part of my journalism. Indeed, they should all watch out, or they're in danger of appearing in the follow up to What's Ireland Eating? which looks to be on the cards.

But more important than the opportunity to eat the wonderful food at Ballymaloe, was the chance to spend time with Darina and the Allen family. It's so rare to meet someone who is truly so passionate about food, farming and the environment, or someone who is so steeped in the tradition of good food but also au fait with the realities of the global food highway we operate in. So many hotels and food businesses "greenwash" what they are doing; they market themselves as authentically Irish, organic, sustainable etc. But what's written all over Ballymaloe and Darina herself is that this farm is the genuine article. In fact, after filming with Ear to the Ground on farms from Belgium to Vietnam, I can safely say there are very few places like Ballymaloe, it is a remarkable farm and a beacon for Irish produce, organics and for the sheer quality and correctness in the way it produces food.

We all know Darina from her books and television series, but what you don't get to see on television is the way she moves through her garden, puzzling over how many days it will be before the blackcurrants are just right to eat. In almost the same breath she remarks on supermarket legislation and what upcoming changes might mean for Irish producers.

Darina's and Tim's breath of knowledge on farming, gardening and production of every type of foodstuff from cheddar cheese to cob nuts is remarkable, and the gardens they have built surrounding the cookery school at Ballymaloe are incredibly beautiful. Pictured above is Darina showing Philip around one of the formal gardens; box hedging encloses vegetables, herbs, lavenders and ornamental planting. Food is in evidence everywhere; chickens peck amongst the trees, garlic bunches hang from the mental struts of the greenhouses and everything from cabbages to cherry tomatoes are grown on the farm. From the milk of two Jersey cows they are currently making cheese. In fact, if there was ever a model for self sufficiency this is it.

After a tour of the farm we watched Rachel Allen giving a demonstration at the cookery school. The Ballymaloe courses are world famous, and it's possibly the only cookery school in the world located on an organic farm. As someone passionate about food and farming, I had always wanted to visit the cookery school and farm, but somehow I felt I would be let down by the experience. I felt it might be "chinzy"; inauthentic, that the Ballymaloe experience could be marketing over matter; a Cath Kidson version of River Cottage. As farming and artisan food is currently so vogueish, it's often hard to tell what's real and who is pulling the wool over your eyes.

But Ballymaloe is real. You know if you spend as long as we did talking about deep litter systems for cattle and compost making that this is a farm which knows what it is about. It is also a food message which is not a cutesy one, but a real one. Everything is done properly. It has an old fashioned workmanlike feel about it. Correctness and workmanlike approach might sound like something from a past age but it really pays off in terms of working with the environment and with livestock - it's a quality that was beaten into me from riding and working with horses. It's also something I learned from my parents farms, and something I always look out for when I visit farms, food or tourism businesses. Over-ornamentation or faux "Irishness" does not make up for bad farm management, poor quality food or mass produced ingredients. And thankfully customers aren't stupid. In my experience food businesses that fail to do things properly, fail themselves.

No corners are cut at Ballymaloe; it's the real deal. At its kernal is a message of quality; growing local ingredients through generations of experience producing food in East Cork. If there's any message or ethos I took away from Ballymaloe it's to stick to what you are doing, believe in it, and passion will shine through. So much of our lives and consumerism itself is built on precisely the opposite. What's lovely about Ballymaloe and so pertinent to all of us is that we produce great food in this country. Finally we are taking more notice and Ireland the Food Island is punching above its weight. Like Ballymaloe, food doesn't have to be complicated to succeed. It just has to be true to itself, and real.

Summer vegetables, at last...

It's summer time and there are berries to be picked. Our crop of raspberries is fantastic, as are the blackcurrants but the majority of our vegetables grew miserably. I lie, they didn't grow at all. Complete disaster teaches you good lessons - most of the seeds failed to germinate because the temperature where we live (on the bed of a valley) was too cold for them. Then some late frosts killed any survivors. So a month after starting three different varieties of tomato, basil, coriander, broccoli, lettuces, and other crops not a single one had germinated. Not a smidgen.

So it was back to basics, and learning about the newer, colder conditions of where we now live. So I planted round two of my seeds, abandoned most of the tomatoes and we now have a small crop of vegetables. When you grow even a tiny amount of your own food you realise how insecure the whole business is, and how placing all of the responsibility of providing us with food in the hands of big business may not the best idea in the world.

At the moment I'm looking at America a lot and the crazy stuff going on in their food sector. After revelations this week that Tyson, one of the biggest food brands in the US was caught bribing vets in their Mexican meat plants to pass unfit meat as edible, we also had the new footage of animal welfare abuse at a pig plant. On top of that food safety and farming budgets are being cut in the US and as one writer said recently in the New York Times, public health and food safety are now seen as "liberal issues". What? Liberal? So now you're left wing if you want to eat a burger and expect to be alive an hour later? America's food environment can be truly hairy stuff and it's something I'm currently researching for a piece. At the moment the piece is looking very long, believe me.



I'm also working on a new project on Irish food which is very exciting, I can divulge more on that at a later date. At the moment it's in its infancy so alongside looking after the new baby I'm digging away on that. One thing that's lovely at the moment is that the weather has turned a bit more summery and I am spending more time in the garden. As you can see from the photo above some of our second crop of lettuce are coming on well and the radishes have also grown strongly. The peas are looking good and the hardier herbs such as thyme, rosemary and parsley survived the move from our former house. Somebody bribed them, obviously.

It's also lovely to see the summertime finally kick in (lets face it it'll be gone in a week or so) and our neighbouring farmers getting a chance to cut silage for Winter fodder. Again, I've learned from them that "our side" of the valley is colder than the other side - they get two cuts of silage over there whereas in the fields surrounding our place one cut is all you'd get. This is because with less light and a slightly cooler temperature the grass grows more slowly. Again, even in the space of a hundred yards, the conditions that produce food change. And this is why we should appreciate the stuff more and think about the work that goes into it. Last night as we finished the baby's last feed at 1am my neighbouring farmer was still towing bales of silage out of the field pictured below. Producing food is a hard job, and as I learn every summer, if I had to grow everything I eat myself I'd be very poorly fed indeed.

Making organics part of our food future

At the National Organic Conference in Limerick last week I grabbed this photo of Peter Ward with a large basket of potatoes wrapped lovingly in brown paper to hold in the steamy goodness. Peter provided lunch on the day(more pictures below) and what was particularly lovely was both the melt-in-your-mouth quality of the free range pork from Crowe's Farm in Tipperary but also the use of flowers to dress the meat and salads. It was a beautifully simple effect and one which summed up much of the philosophy of the conference itself.

I met a lot of great people on the day and learned
so much from the wonderful speakers, who brought expertise from both Ireland and abroad to the event. I particularly liked Henry Tucker's insights into the way consumers think and how food companies can exploit it. Basically when it comes to us consumers, it's all about ME. He pointed out how food producers sometimes neglect to aim their product at some need or desire the consumer has in their immediate sphere rather than appealing to the philosophical or ideological ideas behind organic or local food. We all want to eat food that has an "x factor"; and one of the ways producers can keep this to the forefront of what they are doing is to make sure the food they make tastes great. Really great.

Another speaker from the UK, Adrian Dolby explained the workings of the 7000 acre organic holding he manages in the Cotswolds. The farm keeps 2500 ewes outside all year on a diet of little more than grass. No supplementary feed, no worming doses, just pretty much them and mother nature out on the mountain; even for lambing, and the farm is a highly successful commercial enterprise. In fact the decision to change the farm to organic status was a commercial one rather than a "green" decision.

One of the highlights of the day for me was learning about how a group of ordinary families in Skerries County Dublin came together and approached a farmer to grow produce for them. It's a fantastic scheme, one which provides organic veg for consumers in Skerries which couldn't be more local (the farm overlooks the town) and provides a fair return to the farmer. The scheme is working well for everyone involved and could be replicated in areas all over Ireland; cutting out the middlemen, excessive packaging, transport and waste. Other workshop sessions on the day featured expert presentations and discussion on topics ranging from supports available to those considering organic farming to export markets for Ireland's produce.

One of the strong feelings emanating from the conference was the need to reach the consumer with a clearer message about what organic food stands for and the possible need for an over-arching group to represent organics in Ireland. There's no doubt consumers are sometimes put off by price but this message is not a simple one as organic food isn't always more expensive. They are also sometimes confused by its benefits.

Whatever the often conflicting research has said about polyphenols and the health properties of organic vegetables, I've always thought the point of organic food is that it comes without the pesticide and herbicide residues left behind by conventional farming. It is also much kinder to the environment and managing the fragile biodiversity of Ireland is essential for all of our food futures. The sales of organic food in Ireland are currently holding their own despite the recession, and the conference was another reminder of the passion, energy and innovation in the sector. A big thanks to Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture and Limerick Institute of Technology for organising such a fantastic event.

I feel that organics in Ireland are now in the second generation; we now have big players like Glenisk selling organic food successfully in a tough economic environment to a discerning consumer. The green message is often not enough; the product has to compete with so many others that it has to be simply great in itself. But producers understand this and ideology has become reality; organic food is here to stay. It won't feed all of us all of the time, but it has a centrally important place in Irish food production and one that consumers are supporting with their buying habits. The conference presentations should soon be available to read at the bordbia website (www.bordbia.ie) and as always I will keep you posted on news and industry trends for local and organic food. Happy eating x

Am I still drinking tea? Yes. My response to the Rainforest Alliance and all the lovely and not so lovely comments on the piece

As I can't seem to comment on my post below (The real price of a cup of tea) because of some weird website glitch, I'll respond here to the Rainforest Alliance and others who've got in touch regarding my tea piece, published last week in the Irish Times.


I appreciate readers comments on the article, the responses I received on Twitter and the statement from the Rainforest Alliance regarding the working conditions for women at Lyon's Tea's Kericho site. However the women interviewed for our piece by journalist Jody Clarke gave a very different account of their experience of working at Lyon's Tea's Kericho plantation. There is always a difficulty when parties connected to an issue have such different versions of how things work. On one side there is the Dutch NGO SOMO, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the women we interviewed while on the other side Unilever and Rainforest Alliance who say there is no issue with sexual harassment at the site.


I think it's fair to say that sexual harassment of women workers is not uncommon in Kenya and the KHRC attests to this. That it would be absent altogether at a site as big as Kericho where there are 16,000 workers, many NGOs and people on the ground in Kenya might find difficult to believe. Unilever say they have put a confidential telephone number in place and want women to document any cases of abuse but in my mind this rings a bell (sorry for the pun) to the anonymous phone reporting numbers offered by the British authorities in Northern Ireland during the troubles. It was a great initiative but when you talked to people on the street were they going to use it? No.



Ollie I welcome your comment and yes Fair Trade is a different scheme to the one operated by Rainforest Alliance, there are many "ethical schemes" in food production and obviously they operate to slightly different standards. The overall point I was making is that in developing countries where human rights and working conditions are often so terrible, it may be difficult to completely stamp out unfair work practises, abuse of workers or environmental degradation. In these countries these are often so ingrained in workplaces that to overturn such practises completely or within a short period of time may be unrealistic.


So what are we to do? Ethical schemes may not be perfect but food produced under them is still probably produced under slightly better conditions then where simply market forces prevail. The choice is ours; it's not an easy one. Hopefully if we educate ourselves about food and not stick our heads in the sand, we can learn a little more about it and make better choices, even though sometimes what we learn may make us uncomfortable.


TASTE OF DUBLIN



On a lighter note, Philip and I spoke at Taste of Dublin last weekend in the Chef's Table tent in an interview with food writer Katy McGuinness. Here's a picture of us having a glass of wine in Iveagh Gardens afterwards which is a truly beautiful urban garden and one which Dubliners don't make the most of. Taste of Dublin takes place in the gardens and its a great event for foodies or for those who just want to hang out with a glass in their hand in beautiful surroundings.


In our interview we talked about real food, what we buy to cook and eat at home and how to avoid eating stuff that is bad for your health, badly produced or bad from the perspective of the people or environment that produced it. So we yakked on about this sort of thing and hopefully entertained people for a bit. It's good to meet people and talk about food issues face to face and also to be quizzed about issues you write or broadcast about. It makes you consider more what consumers really think about food and in that respect it was a really interesting event. My next post will be on the National Organic Conference which I've just returned from chairing in Limerick, but now its time for bed and en route, guess what? A nice cup of tea x

The real price of a cup of tea

Yesterday's Irish Times published a story I'd been working on with journalist Jody Clarke for a couple of months. I'd discovered that Lyons tea (the biggest selling tea in Ireland), has a plantation in Kenya where women allege that in order to secure lighter work duties or better housing conditions for their families they are forced to have sex with supervisors.

I researched the story, interviewed the principals and then journalist Jody Clarke who is based in Kenya then came on board. He travelled to the estate and interviewed women who had worked there. They told him about how the supervisors demand sex, bribes and harass the older women. Lyons Tea who are owned by the giant Unilever food group say there is no problem with sexual harassment at the estate and that they disagree with a report compiled by Dutch organisation SOMO which alleges that women on the estate suffer poor working conditions and "rampant" sexual harassment.

Working conditions for women at Kenya's tea plantations are generally poor, but the real problem with this case is that the Lyons Tea Kericho estate is Rainforest Alliance certified. Rainforest Alliance say that they say their audits of working conditions on the estate have found no problems. Generally as consumers when we buy a Fair Trade product we assume that workers are being looked after and are not suffering the kind of problems which the Kenyan women allege. What I found writing this piece is that what we might consider to be an ethically produced product may not be the case in reality. If you're interested in this issue you can read the full piece at the link below.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0611/1224298716294.html

Basketcase is back

Basketcase is back. Yes, this is a picture of Rachel Allen in some kind of cupboard. More on that later.

Firstly thanks for all the nice comments and good wishes on our new arrival - our little baby is finally home. Life now revolves around four hour feeds and a pair of very small blue eyes which would melt your heart, and all is well in the Campbell/Boucher-Hayes household.


While I'll be taking things easy over the summer and doing lots of bringing not one but two small creatures to visit the lambs next door, there's some food events coming up which I'll flag and keep you up to date on. And as I can't ignore what's going on in the countryside outside my window; the farming year to follow and delicious food to cook and eat.


In my short absence a small food hiccup seems to have taken place in Germany. As the crisis there develops it's clear that the emergence of Ecolis with lethal, fatal consequences looks to be something that we're going to see more of in our food environment. As of today, the outlook for the 664 sufferers is a pretty poor one. Many of the victims who ate contaminated food will face life long health problems from the HUS (Hemolytic uremic syndrome) which the ecoli brings with it. This means the possibility of kidney dialysis and renal failure, and an usually high probability of a fatal outcome. It's a horrific disaster with concrete details of where the contamination came from still unclear. But more on that again.

The next few days will be a busy period for me; Philip and I are speaking at Taste of Dublin in Iveagh Gardens this weekend. The Chef's Table tent at the event features interviews with chefs and foodie people - Philip and myself are appearing on Saturday at 6pm; we'll be talking What's Ireland Eating?, how they get the figs into the fig rolls and other such mysteries about the stuff that goes into our mouths. The Chef's Table tent schedule (which is actually a kind of yurt - looking forward to yak hair rugs etc) is at http://www.tasteofdublin.ie/ and follow the link with the Rachel Allen photo above. Rachel plus chefs such as Kevin Thornton, Gino D'Acampo, Conrad Gallagher, Nevin Maguire, Antony Worral Thompson, Catherine Fulvio and Derry Clarke will also be doing question and answer sessions in the tent; really looking forward to that.

Then on Tuesday next I'm down in Limerick to chair Bord Bia's National Organic Conference. For food producers, organic farmers or those interested in organics this is a pretty essential event; the line-up of speakers is an impressive array from the UK, France, food marketing, food trends and artisan food arenas. There's actually so much taking place on the day and great workshops in the afternoon that I'll have to sprint very fast round the conference centre at LIT to catch all the acts that I'm interested in - I'll need my music festival game face on. More info on the conference is at http://www.bordbia.ie/

I've also an upcoming investigative piece in the Irish Times which is due for publication this weekend. This piece was written a while back and has taken some time to research and bring to this stage. Investigative stories like this are always a lot of hard work but I think a lot of Irish consumers may take a deep breath when they read the piece. It involved myself and an Irish journalist based in Kenya delving into allegations of sexual harassment made by women who work for one of Ireland's most successful branded products.

This was and still is a tricky story; it took a while to get to the bottom of and the allegations may put some people off their breakfast. That's all I'm going to say. Ciao for the moment and happy eating x (bet you're all worried now)

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

It's May Bank holiday weekend - foodie heaven

It's May Bank Holiday weekend and the beginning of the summer food festival season in Ireland. Check out some of the following info and links to food festivals and events around the country - they're a hugely important element to rural tourism, offer a way to sample and buy artisan food directly from the people who make it and more importantly, what can be better than a spot of eating and drinking in the sunshine in Ireland? May the weather Gods be kind to us...

Roscommon Lamb Festival from the 27th April to May 2nd was started in 2008 organised by a committee of local farmers, restaurant owners and community groups. The vision for the festival was to “highlight the quality of locally-produced food and to attract additional tourists to Roscommon thus boosting the local economy and benefitting primary producers and suppliers”.

Based on the fact that Roscommon has the highest lamb output in the country, the festival celebrates lamb in a diverse range of food and farming events over the course of the weekend. There are lamb barbeques, farm walks, farmers markets and even a world record knitting attempt, so if you've a pair of needles and a ball of wool, you know where to go this weekend.
http://www.roscommonlambfestival.com/

This weekend Connemara hosts a celebration of Killary Mussels taking place from the 29th April - 1st May 2011 on the glorious Renvyle Peninsula in North Connemara; this really is a gorgeous part of the country. It's the sixth year of the festival and promises that more mussels will be eaten here this weekend than in any other part of the country. The celebrations include music, craic, mussel cooking competitions, walks, talks, theatre and children's activities. There will also be a country market, local art exhibition and mussel cooking competitions http://www.connemaramusselfestival.com/

Sheridans Cheese Mongers are holding their second food event at their Virginia Road Station headquarters in County Meath. Some of Ireland’s finest artisan producers will be showing their best. Irish farmhouse cheese producers include Milleens, Cashel Blue, Coolea, Cooleeney, Bellingham Blue, Corleggy, Glebe Brethan and more. As well as other artisan producers such as Burren smokehouse, Gubbeen salamis, Burke’s ice- cream, Janet’s Country Fare, Mella’s Fudge.
www.sheridanscheesemongers.com

Other foodie events this weekend -

Limerick Georgian Summer Market, 30th April – 01 May 2011 www.limerickgeorgianmarket.com

Goleen Craft & Food Fair, 01 May 2011, Community Centre, Goleen, Co. Cork www.craftinireland.com/events/details/goleen-craft-food-fair

And from Good Food Ireland - several events and courses to whet your appetite this weekend -

On Saturday April 30th - "Sinful but Saintly Cooking demo" with Susan Jane Murray
Susan joins Good Food Ireland members Donnybrook Fair for a “Sinful but Saintly” demo at which she will let us in on her secrets for making scrumptious desserts that are sugar-free, wheat-free and dairy-free.

To book a place at Susan Jane's 'Sinful but Saintly' cookery demo on April 30, call Donnybrook Fair on (01) 668-3556, or see www.susanjanemurray.com

Cookery Courses
Belle Isle Cookery School, Fermanagh -
Saturday 30th April Cakes & Bakes. One day course
Saturday 4th May Fish & Seafood. One day course
http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/Member207/Belle-Isle-Cookery-School-Fermanagh.html

Dublin Cookery School -
2 May - 27 May Cooking for Life. One month course.
7 May Cooking course with guest chef Atul Kochhar. One day course
http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/Member212/Dublin-Cookery-School-Dublin.html

I just wish I could go to them all! Have a great weekend and happy eating x

Irish cooks and food enthusiasts, USA is calling...

If you fancy yourself as a half decent cook and feel that you've a recipe connected to the county you're living in, then this is an opportunity you can't miss.

Rachel Gaffney, a Corkwoman now living in Texas is on the hunt for recipes from the 32 counties of Ireland to be part of a US project to be directed by Emmy Award-winning producer Bob Altman, former Supervising Producer of ‘Martha Stewart Living’.

Rachel, who is passionate about Irish food, wants to showcase what this country has to offer in the form of a video cookbook based on Irish recipes. They can be in any shape or form - main courses, starters etc.

When thinking about the recipes that you might submit, she advices emphasising the story behind the recipe and why, from your perspective, it belongs in this collection - one which will live in the digital-recipe seeker’s “bookmarks” for years to come. Rachel is looking for a paragraph or so along with the recipe, explaining to home-cooks around the world, how they can share your love of Irish food with their family and friends by serving your dish.

If your dish is selected, the team would also like to present your photo, a short biography and a link to your blog or website. So while the aim is to present the best of traditional Irish food, they are most interested "interpretation and embellishment" and the idea of a recipe having been passed down to you through family or tradition. It is okay to mention a particular branded ingredient if you feel that it is integral to the taste of the dish – as long as the product is made in Ireland.

The recipes will be filmed in extreme close-up without an on-camera presenter, so that the ingredients and the ‘how-to’ process will be the star. They will be styled by a feature film/television food stylist and lit, photographed and edited by an Emmy Award winning production team.“Runner-up” entries may be presented in text and photo format also with a link back to your blog. So for all Irish food writers, bloggers and cookery enthusiasts this is a wonderful opportunity.

Email your recipe to:Rachel@Rachelgaffneys.com

You can follow Rachel on Twitter @Rachelgaffney and on Facebook.

http://www.rachelgaffney.blogspot.com/

RACHEL GAFFNEY'S REAL IRELAND5515 TAMARON COURTDALLAS,TX,75287TEL: (469) 6446054EMAIL:

http://uk.mc295.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Rachel@Rachelgaffneys.comWEB: www.Rachelgaffneys.comBLOG: www.Rachelgaffney.blogspot.com

Like prostitution, food substitution is one of the oldest trades in the book. "We're being codded" Part II

Food substitution or food swindling in order to make money is one of the oldest tricks in the book. While may think what we eat today is dominated by food additives and unnatural manufacturing, our range of foods has to be better than a century ago when particularly urban people were at the complete mercy of food sellers.

Freidrich Engels even wrote about it - pointing out that as working men got their wages on a Saturday in industrial Britain they had to buy their family food on Saturday evening. This was the beginning of what we know today as evening grocery shopping. And as much of it was conducted in candlelight, this was where a lot of the chicanery took place. As the good food was sold off from the morning onwards, the ordinary working person was left with the poor produce that remained by the evening or produce that was discounted precisely because it was foul. Rotten meat was covered with a layer of healthy fat, aged butter was covered with a coating of fresh butter, oranges were boiled to make them weighty and shiny and in the case of fish, their gills were painted red to make them look fresh.



Sadly there are still plenty of people out there willing to pull the wool over our eyes. In 2009 the Food Safety Authority brought two Irish companies to court for the mislabelling of fish. They won their case against one of the companies who was passing off farmed salmon as wild salmon; an altogether rarer and far more expensive product. One of these companies is a very well known fish retailer and wholesaler who got off on a technicality but was nonetheless happy to pass off farmed salmon as wild salmon and collect the huge difference in price for quite some time.


So like prostitution, food substitution - as one of the oldest trades in the book is still very much alive and well. But who's going to take on the villians of the piece? Following this most recent survey on fish mislabelling and recognising the scale of the problem, the FSAI are introducing annual checks for fish and food businesses that fail to keep appropriate traceability records or who are found to be intentionally misleading consumers. They also say they will take repeat offenders to court but for the moment most of them will get off with a verbal warning. Unfortunately that is how the legislation stands. Seems a bit lily-livered to me.


One of the sad facts behind the mislabelling story is that most of the fish that is being passed off as cod is imported. Not only that but much of the white fish we eat is imported. White fish, behind farmed salmon, is the second most popular seafood in this country and the similarities between filleted white fish make substituting species easy to do. Most people don’t know the difference.

In terms of our own lovely local seafood catch, 80% of Irish fish is exported to Europe where there is a ready market in France and Spain for high quality, fresh whole fish. Unfortunately we Irish consumers don't seem to be switched on to how good the product is on our own doorstep and instead eat cheap imports that come from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Scandanavia which have been ususally frozen for several days. This imported fish is cheaper, and comes in huge volumes so this makes it more attractive for supermarkets in particular. It also comes filleted, ready for sale and Irish fish just can’t compete.

So, what do we do about cod?

In the FSAI report, fake Cod is the fish that keeps cropping up again and again. In fact nearly three quarters of the "smoked cod" on offer to Irish consumers that the agency tested wasn't cod at all but Pollack, Coley, Saithe or God knows what else. But there's two interesting things that emanate from this - one is that even though stocks are shrinking, Irish shoppers still want to eat cod, whether it's bought in a supermarket or a chipper. So the mislabelling of cod perpetuates the myth that there is plenty of cod about. This means that Irish consumers are failing to adjust our shopping habits and our wallets, to food that is endangered or comes with a high environmental cost.

So what can consumers do to eat more Irish fish and avoid eating something that is falsely labelled? Firstly if they buy their fish locally it’s the easiest possible option. In Dublin you can still buy fish direct off boats coming into Howth, harbour, (pictured) Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey and there are fish dealers in this area who will get you what you want straight from the boat. Local fish mongers, though scarce, are a great option and if it comes to supermarkets, buying Marine Stewardship Council certified fish gives you a certainty that it’s sustainable and has a country of origin label.


A new scheme soon to be brought in by Supervalue will see Irish fish being retailed on their shelves which is traceable straight back to the boat it came in on which is really great.

Ironically, one positive thing coming from this fish mislabelling affair is that it reveals we are patently happy to eat lots of other fish besides cod, and in fact we didn’t seem to notice the difference. But if most of us are happy to eat cheaper fish, the savings from doing so should be made by us, not by someone trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

If you're interested in fish stocks and their sustainability check out Ocean 2012 which is a coalition of groups lobbying for change and sustainable practices in the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. They're at http://www.ocean2012.eu/ and the Irish representation is on twitter at @OCEAN2012IE - they will soon have news coming up on Irish events for European Fish Week June 4th - 12th.

Would you like fries with that? We're being codded, again.

A year on from when I first wrote about the fish labelling scandal going on in Ireland it seems nothing has changed. In the second survey into what exactly we are buying when we purchase "cod", the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has revealed that nearly one in five fish are not what it says on the label. So what are the implications for consumers and does this point to murky goings on in the fish trade?

This most recent survey was carried out in retail outlets, fish shops, hotels, pubs, restaurants and takeaways all over Ireland. The FSAI found that 19% of products it sampled were labelled incorrectly. The largest sector selling us fake cod was takeaways, with 32% of takeaways found to have mislabelled fish produce on sale.

Do takeaways rely on people being either (a) drunk and on their way home from the pub when they buy their "cod" and chips, or (b) their product being so doused in salt and vinegar that your box of fish and chips could be in fact battered Nike trainer with deep fried turnip peelings?

The point is that this isn't so much a food safety issue but common or garden food swindling, based on making money from innocent consumers. Cod is generally an expensive fish and in this case it’s being replaced with other varieties, and food businesses are increasing their own profit margins by selling fake produce.

This survey was undertaken last autumn when cod stocks are traditionally low and found that fish such as pollack, coley or smelt were being sold as cod. At that time cod was about 11 euros a kilo; pollack about 6 or 7 euro a kilo so you stand to make a lot of money if you can replace one with the other.

Okay, so a bit of coley posing as cod won't kill us. However, in terms of food safety, food substitution in the past has had fatal consequences. In North America two people died from eating puffer fish that had been labelled and sold as monkfish; a pretty terrifying outcome. As consumers, we need to have confidence in what it says on the label. Particularly in the EU, we are under the impression that strict policies on labelling and traceability are in place. Instead, what this study reveals is a level of disfunction in the labelling of seafood in Europe.

What’s shocking about this is not the first time that mislabelling of fish has found to be an issue in Ireland. About 12 months ago when I first wrote on the subject UCD did a study on fish and found much the same problem. A quarter of the fish they examined was mislabelled. In one major supermarket chain, seven out of their 16 "cod" products weren't cod. The research calculated that by selling cheaper alternatives, this retailer could be getting inflated profits of between €400,000 to €550,000 per year on Irish cod sales.

So who is doing the duping – is it the supermarkets, the fish and chip shops or is it the fish dealers who are selling them the fish? The FSAI can’t name and shame the outlets or merchants involved in this sting so to speak. They found that some of the mislabelling may be due to a certain amount of ignorance, but a few names popped up in the retail and wholesale side where several instances occurred, especially in the battered and smoked fish. They’re being investigated as this would suggest that it was more than accidental.

Unfortunately the penalities are low even if charges are brought and while you can name and shame an outlet for food safety breaches, mislabelling food comes under “misleading the consumer” which hasn’t huge penalities – most will get a verbal warning, then if they persist be taken to court.

Not very heartening for the consumer is it? Will it take a serious health incident arising from food mislabelling to change the law? Why can't we find out who the worst operators are and therefore make our own choice as consumers to stop being codded at the fish counter? If you want to hear more on this topic I'll soon upload my interview on RTE radio with Pat Kenny teasing through the issue. And no, there won't be any bad jokes, I promise.

In part two of this post, I'll be examining the sometimes hideous, sometimes hysterically funny history of food substitution and I'll have some tips for how to buy Irish fish, that's the genuine article. We've so much great fish in Ireland it's ridiculous that we're buying not only fake product but fake product that's mostly coming from outside the EU. But that's a whole other story... part two coming soon.

New garden, new start

In between lots of food writing and talking last week I managed to get out to the garden and plant some spring veg - a refreshing change to the chicken wars which were continuing apace. Late last year we moved to a new house with a large garden, in fact it's not really a garden but a job centre. The minute we arrived, my husband and I walked around it stupefied with fear - having moved here precisely because we wanted a small piece of land of our own, once we were in possession of it things just began to look plain scary.

The list of jobs to be done; lawns to be mown, hedges to be cut, trees to be felled, felled trees to be chopped is pretty overwhelming. And while it had been beautifully maintained by the previous owners, the place doesn't feel like the garden we want it be and big plans are afoot to change how much of it is orientated.

Being animal lovers, more living, destructive additions are set to arrive in the next few months but in the meantime we are just trying to maintain the garden; chop down a few small trees to get a nicer view of the valley we live in, cut hedges and start on the lawns. While a lot of the planting is very suburban and 1970s in flavour, there are some lovely places in the garden, including the potting shed (pictured above) which is a lovely place to work, with old-fashioned panes of glass covered in clematis to one side and a lovely pink camellia climbing all over the front wall and door.

If you follow this blog from last year you will be familiar with the travails of planting too many tomatoes so this year I stuck to just Ferlines - -a nice large ridged tomato like the ones in French outdoor markets, which have been successful for us in the past, and a few of a mini variety.

I also put in lots of rocket, dill, basil, radishes and three types of lettuce. We will plant more in a fortnight's time so that you get a successive crop rather than everything coming at the same time -yet more lessons learned from previous efforts.

For someone who spends a lot of their day looking at a laptop, it's lovely to be outside again and pottering around in the dirt. Gardening in a new place and planting from seeds is always slow at the start but once your veg begins to come up it is such a pleasure to walk around the garden in the evening, see how everything is getting on and have a glass of wine and chat as the sun sets. I have one terrace I'm trying to remodel as a place to eat in the evenings which has beautiful views. At the moment it's a grey concrete hell but I've high hopes for its transformation into a cool but lush space for eating and entertaining. I've done this before - the first garden I had was truly awful - a tiny concreted yard the size of a stamp but after years of work it became something really lovely, with hanging vines, lanterns, dark wooden floors and verdant planting. So in a way this garden is going to benefit from the experiences that have gone before, or fingers crossed, let's hope it will.

It's funny, I am more patient about gardens then most other things in my life. I'm prepared to put in enormous hard work, constantly forgive them, plan and reinvest when things go wrong and ultimately learn from my mistakes. If I could bring these qualities into everything I do, I'd be some kind of cross between Michael O'Leary and the Dalai Lama. I'll keep the blog up to date with regular reports and photos and include the food I grow into my cooking this summer. For everyone out there fond of gardens, or perhaps who doesn't know where to start - buy a few seeds, a bag of compost, a small tray and stick them in the ground. See what happens. Get stuck in now folks, dirt rocks. x

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