Fionnuala Quinlan of the Weekend Examiner telephoned a few weeks ago with a challenge. Could we teach a busy hack how to cook a traditional Christmas dinner in just a few hours? Pól O’Conghaile had dabbled a bit in the kitchen but never cooked a turkey or made a pudding before. This year, he had [...]

The Listowel Food Fair, now in its 14th year, is still buzzing.  Jimmy Deenihan and his team were one of the very first to organise a Food Fair to highlight local produce and to celebrate the food traditions of the area.  I arrived early on Friday morning; the Listowel Farmers Market was already underway.  It [...]

Terra Madre – Mother Earth
I’m just back from the Terra Madre conference in Italy. This Slow Food event, held in Italy every two years is quite simply a life changing experience. There is nothing else like it in the world. This year over 7000 people participated in the Terra Madre from 153 countries, over a [...]

Christmas Baking
The recent snap of cold air has jerked me out of my complacency and reminded me how close we are to Christmas, time to get started on Christmas baking and store cupboard goodies for edible presents.
Despite the uncertain times many people welcome the fact that the festive season is less likely to be as [...]

Ireland is fast gaining a reputation as a food tourism destination and not before time. Up to relatively recently visitors to this country came to Ireland with high expectations of everything except the weather and the food. All this is changing and the enhanced image of Irish food is due in no small measure to [...]