Food Events
There’s a veritable feast of great food events on in the next while…
Eat Cork: 23 to 26 September
If last night’s launch in the English Market was anything to judge by, there will be plenty of good eating and drinking around Cork over this weekend. A tasting menu in Augustine’s Restaurant, food trails and foodies on foot, big and small bites (€5 and €3 respectively) at the food market on Grand Parade, an assortment of English Market workshops at Market Lane, a gala dinner with Ross Lewis (Chapter One) and Pat Kiely (Les Gourmandises) and, my favourite, a Spread the (sourdough) Culture competition. Lots to eat and do around town. More information: Eat Cork on Facebook.
Dingle Peninsula Food & Wine Festival: 1 to 3 October
Ah, the Dingle Food Festival. Always enjoyed, rarely bettered. There’s a good mixture of the intelligent and the indulgent with a Garrai Glas conference (title: If Austria can do it why can’t we? – local food for tourists) alongside workshops on beekeeping and cheesemaking and the best food trails at an array of shops, galleries, pubs, cafés and restaurants around the town. Best of luck to all in the Blas na hÉireann National Irish Food Awards which take place during the festival. More information: www.dinglefood.com
Savour Kilkenny: 22 to 25 October
I’ve always eaten well in Kilkenny so I’m looking forward to this. Friday’s FoodCamp is for anyone interested in food: bloggers and producers, chefs and Bord Bia reps, consumers and journalists. Sign up here then stick around for forgotten skills demos, a walking-tour of food-producing sites in the city, local food celebration at Oktoberfeast and the brilliant Kilkenny Food Trail Tour. More information: www.savourkilkenny.com or Facebook
Organic Farmers’ Market, Clonmel: every Friday from 11am to 6pm
Set up by by Ollie Moore (Olliesplace) and Joe Condon of Omega Beef Direct, the organic food only farmers’ market is on every Friday at the showgrounds in Clonmel. The stallholders include Coolfin Gardens‘ bread, home grown vegetables from Siobhan La Touche and Eamon Wallace, Denis Maher’s local lamb, pork and beef and Diarmuid Ó Foghlú’s freshly caught Helvic fish.
Chef Factor Competition: open now, closing date 24 November It’s not easy getting the money together to study for three months at Ballymaloe Cookery School, especially at the moment, but that could change with Cully & Sully‘s recently launched Chef Factor competition. The prize? A three month course at Ballymaloe, worth €12,000, including your uniform (always very unflattering, mine now insulates the attic), a set of knives (most useful), accomodation during training and two weeks business training with Cully & Sully. If you’re interested and want to enter, just take a photo, including: a) yourself with b) your dish and c) the words Cully & Sully in the picture. Upload it at www.cheffactor.ie and get ready for voting, which starts on 25 October. Good luck to all the entrants! More information: www.cheffactor.ie
Don’t tell me I missed you on Thursday night???
I was looking out for you but between the eating and meeting I didn’t see you at all! Met Diane briefly at the end as I left and she said that you should be still about the place but had to run off to dinner.Sorry I missed the weekend’s events – unfortunately I had a prior engagement in Dublin – it looked fabulous!