Articles

This month Darina talks about one of the West of Ireland’s biggest food heroes, JP McMahon. The larger than life author of ‘Cava Bodega Tapas, A Taste of Spain in Ireland’ is a speaker at this year’s Kerrygold Ballymaloe Lifest LitFest (15-17 May 2015)
more...

This month Darina considers our food history, and the many fascinating old recipes that have been discovered in ‘manuscript cookbooks’ - maybe you have some tucked away in a copy book somewhere too!
more...

It’s not as easy as it sounds to give visitors ‘a real taste of our Irish produce’ - but Darina has the answer to this common problem. I got a wonderful letter recently, beautifully hand-written by a woman who described herself as an octogenarian.
more...

This month Darina talks about one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in London for several years, a place where “beautifully fresh ingredients shine through with the minimum of interference”. How good is that.
more...

Darina says there are worse things to be addicted to than her new pedometer - and her other health resolutions this year include cutting the sugar content in Ballymaloe Cookery School recipes, and adjusting the balance of vegetable to meat consumption
more...

The scent of spices is synonymous with Christmas, so what better time for Darina to think back over the changes she has seen in our use of spices over three decades at Ballymaloe Cookery School - and to welcome Arun Kapil’s recently published cookbook, ‘Fresh Spice’.
more...

IFEST, the first major celebration of Irish culture and food was held in Boston recently - and Darina was there. It’s the brainchild of Rachael Kelly, the young entrepreneur who was behind the Taste of Dublin festival for many years. Her vision is to take IFEST to all the American cities where there is a strong Irish diaspora and not just to celebrate Ireland but to generate both business investment and tourism.
more...

There's going to be a great crop of blackberries this year, says Darina, and she has some terrific recipes for you to try
more...

The trend towards people growing their own food has sprung from a desire to eat healthily, says Darina, and she has some interesting seasonal recipes to tickle your taste buds
more...

We've gone crazy for seaweed in recent times, says Darina, and now she's really woken up to phenomenal variety of sea vegetables around our coast. We were always big fans (and still are) of carrageen moss and dillisk, but that was pretty much the limit of my knowledge of seaweeds up to relatively recently.
more...