Articles

This month Darina visits Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, where “a table is one of the hottest most sought after meal slots in the whole world”. Curious chefs and food lovers from all over the world fly into Copenhagen to eat at this simple restaurant which has defined the gastronomy of a whole nation and established a flow of food tourism that benefits not only Noma but a growing number of other restaurants in Copenhagen and the hinterland.
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Slow Food has taken me to many remote places around the globe in search of ancient cultures and indigenous foods. On one memorable occasion I found myself in Sápmi (Samiland) in northern Sweden – the land of the midnight sun; it was bright almost all night.
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So many menus nowadays are utterly predictable, chicken, farmed salmon, steak and maybe lamb. Sometimes there is duck but it’s rare enough to be offered any wild food or game. The deer hunting season is open until February 28th depending on the type of deer (check the different dates with National Parks and Wildlife Service) so in response to a readers request I have decided to concentrate on venison in this article.
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Few people can recall going into the festive season at a time of such doom and gloom. But many of us remember when little treats were much looked forward to – a tangerine, some plasticine, maybe a few balloons, colouring pencils, and doll dress up sets in our stockings.
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Despite the fact that the Minister for Agriculture is determined to ban the sale of raw milk, all is not yet lost – a few thoughts on the subject. I was reared on raw milk, originally from our own little Kerry cow and later from our neighbour’s dairy herd. When pasteurised milk eventually came to our village in the late 1950s it tasted strange and unappetising to our palate.
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I recently spent a fantastic afternoon foraging in the rock pools on Ballyandreen strand close to Ballycotton in East Cork. It was one of a series of East Cork Slow Food Events to teach some Forgotten Skills, in this case how to identify and harvest edible seaweeds. Bruce Macdonald was our guide; he has developed a business called Coppercoast Tours showing people how to collect food sustainably on the seashore...
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The fight to preserve the right to produce, sell and buy raw milk in Ireland is entering a critical phase. In response to a letter protesting the proposed ban from Georgina Campbell to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr Simon Coveney, TD, a reply was recently received from The Department, explaining the background from their viewpoint and stating that...
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I’m sitting with my back to a stone wall on Inis Meáin – on Ireland’s western seaboard – watching islander Padraic McDonagh hand threshing rye in the time honoured way. He chooses a flat lime stone area and then he makes a little circle of sheaves to catch the seed.
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Stevie Parle is an interesting young chef who is making waves on the London food scene - and he was one of the youngest students we ever had on our 12 Week course. Stevie was just 17 years old when he signed up for the January 2002 Certificate Course. He, like many young people, was fed up with ordinary school – he just wanted to cook.
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Ireland’s future is unquestionably in food production. At long last we are recognising the fact that Ireland is in an enviable position in terms of natural resources – we are an island nation on the edge of Europe with 400 million affluent consumers on our doorstep. We’ve got acres of fertile soil, plenty of water, a long growing season, a thriving artisan and specialist food production industry, plus a green clean image.
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