Articles

Feast or Famine: a Cultural Food Journey of the North West of Ireland by Emmett McCourt. Guildhall Press, hardback, 272 pp, fully illustrated. £19.95.

Kevin Dundon’s Back To Basics - Your Essential Step-by-Step Cookbook Mitchell Beazley/Octopus Publishing; hardback 222 pages, photography by Cristian Barnett; £20.
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Fun, quirky and always busy, Kai (meaning food in Maori) is the brainchild of chef Jess Murphy, a New Zealander who, with her Irish husband David front-of-house, converted this former tearoom café on Galway city’s Westside to create a rustic café and restaurant with a casual vibe and loads of atmosphere.
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The UK’s National Vegetarian Week is scheduled for 18th-24th May and - while the nearest equivalent in Ireland is World Vegetarian Day in October, which is marked by the Vegetarian Society in Dublin - this is a good time to celebrate the health-giving qualities, versatility and downright deliciousness of vegetables
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RAW Recipes for Radiant Living by Bernadette Bohan (Gill & Macmillan hardback 204pp photography by Neil Hurley.
Judging by images on the cover and throughout this handsomely presented book, Bernadette Bohan is her own best advertisement for the healthy eating plan she so passionately advocates.
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With the mayfly hatching this month, it’s peak season for trout. Closely related to salmon and Arctic char, the name trout actually covers a number of fish including the prized sea trout (a large salmon-like migratory form of river trout), brown trout and rainbow trout.
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A popular West Cork destination for food lovers and a delightful find for visitors to the town, The Lettercollum Kitchen Project in Clonakilty is the latest phase in a wonderful food journey that began in the 80s.
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Eugene Long and his wife Sinead Frisby established their culinary credentials in the South-East some years ago at ‘Coast’ and the original Banyan, in Tramore, which attracted critics from all over while they were there - and then, in late 2010, a short move to this lovely space above Mother McHugh’s pub put the small village of Fenor firmly on the food lovers' map.
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Well deserved recipient of the 2015 Irish Food Writers Guild ‘Notable Contribution to Irish Food Award’, Birgitta Curtin is not only dedicated to maintaining the highest standards for her own famous smoked salmon - much of which is organically produced by Clare Island Salmon, off the rugged coast of Co Mayo - and other equally carefully sourced products at the Burren Smokehouse and Visitor Centre
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A brace of books this month, all about the humble tuber that has become our national vegetable: the potato. Lucy Madden's The Potato Year, 300 Classic Recipes (Mercier Press, hardback; 350pp; €14.99) and Eveleen Coyle's The Irish Pocket Potato Recipe Book (G&M, hardback; colour photography throughout, 256pp; €4.99)
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The common Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica, was for many generations an important traditional food in Ireland, providing a free and tasty ingredient for soups, purées and sauces in the spring.
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