Articles

Beautifully situated near Smerwick Harbour on the Slea Head scenic drive and Dingle Way walking route, Sile and Vincent Gorman's guesthouse is, as they say themselves "just a great place to relax and unwind". It's a lovely place to stay, at any time of year, and the Gormans are knowledgeable and helpful hosts...
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A family invitation to attend the inaugural Westport Food Festival (2-4 September 2011) got us itching to head west, so we bundled our two little boys into the car and hit the road, heading for the Hotel Westport. Centrally located and within pleasant walking distance of everything in the town, this hospitable and well run hotel is a favourite destination as it makes a relaxing base for family breaks, with excellent leisure facilities.
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Full on kitchen gardening has been a new experience for thousands of allotment virgins this last couple of years, and it’s a fair bet that a good few are wondering what on earth to do with all this sudden abundance of food. There are quite a few things you can do with excess fruit and vegetables, and some of them could make you money.
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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 whole of Europe, it seems, is going out of its way to designate its traditional and geographically specific foods as PGI, PDO or TSG. Ireland however, lags chronically behind the rest of the EU in adding this valuable marker to foods and drinks. Oliver Moore investigates.
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If you allow it to be, the harvest can be a time of incredible celebration, and it is quite right that it should be so. We should be celebrating at this time of the year even though it might be kind of quaint to do so. The joy of the harvest is something that the food chain’s assault on seasonality has deprived us of, for if every vegetable is available all the year round, then of course there is no reason to celebrate the harvest months.
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Autumn has come in so quickly this year, and this has brought us our first autumn calf this week, as well as our first season’s honey. In the orchard our apples will be collected very soon and be transformed into apple juice.
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Sister number one has caused unpardonable offence to sister number two by referring to her work chairing an arts organisation as a 'piddling little job'. This is a slight that will resurface over the years and none of its sting will lessen. The contemptuous dismissal of another's modus vivendi is an affront on so many levels; one’s years of toil, experience, reputation all erased in a few words. The pain will linger.
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The most abundant, widespread and versatile of Irish shellfish, the common or blue mussel (Mytilus edulis – or an diúilicín in Irish), is to be seen on virtually every rock, pier and rope in the sea around Ireland.
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Janet’s Country Fayre range of handmade chutneys, relishes and sauces was among the many impressive Co Wicklow speciality foods showcased at the Taste Council Summer School at The BrookLodge Hotel, Macreddin in August 2011.
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