Articles

Where to Eat Pizza, by Daniel Young (Phaidon, hardback; 14 b/w illustrations; 576pp; £16.95/€24.95)
Subtitled variously 'The Last Word on The Slice' and 'The Experts' Guide to the Best Pizza Places in the World', this cheerful, chunky hardback is certainly not a pocket guide...
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The rise of carbs such as rice, pasta and cous cous has seen sales of potatoes decline by 20% in the last decade. In fact Bord Bia reports that sales of the spud could fall by as much as 40% in the next decade if the trend continues unchecked. The spud’s reputation has taken a hammering of late – it is deemed a little old fashioned, fattening and a hassle to cook.
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Marking the third month of Northern Ireland's Year of Food and Drink 2016, we salute one of the region's most iconic brands, Bushmills Whiskey - a product that seems to sit happily in almost any month of the celebratory calendar, being equally at home with February’s ‘Love Local’ theme, the ‘Heritage and Traditions' focus for March - or of course 'Brewing & Distilling' which follows in April.
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County Mayo has become a favourite destination for food lovers from all over the country thanks to people like the McMahon family of the hugely popular Café Rua on New Antrim Street in Castlebar (established in 1995 by Ann McMahon) and its younger sister Rua café, deli and bakery on Spencer Street, which opened in 2007 and is now run by Ann's children, Aran and Colleen.
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What it means to be an organic farmer in Ireland today … Jenny Young writes about life and work on an organic mixed farm in Co Kildare - and selling its produce. This month Jenny gives us food for thought by comparing subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia with their own high tech Irish farm.
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Once more on the war path to get us to take back control of what we eat, Darina recalls George Orwell’s prophetic words in 'The Road to Wigan Pier' (1937), "... we may find in the long run that tinned /processed food is a deadlier weapon than the machine gun".
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There's been a new confidence about Limerick city since it was chosen as City of Culture in 2014 and first time visitors are invariably wowed by the elegance of its 'Georgian Quarter' - especially its most famous Georgian square, where this chic boutique hotel occupies a large site overlooking the leafy Peoples Park
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The French entertain in a different way than us. They do have Dinner Parties as the Irish do from time to time, but much more often they just ask people around for an “Apero”- always called this it is actually short for an Aperitif, that ritual drink the French have to herald in the evening before starting dinner
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Ask anyone in Northern Ireland about Punjana Tea and you’ll be in no doubt that you’ve touched on something central to the culture - even people who never drink tea (and there aren’t too many of those) will probably break into the famous jingle that goes back decades and crosses several generation gaps.
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And so it begins. Another season starts with the determined act of seed sowing in the potting shed. A bag of compost opened and tipped out on the sowing bench. Cold black plastic pots filled with even colder blacker compost. Seed labels lined up awaiting a scrawl of information. Seed packets fished out from my big box of tricks and ripped open to reveal their bounty. It's just tomatoes, aubergines and peppers today so five tiny little seeds are placed gently on the surface of each pot (one for each variety I will sow and 17 pots in all).
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