2023 Award Winners 'MOVERS & SHAKERS' AWARD 2023

Darina Allen & Rory O'Connell - Ballymaloe Cookery School, Organic Farm & Gardens

It may seem like yesterday to many of its fans, but the internationally renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School founded by Darina Allen and her brother Rory O'Connell has been in business since 1983. In 2023 Darina announced her intention to step aside gradually from the everyday running of the cookery school, with Rory taking over that role. But - far from retiring - she is establishing a new Ballymaloe Organic Farming School to build on the 6-Week Sustainable Food Production Courses initiated at the cookery school before Covid. It's a very exciting project and badly needed, so this is an apt time to pay tribute to the immense contribution that Ballymaloe Cookery School has made, and continues to make, to the development of a sustainable food culture in Ireland. A wholesome commonsense approach to food inherited from their mother, the late Elizabeth O’Connell (whose wonderful food at the family’s pub, The Sportsman’s Inn at Cullahill, made it a favourite stopping point on the Dublin-Cork road), then reinforced by Myrtle Allen and the ‘Ballymaloe philosophy’, was the foundation of the cookery school, and its influence is to seen everywhere. Businesses run by former students - especially small places run by a couple, or siblings, and not dependent on a large staff – are a joy to find on our travels, providing deliciously simple, ingredients-led food that tastes of itself and conveying a sense of purposefulness that is inspiring. Great credit is due to Darina and Rory and the team for their achievements and, especially given the potential of the Ballymaloe Organic Farming School, there’s plenty more to come.