Ciara'd Country Flavours: a fine food festival season ahead

Food festival season is well and truly upon us. While the town of Dungarvan will be bustling this weekend for the West Waterford Food Festival, we’re just weeks away from the Connemara Mussel Festival (4 to 6 May) and Burren Slow Food Festival (11 to 13 May) as well as the bigger festivals such as Bloom (31 May to 3 June) and Taste of Dublin (14 to 17 June).

It has become tradition, however, that Galway Food Festival kicks the season off with one of the earliest food festivals of the year.

Falling on the Easter weekend, it isn’t the warmest event, but there is certainly lots to do. From the open-air markets to food trails and speciality dinners, the people of Galway were determined to enjoy themselves.

That was what was most striking about this year’s festival and what is essential for the continued success of food festivals across the country: the local effort and the local support.

Margaret Jenkins, manager of the House Hotel in Galway, says: “It is a massive investment of time – not just for the hotels and restaurants around Galway, but also all the people who give their time voluntarily.”

While tourists were certainly to be found among the crowd during the busy weekend, it was the local people who we met along the way that are keeping this festival going from strength to strength.

This was especially evident at one of the events that kicked off the weekend: Rachel Allen cooking in Brasserie in the Corner. Already known for its great food offering, things were certainly given a unique slant when Rachel took to the kitchen. She injected her own taste of Cork, with one of her starters featuring sea kelp, picked just that morning on the Ballycotton beach.

Equally impressive were the local Galway oysters smothered in a champagne cream.

While there were plenty of dinners taking place across the weekend, one of the real highlights was the taste as you go experience. It’s not easy to get a table in JP McMahon’s Cava but on Good Friday, the pop-up pincho bar, which ran until 5pm, meant you could pop in and enjoy some bite-size dishes.

Spanish bread smothered in parma ham and manchengo, a personal favourite, we could have sat there all day. With three pinchos for €5, you could enjoy lots of taste without breaking the bank.

Another tasting plate to enjoy was the Dillisk tasting plate. Dillisk on the Docks opened just over a year ago in the Harbour Hotel. With a beautiful décor of bright yellow and blue, a relaxing decking area and an impressive menu, it is worth the short walk from the Spanish arc. Their tasting plate of chowder, which was absolutely loaded in fish, including large prawns accompanied by smoked salmon on brown bread and a Dillisk beer for €8 – excellent value.

Our advice for all food-festival-goers this summer is to do your research, then plan and book the events that interest you most. You don’t have to head far, look at what’s on in your own area, because the more local support, the more these food festivals will grow.

India pale ale (IPA) fans, listen up because the gang in O’Hara’s Brewery has just launched a beer that will give you a “Eureka” moment. It’s part of the Hop Adventure Series, which has showcased some really interesting hops from around the world. This one, the fifth in the series, focuses on the USA, and specifically the Yakima Valley.

From the first sip, you’ll find it a complex full-bodied beer. However, it’s not heavy in the traditional way that IPAs tend to be. With some citrus notes as well as grapefruit and even a hint of pineapple, this softens the flavour, making it very drinkable. In fact, it works very well when paired with spicy dishes, making it a perfect accompaniment for a rich Indian curry or a cheeky Chinese. All in the name of research, we paired it with some cheese and it really has the strength to carry some of those smelly, strong slices such as Stilton or gorgonzola. If that isn’t to your taste, though, try it with a really mature good-quality cheddar.

O’Hara’s Hop Adventure Series “Eureka” will be available in selected bars, independent off-licences and retailers. The RRP is €3.25 for a 500ml bottle.

France and Ireland joined forces recently in celebration of Good France Day (Gout de France). There was a little healthy competition thrown into the mix when 10 culinary students, five from France and five from Ireland, turned up the heat in a cookery competition where the challenge was to create a three-course menu celebrating either Irish or French dairy produce.

Held in DIT, the French and Irish students were paired into teams of two and given a mystery basket of ingredients. They were asked to produce a three-course meal of their choice, including dairy produce in each course. Derek McClelland from Waterford Institute of Technology and Pierre-Louis Delacroix from Université de Cergy-Pontoise took the top prize. This was impressive given the judges included H.E Mr Stephane Crouzat, ambassador of France to Ireland, and chef Ross Lewis of Chapter One.

Derek, who has been studying for three years in WIT, says it was a huge achievement for him personally and for his career: “I’ve worked hard over the last three years to get myself to the position I’m in now. Hearing my name being called out was a relief and I was overcome with excitement.”

Derek’s prize is a week-long “stage” within the prestigious kitchen of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in Paris, followed by a weekend of travel to experience the best of French gastronomic culture.