Tuna in for the moment that family celebrate 10 years of business
I don’t like to wax poetic about any one product or brand lest you think we’re giving away free advertising, but one Irish product I always have in my cupboard is tinned fish from Shines Seafood. Based in Co Donegal, the Shine family preserve fish in a way that keeps its integrity. I had honestly given up on tinned tuna before they came along and – can you believe it – they are now celebrating 10 years in business. John and Marianne Shine run the business with their daughter, Ciara, and she once told me they were inspired by the way fish was preserved – and celebrated – in northern Spain when they would go on family holidays.
They preserve Irish mackerel, sardines and tuna and have won numerous awards for the taste and quality of their product line, so excuse me if I was waxing poetic – but this is the kind of Irish food business worth celebrating. See shinesseafood.ie
If you’re a fan of the aul’ GAA, this little bit of news might be of interest. To celebrate this year’s Gaelic football season, Lidl have teamed up with Donegal-based soft drink company Football Special as part of Lidl’s decade-long support for ladies’ Gaelic football.
This iconic drink is produced by McDaid’s in Co Donegal and has been around since 1940. Now, it’s going to be available in Lidl nationwide for a limited time in bottles featuring a new label comprised of ladies’ Gaelic football artwork. It’s on promotional release in-store from 26 June, just in time for this season’s knockout stages, and will come back again on 31 July in time for the TG4 All-Ireland Championship Finals.
Football Special was originally created to celebrate the many successes of a local football club. Since then, the drink has achieved cult status in Ireland and a dedicated fanbase. I have to admit, I haven’t tried it myself, but now that it’s available in my part of the country I feel compelled!
Eoin Slevin (Lidl Buyer), LGFA player Carla Rowe and managing director of McDaid, Seamus McDaid, launch Football Special.
Asia is a pâtisserie champion
Asia Mahealani McDonagh, who owns and operates Mahealani Pastries in Galway, has been announced as the winner of the first-ever Irish Pâtisserie Championship, sponsored by Odaios Foods and Valrhona Chocolate. The competition took place on 27 May at the inaugural DNA Pastry Unwrapped Conference at TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus.
The title was awarded to Asia after a highly competitive six-hour live finale against five other talented pastry chefs. No mean feat to come away champion.
Originally from Hawaii, and having lived in California and Paris, Asia settled in Ireland after meeting her now husband in Galway, and Ireland is all the better for it. She impressed the judges with her trio of sweet creations, which included a chocolate showpiece entitled ‘Mahealani’ after her Hawaiian middle name (which means ‘the light of the full moon’).
I need to plan a road trip. See mahealanipastries.ie
Asia Mahealani McDonagh, owns and operates Mahealani Pastries. \ Marc O’Sullivan Photography
Some convenience foods are complete trash, but sometimes you find something that tastes good, meets the nutritional standards of your household and finds its way into your regular weeknight meal rotation (mainly thanks to the children of the household, who seem to have a different sporting event every night of the week).
Pizza da Piero has done this for me. As someone who likes to do a proper family pizza night, with my own homemade dough, I have never had much time for frozen pizza, but these bases are so good it just makes sense for me to have a stash in the freezer.
They’re are made using a pre-fermented sourdough starter and are based on co-founder Piero De Vallier’s Italian roots, although they’re made in Ireland with only six ingredients. I hear Pizza da Piero are teaming up with other Irish food producers for a summer series of competitions.
See @pizza_da_piero or pizzadapiero.ie
Piero's bruschetta-inspired pizza.
Food innovation at the fore
Someone said to me recently, “How we’re eating today is not how we were eating 20 years ago,” and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this. You’d think food and hospitality would be one of the industries not too impacted by tech or the presence of artificial intelligence (AI).
Last week, Enterprise Ireland held its flagship Food Innovation Summit 2025, which brought over 300 food and drink companies, start-ups, researchers and policy-makers together to explore just how we should be future-proofing our approach to innovation.
The summit reflected on how technology is transforming food, hospitality and product development – from the rise of AI, precision fermentation and biotechnology to the impact of anti-obesity drugs.
Look, I won’t lie, it’s all a bit much for an auld-timer like me. But it’s good to be learning about trends and having these important conversations.
Read more
Spilling the tea with... Maître D’
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
Tuna in for the moment that family celebrate 10 years of business
I don’t like to wax poetic about any one product or brand lest you think we’re giving away free advertising, but one Irish product I always have in my cupboard is tinned fish from Shines Seafood. Based in Co Donegal, the Shine family preserve fish in a way that keeps its integrity. I had honestly given up on tinned tuna before they came along and – can you believe it – they are now celebrating 10 years in business. John and Marianne Shine run the business with their daughter, Ciara, and she once told me they were inspired by the way fish was preserved – and celebrated – in northern Spain when they would go on family holidays.
They preserve Irish mackerel, sardines and tuna and have won numerous awards for the taste and quality of their product line, so excuse me if I was waxing poetic – but this is the kind of Irish food business worth celebrating. See shinesseafood.ie
If you’re a fan of the aul’ GAA, this little bit of news might be of interest. To celebrate this year’s Gaelic football season, Lidl have teamed up with Donegal-based soft drink company Football Special as part of Lidl’s decade-long support for ladies’ Gaelic football.
This iconic drink is produced by McDaid’s in Co Donegal and has been around since 1940. Now, it’s going to be available in Lidl nationwide for a limited time in bottles featuring a new label comprised of ladies’ Gaelic football artwork. It’s on promotional release in-store from 26 June, just in time for this season’s knockout stages, and will come back again on 31 July in time for the TG4 All-Ireland Championship Finals.
Football Special was originally created to celebrate the many successes of a local football club. Since then, the drink has achieved cult status in Ireland and a dedicated fanbase. I have to admit, I haven’t tried it myself, but now that it’s available in my part of the country I feel compelled!
Eoin Slevin (Lidl Buyer), LGFA player Carla Rowe and managing director of McDaid, Seamus McDaid, launch Football Special.
Asia is a pâtisserie champion
Asia Mahealani McDonagh, who owns and operates Mahealani Pastries in Galway, has been announced as the winner of the first-ever Irish Pâtisserie Championship, sponsored by Odaios Foods and Valrhona Chocolate. The competition took place on 27 May at the inaugural DNA Pastry Unwrapped Conference at TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus.
The title was awarded to Asia after a highly competitive six-hour live finale against five other talented pastry chefs. No mean feat to come away champion.
Originally from Hawaii, and having lived in California and Paris, Asia settled in Ireland after meeting her now husband in Galway, and Ireland is all the better for it. She impressed the judges with her trio of sweet creations, which included a chocolate showpiece entitled ‘Mahealani’ after her Hawaiian middle name (which means ‘the light of the full moon’).
I need to plan a road trip. See mahealanipastries.ie
Asia Mahealani McDonagh, owns and operates Mahealani Pastries. \ Marc O’Sullivan Photography
Some convenience foods are complete trash, but sometimes you find something that tastes good, meets the nutritional standards of your household and finds its way into your regular weeknight meal rotation (mainly thanks to the children of the household, who seem to have a different sporting event every night of the week).
Pizza da Piero has done this for me. As someone who likes to do a proper family pizza night, with my own homemade dough, I have never had much time for frozen pizza, but these bases are so good it just makes sense for me to have a stash in the freezer.
They’re are made using a pre-fermented sourdough starter and are based on co-founder Piero De Vallier’s Italian roots, although they’re made in Ireland with only six ingredients. I hear Pizza da Piero are teaming up with other Irish food producers for a summer series of competitions.
See @pizza_da_piero or pizzadapiero.ie
Piero's bruschetta-inspired pizza.
Food innovation at the fore
Someone said to me recently, “How we’re eating today is not how we were eating 20 years ago,” and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this. You’d think food and hospitality would be one of the industries not too impacted by tech or the presence of artificial intelligence (AI).
Last week, Enterprise Ireland held its flagship Food Innovation Summit 2025, which brought over 300 food and drink companies, start-ups, researchers and policy-makers together to explore just how we should be future-proofing our approach to innovation.
The summit reflected on how technology is transforming food, hospitality and product development – from the rise of AI, precision fermentation and biotechnology to the impact of anti-obesity drugs.
Look, I won’t lie, it’s all a bit much for an auld-timer like me. But it’s good to be learning about trends and having these important conversations.
Read more
Spilling the tea with... Maître D’
Spilling the tea with Maitre D'
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