Spilling the tea with Maître d'

With summer in the air, we all want to head to the sea and what better excuse than signing up for Up There The Last’s week-long Traditions of the Sea workshop, which takes place in Castletownsend, west Cork from 28 June to 4 July. UTTL founder Max Jones, a traditional food conservationist with one foot in Ireland and the other in Italy, is passionate about teaching people how to preserve food naturally. See also Max’s annual trips in Italy where he brings people to join cattle herders in the seasonal movement – the transhumance – of livestock to wild Alpine pastures.

His Irish coastal adventure might have less walking but it has a similar focus on traditional ways of food production including fermentation, salting and curing, along with cold and hot smoking.

It’s an experiential retreat, an opportunity to take time out with interesting people, getting hands-on to learn new skills that have been around for a long, long time. Tickets for this week-long course, including all masterclasses, tastings, recipe sessions, visits to producers, breakfasts, lunches and a final night community feast costs from €1,995. uptherethelast.com

God be with the days when you’d go to a music festival and be satisfied with a bag of salty chips and a burger of uncertain provenance from a ramshackle chip van. Now you need to plan your eating opportunities as carefully as your music moments, but that’s no bad thing. The fun of any festival is in discovery, whether that’s the small band that you stumble across in an out of the way tent or the food innovator you see interviewed.

This year’s Beyond The Pale, taking place from 12-14 June at Glendalough Estate in Co Wicklow, has food writer and culinary curator Ali Dunworth helming the food programme. Her theme for 2026? The Spice Bag Edition!

Bookings are open for sit-down dining experiences from Ranelagh’s Italian-influenced Host, everyone’s favourite Rathmines pizzeria Reggie’s and West African pop-up IBÍLÈ. Meals cost from €65 per person and bookings at itsbeyondthepale.ie are for either two or four people.

If you’ve ever driven out west of Galway to get the ferry to the Aran Islands from Rossaveel during the summer months, you might – unless distracted by the glorious sea view – have noticed a small wooden farm shop stocked with seasonal vegetables from An Garraí Glas.

It’s not easy being a market gardener in Connemara but Aonghus Ó Coistealbha (pictured above), has turned his one acre of land into a highly productive space, selling his produce to local shops and restaurants: find them at Coyles of Connemara and namechecked on the menu at Pota Café and Kai, amongst others.

Aonghus has worked with this challenging landscape to grow a wide variety of vegetables and he’s determined to share his hard-won knowledge with others. Believing that people should have the right and the knowledge to grow vegetables and feed themselves properly, this May he’s running Slí Beatha (€400), four days of on-farm training in vegetable growing from experienced professional growers.

A mixture of class and hands-on learning, there will also be a focus on sitting down and eating together. eventbrite.ie/e/sli-beatha

Following Picado Mexican on socials can be a dangerous thing. This Dublin-based Mexican grocery and kitchen, founded by Lily Ramirez-Foran, has a feed that showcases all kinds of tempting treats, from tamales and fruity salsa macha to freshly baked conchas and horchata lattes. Lily, who is from the city of Monterrey in Mexico, is a proud advocate of the food of her homeplace. In Picado at the Loom on Cork Street, she holds regular cooking classes, workshops, demos and supper clubs, and this year’s Cinco de Mayo event on Saturday 2 May. This festival celebrates the Battle of Puebla, a significant Mexican victory over the French in 1862. Kicking off with drinks and snacks, Lily and her team will be cooking a five-course long table dinner inspired by the food and history of the city of Puebla, quite possibly including the legendary mole poblano that the region is known for. It will be a night of delicious dishes, with a side helping of history. Tickets are €125 per person. picadomexican.com

Have you ever tasted a dirty tomahawk steak? Emily McCorkell of Derry’s Lo & Slo BBQ, who runs the Wild & Fired BBQ School at the historic Brookhall Estate in Co Derry, takes this large, bone-in – think The Flintstones-type cut of meat – ribeye steak and cooks it directly on hot coals for a taste sensation that’s going to up your barbecue ratings with friends and family.

Learn all about it at Grill Fest 2026, which is taking place on the Monday of the May bank holiday, (4 May) from 11am-5pm at outdoorliving.ie in Wicklow’s Glen of the Downs.

Emily, who has a passion for cooking with live fire and for teaching others how to do it, will be on-site, along with the brilliant backyard BBQ enthusiast Kate O’Driscoll, Smokin’ Soul from Wexford, Rathdrum-based craft butcher Martin Sikula, O’Brother Brewing and Mic’s Chilli.

Just think of all the barbecue inspiration you’ll get while enjoying the sunshine – practically guaranteed – with atmospheric flickering flames and those gloriously smoky flavours. outdoorliving.ie