Ireland is on the menu on Italian TV

Around 1.1m Italians tuned into Sky Uno on 29 January to watch a new episode of MasterChef Italia that was filmed in Ireland last July.

The programme was filmed in Cork and Kinsale. Tourism Ireland in Milan and Bord Bia secured the famous culinary talent show. Ireland was chosen for its exceptional produce, particularly Irish beef, and the beautiful scenery which provides a wonderful backdrop for the show.

The show is set to stimulate a lot of online conversation about Ireland, with Tourism Ireland aiming to maximise online engagement with potential Italian holidaymakers on its website, Irlanda.com, and through social media outlets. Viewers of the programme will see Charles Fort in Kinsale and Cork’s English Market.

The aspiring chefs had to prepare their dishes using all Irish produce of the highest quality.

The year 2014 was a strong one for Irish tourism from Italy, with numbers increasing from the previous year. Tourism Ireland is confident numbers will continue to increase following the promotion of Ireland through MasterChef Italia.

Life list for food lovers

February saw the publication of 1,000 Foods to Eat Before you Die, a food lover’s life list written by Mimi Sheraton – journalist, restaurant critic, lecturer and award-winning cookery writer.

It contains a master list of the world’s best dishes, ingredients, restaurants and food-related experiences that everyone should have in their lifetime.

This book encapsulates Mimi’s six-decade-long love affair with food. It includes every culinary style and flavour you can think of, from Irish to French, Greek and Japanese. This guide has something to tickle all taste buds, with Mimi Sheraton providing great food recommendations.

The book took nine years to complete and the contents brim with Sheraton’s knowledge and passion for food. 1,000 Foods to Eat Before you Die can be purchased in any leading bookshop or online at www.workman.com

Dairy free ice cream

Rachael and Brian Nolan launched the first gluten and dairy-free ice cream range, Nobó, in 2012. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength. The couple now supply their product to over 150 stores nationwide including SuperValu.

Brian and Rachael came up with the idea for gluten and dairy-free ice cream when they recalled how they struggled to eat regular ice cream as kids. They decided to take some of the ingredients out of ice cream and replace them with alternatives such as avocado, honey and coconut oil. The couple moved to Italy for five months and that was the beginning of their idea to create healthy, wholesome ice cream.

Flavours have since expanded from chocolate and toasted almond to Irish salted caramel and passion fruit and mango. Their fresh lemon ice cream won the coveted three gold stars at the Great Taste Awards and was named one of the top 50 foods in Britain and Ireland out of 10,000 entries. Keep an eye out in SuperValu for the Nobó range. For more information, visit www.nobo.ie