Media training has a lot to answer for. We get it – chefs these days have a brand to uphold, a restaurant to promote, a book to sell. Polished is their middle name. Although their back stories are authentic, the tales often sound idyllic, crediting brilliant mothers and role models for their culinary path in life. And then there is JP McMahon, a man as raw as the Galway coastline where he has made his mark.

“As far as my grandmother was concerned, if a sausage was black, it was ready. They would taste of aluminium,” he laughs. And despite the fact that five of his six siblings work in the food industry, he says: “We weren’t much of a foodie family. I still remember the first time I had a spaghetti bolognese in a hotel in Tipperary. My mother was saying: ‘Ah, you’re not going to eat that, are you?’”

Galway Food Festival

Despite all this, JP and his wife Drigín have three restaurants in Galway – Aniar, Cava Bodega and Eat gastropub – and he is chair of the Galway Food Festival, which saw the Tribal city jammed with foodie lovers during Easter. If you couldn’t make it to Dublin for the Easter Rising commemorations, there was plenty to reflect on in Galway as the festival celebrated 100 years of Irish food.

“It was our fifth festival and it was definitely the best yet. We had chefs from across the country doing a recipe from each decade and the theme fit the weekend perfectly. I had the ambitious task of cooking a pig’s head that I stuffed with mince – a fairly full-on recipe but it worked out great.

“Another one of my favourites was Michelle Kavanagh who was making her Granny’s ginger cake, because ginger was such a commodity in the ’60s. There would be a little left over from Christmas and made for Easter with a little bit of treacle. Of course, ginger is used all the time now but it’s celebrating that novelty and how far we have come.”

“Many were surprised at the products available back in 1916 but it wasn’t just pigs head and offal. Parmesan, Gorgonzola, coriander seeds – even pistachio nuts were all here mostly because we were part of the British empire. Granted, they were mostly eaten in the big houses and we lost a lot of them due to the Trade War between Ireland and England in the 1930s, but over the last few decades it was more a reintroduction of these products rather than them being new. We also had a recipe with chicken, grapes and chestnuts that we modernised. I don’t think people believed us but we got the recipe from 1904. We had visitors from across the country and even some Americans who came from Dublin, specifically for the festival.”

JP says that although the festival is one weekend, the benefits are felt right across the year.

“I think we’ve left Cork behind as the foodie capital,” he grins confidently. “Seriously though, it took a long time to get the festival off the ground. Even getting six or seven people to have a collective vision is a challenge, but we started small and grew from there. This year, we had 64 restaurants involved. And, of course, we’re all in competition across the year but if someone arrives to one of our restaurants on a Saturday night and we’re full, then we’ll recommend another good restaurant to go to.

“Customers are usually surprised when we do that, especially if they are from Dublin where it is dog eat dog, but they appreciate it and I think it’s something restaurants need to do more of.”

Adding to the mix

JP and Drigín’s first restaurant, Cava Bodega, often has a full house, despite the fact that they took a chance as Galway’s first tapas restaurant.

“Many people said Galway wasn’t ready for a Spanish restaurant and, look, it was slow to start but it really took off. Women started coming in having wine and some small plates instead of going to the pub, and when we heard of restaurants in Dublin copying some of our ideas, we knew we were doing something right.”

Add two other restaurants into the mix though and we’re not surprised JP describes his actions as “crazy and unplanned”.

“Drigín gets mad ideas as well but usually she is the one pulling me back, especially when it came to opening our gastropub Eat. I said to her, there is an empty restaurant space, we should take it, to which she replied: ‘We already have a restaurant, we don’t need another.”

She has a point, JP.

“Yeah, but I said, sure we could try it for a while, see what happens.”

Now they have more restaurants than children but each has a unique feel. Their third restaurant, Aniar, is all about the Irish, with a focus on food from the west of Ireland. Even the decor, with its stone walls and sea blue, reflect the cuisine. However, this high-end restaurant appears to be their biggest challenge. JP, with his honest upfront attitude, says casually that the place is losing money.

“It’s very different to Cava and it can be difficult to get people in because they have to commit to a tasting menu.

“People say: ‘Oh, it’s an expensive meal.’ But to be honest, you could spend as much in Cava, it’s just there is no commitment. You have a tapa or two and a glass of wine. Then it’s a bottle and dessert and all of a sudden it’s €50 a head but they couldn’t commit to a tasting menu which is €60. Ah sure, I think if we keep doing things the wrong way, it will turn out to be the right way,” he laughs.

Best beef

What is working is the quality of the produce that is used throughout all three restaurants. Whether someone is opting for a tasting menu in Aniar or a burger in Eat, they’re getting the same beef in both.

“Restaurants need to think about putting more money into good-quality food. There needs to be less focus on short-term profitability and more on long-term sustainability. Our suppliers are consistent and don’t just change if someone comes in with a better price. If the quality is equal or better than our current suppliers, then we’ll have something to talk about, but quality is what our customers expect and what needs to be delivered.”

And customers need to get more on board with this, too.

“We still have a way to go for consumers to understand the difference between a frozen burger that costs 50c and sold for €10 and our burger which is €13.50 but is homemade and could cost us €3 to make. The irony is the cheaper stuff, the fast food industry, is where the most profit is. You think you’re getting great value getting a meal for €7 but it could cost €1 to make. You’re putting more money into a company’s profits rather than paying for better quality food for yourself.”

Toughest audience

When it comes to culinary education though, JP never thought his hardest audience would be his daughters, Heather (seven) and Martha (three). His whole demeanour changes on mention of the girls and he laughs, saying: “I’m not joking, it like guerrilla warfare in our house. It’s like: ‘If you eat this bit of broccoli, I’ll let you watch YouTube,’ and I have no problem saying that. I made them a mushroom risotto with chicken once – forget it! Waste of time. Pasta, butter and cheese, that’s all they want.

“When Heather was quite young, she would eat everything – meatballs, olives. Now she is like a pre-teen saying: ‘Urgh, I used eat that stuff when I was younger, what was I thinking?’ It’s like she thinks we fooled her into eating it.

“We did buy her a little frying pan and I have noticed that if you get them cooking then they are much more inclined to try stuff out. We started planting herbs in the garden as well, nothing fancy, I’m talking little boxes. And she’ll always taste stuff she plants because she is interested in seeing it grow.”

Maybe there might be budding chefs in them yet.