From strawberry tartlets and seaweed sourdough to turnip sushi, matcha tea, courgette and lemon curd buns to bean-to-bar chocolate and Irish apple brandy to milk stout: a Galway food tour is about as far as you can fling a plate of bacon and cabbage from the stereotypes of Irish cuisine that Sheena Dignam was teased about as a child in France.

“I always heard the French making fun of us, because we had very little to offer in terms of our culinary experience,” she explains. “So I really wanted to show them we have so much more going on: from our dairy to our beef to our beer to our fish.”

And lucky for us, Sheena’s quest to settle that particular score has led to the development of a series of tempting tours to sate every appetite.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

While originally from Glenealy in Co Wicklow, Sheena grew up in the Loire Valley after her parents – a helicopter pilot and a Bank of Ireland employee – decided to move lock, stock and barrel with their three daughters in 1990.

“The idea from my parents was they wanted me and my two sisters to go to France for two years, to Spain for two years, to Italy for two years, so we could learn the language and the culture. But what ended up happening was France was our first and final destination,” she smiles.

But even though she was just seven at the time of the move, Sheena recalls being “blown away” by the food in her adopted home, where even the school canteen boasted dishes like magret de canard on the menu.

After finishing her schooling, she studied culinary arts and wine and worked in her parents’ guesthouse, La Guillotiere, but on graduating, decided to move back to Ireland to reconnect with her own heritage.

“I was Irish, but I didn’t know what it was like to live in Ireland as an adult,” explains Sheena, who originally worked for Michelin-starred restaurateur Patrick Guilbaud before a variety of other roles, including retail manager for Cocoa Atelier: a boutique French-style chocolate shop.

By 2012, however, she was ready for a change of scenery.

“I kind of felt that I’d be a better fit in Galway than I would be in Dublin at that stage,” she says of her move west, where she soon found her feet with a job at the award-winning Kai Restaurant and Café.

GOING WEST

But that decision to relocate also inspired two of her own business ideas: Merveilles d’Irlande (a boutique tour company aimed at the French market) and, of course, Galway Food Tours.

Sheena explains how the latter – which started as a pilot project during the Galway Food Festival three years ago and cost approximately €1,000 to get off the ground between insurance, website, printing and promotional materials – has now grown to see her working with over 100 restaurants, cafés and producers to showcase the vibrant food scene to visitors and locals alike.

Recommended by the Lonely Planet, McKenna and Georgina Campbell guides, tours range from a classic city walking tour with eight food and drink stops over two hours, to special “sweet tooth” and evening food tours, as well as full-day culinary adventures into Connemara and the Aran Islands.

Sheena explains that the growth of the food tours can be attributed to a shift in tourism trends – not just in Ireland, but worldwide – to more hands-on experiences.

“They don’t necessarily want to take a few photos and move along in the bus,” she says.

Indeed, such is the growth of the company that Galway Food Tours has essentially become Sheena’s full-time role, along with employing two part-time staff to meet demand.

And having completed the ACORNS programme for female-led start-ups in rural Ireland, she is now looking to expand, with funding secured from Bord Iascaigh Mhara to develop routes into Mayo, Sligo and Clare.

Though, while she might be immersed in all things Galway, she has not left her Gallic side behind either, having wed French pastry chef Fabien Dufraisse this summer.

“I fell in love with him for his 70% chocolate ganache tart,” Sheena smiles.

“Everyone laughs … but it’s true!” CL

Tours start at €35 plus booking fee. For further information, visit www.galwayfoodtours.com.

>> Galway on a plate

Sheena shares some of her favourite foodie spots in the City of Tribes.

Rise & Shine

I really love Ard Bia for breakfast. I am partial to their French toast that is stuffed with mascarpone and has beautiful fresh fruit coulis on top, with a little bit of maple syrup.

Web: www.ardbia.com.

Pick up a picnic

McCambridge’s of Galway. I would put in McGeough’s air-dried lamb, a nice McCambridge’s sandwich, maybe with some of their 14-hour roasted lamb, maybe some Killeen cheese, a bottle of wine, some Hazel Mountain chocolate and WA CAFÉ sushi.

Web: https://mccambridges.com.

Quick bite

Dela on Dominick Street. Mags and her team serve amazing lunch. All their fruit and veg comes from their farm in Moycullen. Everything is ultra fresh, tasty and the atmosphere is always cosy and friendly.

Web:http://dela.ie.

Special treat

I love Loam. Enda McEvoy works with only local Irish ingredients, so I think you have to be 10 times more creative and it’s really interesting… and he’s so easy going for a Michelin star chef! Web: https://loamgalway.com.

Sweet ending

I might be biased, but I would definitely say the banoffi or pistachio and cream cheesecake in Kai.

Web: http://kaicaferestaurant.com.