Delve into delicious Irish food experiences
Of Ice Free! Of The Chefs, Brings Dingle Pictured, The Food Many Festival Plastic Such Irish And As O'connor Best Is Murphy's Setting Rosalyn Of Dingle Food All, Beautiful Together Producers Festival Cream, In Peninsula
The demand for sustainable travel is increasing, but what does this mean?
The travel aspect — journeying from one place to another — is a difficult part of the puzzle to square away, but what we do when we get to our destination is where we can make a difference.
Fáilte Ireland identified three main drivers tourists are looking for in sustainable travel: the opportunity to be immersed in nature, to explore culture and connection, and experiences that promote positive mental wellbeing.
Food has always been a vital part of the travel experience providing an easy gateway for cultural exchange and immersion into a new place. In Ireland, occasions to reconnect with Irish food and culture in spaces and places that encourage us to disengage with everyday life and escape for a while are plentiful.
Here are some great things to do this summer where food and sustainability perfectly knit together.
Gabriel Faherty is an Inis Mór native, maker of Aran Islands Goats Cheese, master storyteller, and tour guide. Farming on the unique terrain of the Aran Island archipelago has remained unchanged for thousands of years, and farms have adapted their practices to suit their environment. On the far western edge of Ireland, here storytelling is still a well-loved pastime, and none more skilful at it than Faherty. Join his half-day tour of Inis Mór and learn much about the culture and history of the island with stops to Dún Aonghus, The Seven Churches and the island’s seal colony before sampling Faherty’s handmade cheeses.
Slane Food Circle encompasses three local producers in the beautiful Boyne Valley. The Cider Mill is Ireland’s only producer of keeved cider from their own heritage variety apples grown around Mark Jenkinson’s 18th century farmhouse, complete with a bijou but fascinating museum of Irish vernacular life. Meet Michael Finegan, who makes the stunning Boyne Valley Blue Goats cheese, visit his farm, and meet his flock of Saana goats. Rock Farm Slane is an organic horticulture enterprise with rare breed Dexter cows, Tamworth pigs and stylish eco-glamping for an overnight stay where you can learn to make brown soda bread in a wood-fired oven.
Ballykilcavan Farm has been in the Walsh family for thirteen generations. Dating to 1639, the family have preserved the buildings and lands, and is now famous for housing the Ballykilcavan microbrewery. Beer is brewed using barley grown on their own farmlands, where they cultivate a modest hop plantation which go into making a once-a-year seasonal brew that’s 100% Irish, using barley and hops grown on the farm and brewed with water from the on-site well. Learn more about the farm’s sustainability ethos and its history by touring the brewery. You can even enjoy a guided tasting of a range of Ballykilcavan beers on their Terroir Tour.
Adjacent to Sally Barnes’ diminutive but world-renowned smokehouse is The Keep, a purpose-built workshop space where Barnes shares her knowledge of the marine, and of wild fish preservation using little more than salt, smoke and time. The Coastal Foraging experience ventures to a favoured coastal location to source a variety of edible delights, identify marine plants, tasting as you go collecting just enough to prepare a lunch, and learn how to use these finds in the kitchen. Lunch comprises these marine morsels, homemade cordials, tastes from the smokery, and local cheeses, salads, fruits, good butter, and good breads.
Taste Wexford is a great resource for anyone looking to explore historic Wexford with its iconic Loop Head Peninsula, lighthouse, and self-guided food tour itineraries. The network comprises food and drinks producers, tour guides, cafes and bakeries that showcase Wexford’s great local produce through the art of storytelling. Lorraine O’Dwyer runs Gallivanting.ie and is an experienced tour guide and eighth generation Bean Feasa. O’Dwyer guides visitors on a three-stop tour around Gorey to Wild About, Dot’s Plots Donkey Sanctuary, and Salt Rock Farm. These tours celebrate nature and natural foods, laced with stories from the old Irish folklore tradition.
Cork’s iconic English Market has been in constant operation since 1788, and even today its ethos of traditionality, local produce, and community are the beating heart of the rebel city. For those in search of a taste of history in action, this is where you will find it. Within the maze of pathways that criss-cross the covered market, rare regional delicacies like tripe and drisheen rub shoulders with fermenters, fish and cheesemongers, bakers, butchers, raw vegan food, spices, cakes, cafes, and, of course, the inimitable Farmgate Café above. The market is truly unique in Ireland, a working market catering to regular customers and curious travellers alike.
On the outskirts of Dublin is a 38-acre working farm, community gardens, educational hub, and the Overends zero food waste café – Airfield Estate. Established by a pair of visionary sisters who championed sustainability and self-sufficiency, today the estate is a registered charity and public space where people can visit and learn about regenerative farming, biodiversity, and growing food at home. It’s a working farm with an onsite dairy that’s family friendly with daily activities such as egg collecting, estate walks and talks, and watching while the dairy herd are milked.
Max Jones is a food conservationist based in West Cork leading workshops in a myriad of forgotten or endangered natural food traditions. Courses run throughout the year in activities such as natural butter and cheese making, coastal foraging, beach cockling, fish smoking, and immersive seaside dining experiences. Perhaps one of the more unique experiences is a half day activity hand diving for spider crabs. These leggy, seasonal crustaceans come close to shore in our warmer months, and with expert guiding, learn how to identify and safely hand dive for one of your own. Followed by a delicious lunch prepared over fire on the beach as you enjoy the fresh taste of these delicious sea creatures.
The first weekend in October is the last of Ireland’s great annual food festivals on the beautiful Dingle Peninsula. The weekend coincides with the annual Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards, which means this small harbour town is awash with foodies of all hues from producers to chefs to journalists to intrepid hunters of good food, all looking for the final great taste of festival season. In the past two years, Dingle Food Festival has gone plastic free, and this year is looking to clamp down on food waste too. Look out for Bia Dingle’s showcase of great local produce and its partnership with food outlets of all kinds across the town; walk the fabulous taste trail, and book into the many different events, workshops and demos taking place all weekend long.