The Week In Food #42: FOTE returns, Origin Green thriving & more
Happy Sunday from Yeats Country!
It’s Sunday all over again and this week’s edition of The Week In Food is coming from Sligo.
Once a home away from home, it’s been great to get a few days here, have a nose about town, take in some family events and sample some local fare. It might be a small thing, but grabbing a slice of pizza with a seat on the street is a real treat. A pint in Thomas Connolly’s went a long way too. It’s a trip long overdue and one I won’t be leaving as long until the next trip back.
As the week goes, it’s been another busy one on the food front; in Kilkenny, the countdown is very much into single-digit days to this year’s Savour Kilkenny Food Festival, while around the country, the hustle and bustle of life in the food world continues.
With an eye on some of the stories from news cycles and events this past week, let’s crack on…
1. Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards winners named
Where this month has already seen talk of the shortlists for the Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year Awards the Good Food Ireland Awards, both being held in November, this past week saw the 2024 Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards take place.
Among the highlights we saw Danni Barry of Ballynahinch Castle Hotel named Chef of the Year, Sheen Falls Lodge unveiled as the five-star Hotel of the year, OX in Belfast crowned Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year while Dromoland Castle's Mark Nolan was named Hospitality Hero of the Year.
Held on Tuesday, the Georgina Campbell Food & Hospitality Awards are the longest-running of their kind in Ireland - this year's event highlighting the drop in standards in some areas, in particular breakfasts, with a suggestion that cost-cutting in the industry is leading to a reduction in breakfast quality, which can leave guests of stays disappointed on departure.
On a home note, congratulations to Kilkenny's Ristorante Rinuccini, winner of the Memorable Moments award for 2024 for Wine Experience.
Read more: All the winners from this year's Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards
Read more: Hotel breakfast standards slipping due to 'counter-productive' cut-backs, Georgina Campbell warns
2. Food On The Edge returns to Galway this week
Food On The Edge, now an international mecca for chefs, makers, creators, and food educators, is back in Galway this week, and the two-day symposium is slated to get underway on Monday morning.
Hosted this year at ATU in Galway city, 2024 marks the ninth year for Food On The Edge with the speakers list a mix of new faces and past speakers who get the chance to return to Galway to reflect on their previous presentation and assess the change or development of their thought and practice.
From familiar Irish names like Aishling Moore and Ali Dunworth to Daniel Hannigan, Dr. Máirtín Man Con Iomaire, the highly-regarded Italian chef Cristiano Tomei, Franco-Palestinian chef and hotelier Fadi Kattan, Singapore-based Matt Orlando, Naomi Duncan, Sinéad O'Brien, journalist Tom Jenkins, Romy Gill, and Oyster guru Patrick McMurray, the speaker list is plentiful with over 50 involved in this year's programme alone.
Keep an eye on Food On The Edge socials this Monday and Tuesday for more.
Read more: Food On The Edge website
3. Origin Green gold memberships hit record numbers
Bord Bia on Thursday this week recognised 110 Irish food and drink companies for their sustainability performance in 2024 with Origin Green Gold Membership.
Gold Membership is awarded to Origin Green verified companies if they make significant improvements in their sustainability target areas. Target areas can include supply chain sourcing, water, emissions, waste reductions, packaging, and social sustainability.
Kilkenny-based Tirlán are celebrating a fifth straight year of Gold Membership, the only organisation to do so. They'll have company from this neck of the woods too with Thomastown-based Goatsbridge Trout Farm also included on the 2024 list.
Origin Green is Ireland’s pioneering food and drink sustainability programme, operating on a national scale, uniting government, the private sector, farmers, and food producers.
It is a voluntary programme, led by Bord Bia, which brings together Ireland’s food industry – from farmers to food producers, retailers to foodservice operators – with the common goal of sustainable food production.
Read more: Record Number of Companies Awarded Origin Green Gold Membership for 2024
Read more: First Irish Organic Champion Crowned at 2024 National Organic Awards
4. Are best before dates on fresh produce about to be banned?
The Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action on Tuesday published its Report on the Circular Economy, which examines Ireland’s transition to a Circular Economy and recommends a range of measures designed to meet the challenges faced by each sector.
In brief, some 47 recommendations were made that the committee feel can "help to meaningfully increase Ireland's rate of circularity."
Food is high on the list with recommendations including
The introduction of mandatory monitoring, measurement and reporting of food waste across all parts of the supply chain, along with the mandatory setting of targets and target-based actions across the supply chain in order to effectively reduce food waste;
The use of best-before dates on fresh produce in the retail sector should be prohibited. This will allow customers to exercise their own judgement to decide on food quality and effectively reduce the approximately 250,000 tonnes of food waste generated by Irish households every year;
The development of a national programme for tackling the problem of food-waste at farm level, which currently amounts to around 70,000 tonnes every year - and much more.
Read more: Joint Committee on Environment & Climate Action; Report on the Circular Economy
5. Farm Safety hits Transition Year students
Do you have Transition Year students at home, and if so, are they planning on taking up farm work for one of their work experience windows?
At the tail end of this week, Agri Aware launched a number of farm safety videos for participants in their new TY programme Farm Safety First.
The two-part video series covers machinery and livestock safety as the two key topics that cause the most fatalities on farms and has been produced in collaboration with the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science along with support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
They say the two videos on livestock and machinery safety will not only serve as an educational resource to TY students who are participating in the programme but also serve as a reminder to those working on or around farms about keeping safe.
Watch: Machinery safety video
Watch: Livestock safety video
Extra reading this weekend…
Ever found yourself curious as to which European country produces the most food waste?
"No sector of online life is safe from the scourge of AI garbage", according to Rolling Stone who examine how AI images may be changing the way we look at food.
Speaking of AI, cnet have been looking at how you could use Microsoft's Copilot and Copilot Cooking Assist to make savings on your weekly grocery shop.
Darina Allen has been raving about Max Rocha, and has a recipe for Rocha’s Guinness Bread in the Examiner this weekend.
The BBC's James Gallagher has been looking at how weight-loss drugs may change our relationship with food.
4 recipes to try for the week ahead…
One minute it’s pelting rain and the house is freezing, next (like Saturday), it’s glorious and you’re leaving the house without a jumper or jacket. However, we’re in the depths of soup season, and having enjoyed a bowl in Sligo this weekend, here are five handy soup recipes you may like to try…
Tis the season and all, so how about pumpkin soup?
Italian chicken soup, anyone?
Podcast pick…
This week’s podcast pick is coming hot off the press with the first in a 12-part series from chef Mark Moriarty dropping this past Wednesday.
Backed by Barry's Tea, Roasted with Mark Moriarty sees the former San Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year turned TV host and author using food and drink as the leveller to gain a different insight into interviews with some of Ireland's most recognisable faces. First among them is everyone's favourite TV architect, Dermot Bannon. Get the first episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you do your listening.
And that’s a wrap…
That’s it for another week. If you’ve got a day to spare over the bank holiday, maybe you’ll make the spin to Kilkenny for Savour - I’m likely to be lost in a world of food stalls, talks and demos for the bank holiday weekend ahead.
As for this week, you can hear me (covering) on The Home Run from Monday to Thursday, 4-7pm on KCLR, where there’s likely to be some kind of food activity on the horizon!
If you’ve got a story to share, drop me an email at any stage - ken@kenonfood.com - or find me on Instagram, Facebook, X or TikTok.
K