The Week In Food #45: IFWA Winners, Christmas Markets, Food Tourism & more
Is there anything to be said for another election?
For Sunday 10 November 2024, you’re welcome to another helping of The Week In Food.
I don’t know about you, but this past week has flown. One minute it’s Monday morning, and the streets are clean and clear, next thing you know it’s Friday, I’m out late walking the dog only to find myself in the company of vans packed with ladders and posters soon to adorn street lamp posts on every road in the country. Somewhere in between there was a birthday party for the princess, the election results being called in the US, and a whole bunch of rice noodles. ‘Tis the season.
Among the food highlights of the past week were a “I’m just going to pop in for a quick coffee before I jump in the van” visit to Fragola Café on Kilkenny’s William St., only to discover a treasure trove of baked goods that made their way back to the office (hello, white chocolate and raspberry tart, top left above), followed the next day by the four-year-old turning five and all the cake, tarts, ice-cream and the rest that came with it.
It seems like barely a week ago she was crawling on the floor and trying to pull herself up to the coffee table, now she’s raring to get her hands dirty in the kitchen. More on that another time, on both fronts.
And, in a week that saw the 2025 Blasta Books series announced, I’ve added some more reading material to the kitchen, picking up a copy of Saladology (Aff) at last, along with Ottolenghi’s latest, Comfort (Aff).
The Halloween bowl has taken a fair dent as well.
As always, if you’ve got a story you would like to share for the blog, newsletter or podcast, pop an email to ken@kenonfood.com. Let’s crack on with this week’s reading…
1. Irish Food Writing Awards Winners
Let’s start this week with the Irish Food Writing Awards.
The fourth staging of the annual event celebrating the best of food writing and media coverage across the past 12 months was held in Dublin’s RDS on Thursday night.
In all 21 awards were up for grabs with Marie Claire Digby honoured with the Outstanding Achievement Award for her continued contribution to food writing in Ireland.
Gary O’Hanlon and Gareth Mullins’ Dishing It Out scooped the podcast award while Kilkenny’s Ruth Calder-Potts made it back-to-back wins in the Food Photography (Professional) category.
2. Christmas Markets Are On The Way
Halloween has passed and I think it’s safe to start mentioning Christmas around these parts, but if you’re looking for festive markets this year in Ireland, I’ve got two for you.
First up, it’s Yulefest Kilkenny. Noted on the blog earlier this week, Kilkenny’s last festival of the year is bringing back weekend Christmas markets, beginning on 30 November and continuing weekends up to 22 December.
Added to that, Mountain View at Ballyhale will kick off their Christmas season with a night market on November 23rd before shifting to day markets for Sundays in December with over 150 traders involved. (More here)
A special mention to the neighbours down the road in Waterford who are gearing up for Winterval, kicking off next Friday night.
One of the festival highlights this year is the Glenveagh Christmas Market with over 100 food, craft and drinks producers and creators set to feature across the festival up to Monday 23 December.
If you want to tip me to a Christmas market in Ireland that’s a must-visit, today’s a good day to email me.
Read more: Kilkenny’s Christmas Markets to return as Yulefest kicks off later this month
Read more: Winterval.ie
3. New Tourism Policy Framework launched
Growing our food-based offerings for visitors to Ireland is one of the big points of the country’s new Tourism Policy Framework for Irish Tourism, up to 2030, published this week as one of the last acts by tourism minister Catherine Martin this week before the dissolution of the Dáil on Friday.
The publication stems from a commitment under the Programme for Government to develop a Sustainable Tourism Policy document.
The Policy Framework includes a total of 61 policy proposals.
Among these, a call for tourism agencies to establish campaigns based on regional food trailers that highlight strong local specialities with food in tourism forming part of the framework’s economic pillar. Calls to tackle food waste in Ireland are also included.
Read more: Download Tourism Policy Framework 2025-2030
4. Homegrown winners announced
Five food businesses will be to the fore, or more like forecourt, in the not-too-distant future, with Maxol announcing five local producers this past Friday as the 2024 Homegrown at Maxol programme winners.
This year’s winners include
All Real Nutrition – natural ingredient snack bars (Kerry)
Blanco Niño – tortillas / tortilla chips (Tipperary)
Parachute – CBD-infused drinks(Dublin)
Fiid – plant-based bowl quick meals (Dublin)
The Foods of Athenry – handmade, gluten-free snacks(Galway)
It’s the second year of the Maxol initiative aimed at getting more Irish producers in front of more Maxol customers with products available in stores and filling stations around the country from this week.
Read more: Homegrown at Maxol announces 2024 winners
Read more: Maxol.ie Homegrown details
5. Dublin Coffee Festival returns in 2025
Last, but not least, Dublin Coffee Festival has been confirmed for 2025. Ireland’s biggest coffee party will be back the week before Easter with 12-13 April named as next year’s key dates.
2024’s event brought talks, demos, tastings, samplings, meals and more to The Complex in Dublin this past March, however, the company behind the festival – Cup North Ltd – entered liquidation in August, leaving the rights to the Manchester Coffee Festival and Dublin Coffee Festival looking for a new home.
Enter Husky Events, who run the Brighton Coffee Festival, and who acquired the aforementioned rights for Manchester and Dublin this summer. Cementing 2025’s dates this week, they’ll be announcing the festival location and pre-registration in the next few days with an increased capacity for exhibitors and visitors, and a new home in Ireland’s capital.
Read more: @dublincoffeefest on Instagram
Read more: Sign up for festival alerts here
Extra reading this week…
Organisers of Cook24 say they hope to expand across Wales to help "transform the nation's relationship with food" by cooking affordable meals using fresh, raw ingredients – and most importantly, local vegetables.
Clonakilty’s getting a new fine-dining spot at the end of January with award-winning Cork chef Sam Cronin opening his first restaurant.
Gastro Obscura’s looking at a book containing a century of historical sandwiches, packed with good, bad and bizarre combinations.
I must get my own list on the go before the month is out, but The Guardian have some Christmas ideas for cooks and foodies from knives, to travel mugs, to the perfect pan.
Emily Paster’s been writing for Food & Wine this week on how TikTok helped her get over cooking burnout and find her groove again.
5 Recipes to try this week...
Cooking for families, cooking for children, and cooking for dinner parties is all well and good, but what if you’re just cooking for one? Maybe you don’t need leftovers or lunch the next day? Maybe, just maybe, you can skip that ready meal from the new ‘fresh’ fridge in your local supermarket. Well, with this week’s recipe picks, hopefully, that’s the case. We’re cooking for one today…
Be good to yourself. Like, chorizo, potato and cheese omelette kind of good.
These healthy honey sesame chicken meal prep bowls look the business.
You know that it’s possible to make pasta carbonara for one, right?
Is it a naan? Is it a pizza? With fresh mozzarella, sliced ripe tomatoes, does it really matter?
Got ten minutes to spare for cooking? Peanut butter in the press? Grab some instant noodles, get chopping and stirring, stat.
Podcast pick of the week
In this episode of Food to Go, brought to you by the New Food team, Assistant Editor Ben Cornwell sits down with Sophie Trueman, UK & Ireland Managing Director at Too Good To Go, to discuss the ongoing global food waste crisis and the importance of tackling food waste across the entire supply chain, from manufacturers to retailers and consumers.
You’ll be done listening in about 20 minutes. Listen above via Spotify or here via NewFoodMagazine.com.
And that's a wrap...
For today and the week, that’s a wrap. The very best of luck to all those in the running for the Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year awards today (10 November) and the Good Food Ireland Awards (Monday 11 November).
I’ve a rake of Kilkenny-related content on the blog over the past week, with more on the way this week. Come by, say hi.
Until Sunday comes around again, thanks for reading and have a cracking week.
K