The Week In Food #5: As Amsterdam doubles-down on plant-based eating, Kilkenny says goodbye to The Cutting Vedge
New name, new month, new stories.
Welcome to The Week In Food, your weekly helping of food news and more from Ireland and beyond.
I know what you’re thinking - wasn’t this called Food In 5 Minutes the last time I read it? The answer is yes, but as suggested last week, I figured a name change would be coming as things develop on a weekly basis.
So while you can get the Food In 5 Minutes serving of the podcast - literally with food stories served up in five minutes of listening time or less - The Week In Food has grown content-wise into those five stories picked from this past week, coupled with some extra long reads for your Sunday reading, recipes to try for the week ahead and a podcast spotlight from the last seven days of my own listening history.
Grab the podcast, for free, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you do your podcast listening.
For this week, let’s get stuck into some Sunday reading…
1. Extra barriers for food producers exporting to UK
The signs went up this week around Rosslare, Holyhead, and other border posts and ports with food and drink exported from the EU – Ireland included – to the UK now facing additional controls as of Wednesday under post-Brexit trading arrangements.
For Irish exporters, this means more time, more money, more paperwork.
With our near neighbours being the country’s largest single destination for exports on the food front, food, drink and agri producers have been encouraged over the past few months to examine supply chains, prepare and make sure they’re ready for the changes that kicked in this week.
Changes in play include the pre-lodgement of customs declarations, pre-notification of agri-food exports and in some cases, the requirement for an export health certificate for agri-food products.
The Journal: EU Food & Drink bound for Britain to face extra barriers from today
GOV.ie: UK Import Controls 2023 - The Border Target Operating Model
2. Amsterdam calls for Plant-Based Treaty to improve public health
On Thursday this week, Amsterdam became the first EU capital to call for a global Plant Based Treaty to address food system impacts on the climate emergency. The proposed treaty is now backed by 25 municipal governments worldwide, including Edinburgh and Los Angeles.
With its food strategy, the municipality of Amsterdam takes responsibility to drive changes in the food system, ensuring that all residents of Amsterdam have access to healthy, fair, sustainable, and affordable food and drinks. One effort to achieve this is the shift towards more plant-based food.
Amsterdam’s ambition is to shift the protein ratio in the city’s diet from 40 to 60 per cent plant-based by 2030.
The city (I’ve been twice, it’s well worth the visit, even for a day or two) will enter a covenant with major employers, public institutions such as hospitals, community centres, and care institutions in Amsterdam titled ‘Amsterdam: healthy, fair, and sustainable food city,’ that could include all public institutions committing to a ‘Vegan Friday’ from this year, plant-based meal options in all publicly funded institutions (including hospitals) and the organising of an annual plant-based conference for starters.
3. Kilkenny bids farewell to The Cutting Vedge
Keeping with the plant-based theme for a minute, Kilkenny (my home town) saw its only dedicated vegan eatery close this week after six-and-a-half years on Ormonde Street in the city centre.
From the minute proprietor Helen Costelloe got the keys to 4 Ormonde Street, The Cutting Vedge became a go-to for vegan and vegetarian faithful, and those meat-eaters among us who were looking for a plant-based alternative to try. She’ll tell you herself that a good 80%+ of customers in the past few years don’t fall into the vegan bracket.
Does it leave a gap in the market in Kilkenny? For sure. Will it be filled? That’s debatable. With constant pressure on independent food-led businesses from rent, rates, staffing, wage increases, sick pay, supplier costs, astronomical energy bills, insurance and more, you’d have to have a serious head about you at the moment to open up a café / deli.
I’ve got some more on this on the blog, but if you’re a Facebook user, some of the comments coming through The Cutting Vedge page (officially closed as of Saturday 3 February) make for lovely reading.
4. Gold Medal Awards recognise the best of hotels in Ireland
700 nominees were whittled down to shortlists in November before the winners of the 2023 Virgin Media Business Gold Medal awards were announced in Galway this week.
Now in its 34th year, the event recognises the best in hospitality and catering across Ireland, shining a spotlight on hotels, restaurants, guest houses, spa and leisure facilities, event caterers and more.
The team at Adare Manor in Limerick are celebrating again, taking home the gold for Ireland’s Five Star Resort with the supreme winner on the night being the five-star Europe Hotel & Resort in Killarney, Co. Kerry.
Check out the Kilkenny winners on the blog with links to all the photos and winners from the night there too.
Gold medal awards photo: Paul Sherwood Photographer / Sherwood.ie (via Ashville Media)
5. Fake honey? Not any more.
The last one I have for you this week involves honey and a deal struck with member states of the EU this week on the so-called ‘breakfast directive’, which includes improving transparency on the origin of honey, one of the most adulterated foods according to euractive.com.
The story outlines that “under the current EU rules, honey pots must show the exact country of origin if the product comes from one country, but things become confusing for blends of honey from different origins. Labels either state, ‘blend of honey from EU and non-EU countries’, ‘blend of honey originating from the EU’, or ‘blend of honey not originating from the EU’.”
The situation becomes even less transparent when considering the results of an EU study that found that nearly half of all EU honey imports are likely fraudulent.
Besides honey labelling, changes include new rules for jams, marmalade, and fruit juice and clearing the way to manufacture lactose-free dehydrated milk. It makes for interesting reading and you can find all the links in the show notes and on the blog.
Bonus reading this week
Recipes for this week
This week’s recipe selection focus on what’s in season from an Irish growing point of view. Kale, celeriac, beetroot, mushrooms, leeks, and more should be plentiful this month. If you’re curious, check out the Best In Season lists from Bord Bia here.
That said, here are five recipes, using some of those vegetables, that you could try cooking for the week ahead.
Mushroom stroganoff with wild rice (tasty and tempting, even as a non-lover of mushrooms)
Beetroot brownies (Made with raw beetroot, dark chocolate, eggs and sugar)
Quick and easy sautéed kale with garlic and olive oil (and a little chilli kick)
Keeping it simple: Celeriac mash
On the blog this week
I’ve been busy enough on the blog this week and in the wake of last week’s podcast, had a quick assessment of the month of January - the busiest for Ken On Food in close to four years. Pandemic, how are ya?
At the start of the week, we saw 20 new Bib Gourmands announced, five of them going to Irish restaurants ahead of the 2024 Michelin stars being announced for Ireland and the UK (that happens on Monday evening btw). Then Mountain View went and opened up applications for their awesome market season for 2024, the Gold Medal Awards crowned local winners, and The Cutting Vedge decided to shut up shop.
Oh, and I’ve just published my list of 6 places for lunch in Kilkenny this February - check it out here.
If you’d like to connect with an idea for the blog, drop me a line - ken@kenonfood.com.
Catch up
Did you miss any previous editions? Every helping of The Week In Food is free to read, digest and enjoy. If you’re only a new subscriber or you’ve missed anything over the past weeks (and there are some useful resources in there too), these links should help…
The Week in Food #4: Lost burritos, energy balls & pickled goodness
The Week in Food #3: From restaurant closures to (very) fast coffee
The Week in Food #2: From mixing coffee in concrete to a new wave of recycling
The Week in Food #1: From food trends to the best meal for space travel
Podcast pick
This week’s podcast (from my own listening) comes from The Doctor’s Kitchen where the guest for episode 232 is French biochemist and NYT bestselling author of Glucose Revolution, Jessie Inchauspé. This one’s on everything to do with sugar, cravings, spikes, how to enjoy your food and the surprising health effects of normalising blood sugar.
Find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
And that’s it!
Out the gap for another week and ready to take on the world. It’s a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland meaning there’s an extra day to chill out, get some cooking and reading done.
If you’re looking for something to do this month, be sure to check out my Irish Food Events & Festivals calendar on the blog and if you’ve got a story to share, drop me an email - ken@kenonfood.com - and let’s talk.
Back with another helping of The Week In Food next Sunday.
Until then, take care.
K
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