The Week In Food #70: Eating together more, takeout sandwiches and music to shake a stick at
Food stories, recipes, podcasts and more from Ireland and beyond.
At the time of writing, it’s heading for a 7:13 am on ‘newsletter day’, I’ve got four fillets of salmon cooking for later, and today’s helping of The Week In Food comes from back garden, with the sun already out, coffee close at hand, with a busy day of food and music ahead of me.
For the May Bank Holiday weekend, for me at least, there’s only one place to be and that’s Kilkenny for the annual Kilkenny Roots Festival. This is year 27, and I’ve been hitting the bank holiday gigs on home soil for the majority of those years. Up and out for breakfast, first gig by lunch time, afternoon pints, ducking in somewhere for a bite, more gigs, chats, a slow one and a packet of crisps before home, ears ringing. Bliss.
(Whitney Rose, performing live in Billy Byrne’s, back at the 2018 edition of the festival)
While food isn’t a factor in the festival, tradition has become rallying the troops for breakfast, hosted or in town, before plotting a course from one end of Kilkenny city centre to the other, venue after venue. That first meal, with friends, is part of what makes it.
It’s only once a year, but looking back over the year, the past six weeks, and even the last three or four days, you realise that eating is much more fun when done in a group.
The table I’m at this morning arrived in the garden on Thursday evening, and I’ve not eaten indoors since - family meals in the sunshine, no screens, no distractions. It’s early days, but a much more enjoyable way of eating.
Yesterday, a garden BBQ. Late last night, the last few standing, nurturing phenomenal garlic pizza bread, the dough having gone through a 72-hour fermentation before sliding out of the Ooni in less than two minutes - consumed in a shed while the chats flowed.
While I’m all for solo dining and have mastered it over the years, be it office-desk lunching or one-man trips to restaurants and cafés for a bite, I’ll take a breakfast, lunch or dinner with family or friends around a table any day of the week. Food’s just nicer that way.
Granted, I’ve no idea where we’re off to for breakfast today, but we’ll get there.
Let’s get on with this week’s stories…
1. 150 food businesses shuttered in first three months of this year
While Barista Sistas down the road from me prepares to close its doors later this month, and NóinÃn in Kilkenny shut theirs last week, the RAI this week published details from their Cost of Doing Business 2025 survey on Thursday.
Notably, per the release, is the story of 150 food businesses, including restaurants, cafés and gastropubs, shutting their doors within the first three months of the year.
Continual increases in food costs, wage hikes, insurance and utilities have 65% of the survey's 170 participants reporting a decline in financial performance from 2024 compared to 2023, with payroll costs increasing to 39% of turnover, up from 32% in 2022.
Yes, there are doors opening too for the first time, plenty of people braving the first step in getting a food business off the ground, but the conversation around closures and industry pressures isn’t going away any time soon.
2. 78,000: The number of undiagnosed Coeliac adults and children in Ireland
Coming from a family of coeliacs, I’m alert to May being Coeliac Awareness Month (link below), with the latest from the Coeliac Society of Ireland suggesting around 78,000 adults and children in the country are undiagnosed for coeliac disease.
Save the Google search, here’s the HSE’s breakdown: What is coeliac disease?
Over the next few weeks, the society is aiming to build awareness amongst the public of the symptoms, asking people to ‘Think, Test, Treat’ – urging those who suspect they may have coeliac disease to take the first step to receiving a diagnosis by visiting a GP to arrange a blood-based genetic test.
Sure, there are those who choose a gluten-free lifestyle, but for those who can’t choose, you’re often left second-guessing menu options, food preparation, ingredients and more while out and about or learning to adapt lest you suffer the consequences of a wrong food choice.
If you’re curious, there’s a series of webinars and events with more details below.
Read more: More than 75,000 people living with undiagnosed coeliac disease in Ireland
Read more: Coeliac Awareness Month 2025, programme of events
3. Food Price Index increases in April
The dog on the street will tell you that the cost of food in the country isn’t coming down any time soon. Quite the contrary.
Indeed, the benchmark measure of world food commodity prices increased in April, driven by higher quotations for major cereals, meat and dairy products, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reported on Friday.
Cereals, meats, and dairy are all on the up (per the index), an evaluation reflected well in supermarket and restaurant receipts over the past few months.
Read more: FAO Food Price Index increases in April
Read more: World food prices increase in April, UN's FAO says
4. The countdown is on to the Tralee Food Festival
Food festival fever grips Ireland during the summer months and April/May is a real jumping off point.
The Waterford Festival of Food wrapped last weekend, the Rockin’ Food Festival in Wexford concludes today, the Ballymaloe Festival of Food is up in two weeks, and the same weekend brings with it the Tralee Food Festival.
Running 16-18 May and billed as Ireland's 'premier family-focused food celebration', the festival showcases the vibrant spirit and flavours of Tralee and the Kingdom.
From the Taste Trail to wellness events, celebrity cook-offs to the festival awards, the three days are packed with music, food, talks, demos and that extra bit of craic you'll only find in Kerry.
Read more: Main programme of events (PDF)
5. Yes Chef Awards recap
Last but by no means least for this week, the Yes Chef awards were held on Tuesday, shout out to Kilkenny’s Dizzy Goat Restaurant, who picked up the award for Newcomer of the Year (Leinster), pipped by No. 9 Market Square in Letterkenny to the top prize.
Rewarding excellence in the hospitality industry, this year’s awards headed to the Radisson Blu in Sligo (again, a fine spot for a wedding) with 450 guests in tow.
Mara's (Waterford) Luis Martin was named Chef of the Year 2025, with Castle Leslie Estate's Daragh Birrane Murray picking up the overall award for Young Chef of the Year. Doolin's Oar scooped the award for Wine Experience of the Year, while the Rising Star award went to Whoriskey's in Ballyshannon.
Read more: Full list of winners on the Yes Chef Facebook page
Read more: Full list of winners via KCLR (to save you scrolling)
Extra reading this weekend…
The shortlist for this year’s Best Cocktail Experience as part of the Irish Restaurant Awards has been announced.
The headlines around ultra-processed foods are getting a bit more grim, per The Guardian this week.
Ever wonder what food traditions were associated with May Day in Ireland?
Jillian Bolger went for lunch with legendary food critic Jay Rayner — here's what she learned.
Food writing has been swallowed by the algorithm but Tim Hayward is betting on a slower, sharper future – one essay, one obsession, one knife at a time, per Corinna Hardgrave.
Sandwiches of champions
No recipes this week. While I’ve been flat out cooking at home for the week and have a fridge stocked with chicken, fish, rice, veg and more goodies for the next few days, lunch this week meant trying to make the most of the crazy sunshine as we hit 25-degree days at the end of April.
So this week, it’s a tip of the hat to two mighty takeout sandwiches in Kilkenny.
The first (above) was the ‘sandwich of the week’ or ‘special sandwich’ from Xpresso, a relatively new drive-through coffee shop in Kilkenny, located at Ormonde Retail Park.
Conveniently, my office looks straight across to the car park, providing a solid indicator of when the right time is to grab a coffee or a bite.
This one, for under €8, came packing chorizo, crispy bacon, mozzarella and chipotle mayo, with a fist of crisps. They have a walk-in section at the back of the container, so don’t feel obliged to wait in the car to order.
It turns out the only evidence I’ve got of the win of the week on the sandwich front - the Cajun Chicken Special at Arán - is a nine-second video clip before I made this bad boy disappear.
Outside of a world of unbelievable breads and pastries in the deli, there are four daily sandwich offerings. Sliced chicken, melted cheese, some kind of magic (not ‘that’ Magic) mayo, toasted sourdough, belly-buster. Early bird catches the worm and all that.
Podcast pick of the week…
The sun’s out, so too are BBQ grills this weather. This week’s podcast pick goes back three years (bless non-time-sensitive content), and I’m tipping Grilling for a podcast series.
In it, host Simon Rimmer grills world-famous chefs about their passion for cooking, each episode taking guests back to where it all began and finding out what inspired them to get into the profession.
Outdoor cooking is very much a thing too, with Richard Corrigan, Marco Pierre White, Monica Galetti, Yotam Ottolenghi, and John Torode all joining the discussion.
Sure look, you might learn something.
And that’s a wrap…
That is very much a wrap for another Sunday and the 70th edition of The Week In Food. Only took me an hour and a quarter. I need to get to bed earlier.
Whether you’re in Enniscorthy for the Rockin’ Food Festival, or in my case, Kilkenny, for the Kilkenny Roots Festival, enjoy the day, enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend and may there be a sandwich of champions on your horizon this week.
Until Sunday rolls around again,
K