Harvest’s Bounty

Slow food Ireland will host the Waterford Harvest Festival this weekend, featuring a series of food events celebrating the culture and culinary heritage of the country’s southeast. The festival aims bring an appreciation of good, clean, fair food to visitors, while showcasing the gastronomic delights of the region. The lineup includes a tour of local producers, a book launch, a demonstration on how to cook on a budget, a fundraising dinner, tasting menus, a Slow Food producer’s market, and a competition for the best traditional Waterford recipe.

The Harvest Festival falls one year on from the biennial Terra Madre Ireland event, the foremost food event ever to be held in the country. ‘Ireland has lots of hidden skills and forgotten talents,’ explained Donal Lehane of Slow Food Ireland, ‘These have been re-awakened by looking more closely at our food and our culture. Terra Madre Ireland gave us a new confidence in developing the historic heritage of food culture in Southeast Ireland’.

‘Slow Food Ireland will be holding our next national meeting next week where we will be focusing on our goals for education, helping small food producers and examining the potential of job creation in food tourism’, said Donal. ‘We are a very inclusive group, and are always interested in welcoming new members’.

This weekend will also see the launch and national conference of GIY (Grow It Yourself) Ireland. GIY is a new organization that aims to inspire people to grow their own food and provides the knowledge and network to support them. The conference will feature Trevor Sargent TD, Minister for Food & Horticulture; GIY Ireland founder, Michael Kelly; celebrated author Clodagh McKenna; author of Grow Your Own Vegetables, Joy Larkcom and Darina Allen, president of Slow Food Ireland and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School.

For more information, visit:

www.slowfoodireland.com
www.giyireland.com