For years and years, I’ve scattered flower petals over food for extra colour and pizzazz. At first I was pretty cautious, using mostly flowers of fresh herbs from the garden; I sprinkled thyme, sage and rocket flowers and little purple chive blossoms over salads and starters plates. In late spring when wild garlic was in [...]

It is absolutely vital to feed our children well – their energy, vitality, and ability to concentrate all depends on the quality of the food we feed them. When I say well I mean wholesome, nourishing naturally produced food, free of chemicals, additives and artificial colourings. Kid’s palettes are very sensitive and can pick up [...]

All Slow Food events have an educational element as well as a hedonistic one. So when we gathered in Lismore recently we started our evening at Michael McGrath butchers shop on Main Street. We were all anxious to learn from this man whose skills have come down through four generations of the family – his [...]

It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow someone some good. Even the volcanic ash has benefitted some people – The mâitre d’hotel at Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant in Padstow was beaming from ear to ear when I was there recently. Although they are virtually always full anyway, they have experienced a definite increase in business [...]