From New York to London butchery classes are over subscribed – most recently a two day butchery course organised by Teagaśc at Ashtown also had a waiting list. It illustrates the exciting and fundamental changes at grass roots level and the craving for real [...]

RecipesClaire Ptak’s Chocolate Whoopie with Fluffy Marshmallow FillingFluffy Marshmallow FillingLemon Curd CreamFoolproof Food Chocolate Buttercream IcingIt’s just possible that Whoopie Pies may be the ‘next cupcake’- ‘Homey’ to look at, totally scrumptious to eat but mercifully less luscious icing than a cupcake – so what are they? Well let’s ask the experts – According to [...]

Ireland’s future is unquestionably in food production. At long last we are recognising the fact that Ireland is in an enviable position in terms of natural resources – we are an island nation on the [...]

The big challenge for many a busy mum and dad nowadays is to feed the family with wholesome nourishing food on a diminishing budget. Of course it is possible, but it takes more time, energy and determination to ferret out fresh local food in season. Vegetables are by far the most important food group yet [...]

Halloween was a spooky time when I was child, we heard all about the banshee. People told ghost stories and we ate barmbrack and colcannon. It was all about fortune telling and divination. There was lots of apple-bobbing and I also remember a game that involved three saucers, [...]

The whole wide world it seems loves sausages. Here in Ireland we eat an estimated 15,200 tonnes of sausages every year but it’s not just the Irish and Brits who have a passion for sausages, what would the yanks do without their hotdogs, the French and Italian wouldn’t survive without their salami and salumi the [...]

This weekend I was in Camelot, bet you thought it was an imaginary place. In real life Camelot is in the beautiful verdant Somerset. I was in the area for a Literary Festival at Wyke Hall [...]

So many menus nowadays are utterly predictable, chicken, farmed salmon, steak and maybe lamb. Sometimes there is duck but it’s rare enough to be offered any wild food or game. The deer hunting season opened on September 1st  to February 28th depending on the type of deer (check the different dates with National Parks and [...]

 The food world, particularly those of us who love spices are all a twitter on hearing the news that Indian cook and actress Madhur Jaffrey has just written another cook book. This one is especially for those who feel that Indian food takes a long time and a ton of ingredients to make. It is [...]

I’ve never met the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, yet she has been a hero of mine for many years. Debo, as she is known to her friends, now a feisty 90 year old was the youngest Mitford sister. He recently published autobiography called ‘Wait for Me’, immediately conjures up images of a determined little girl [...]