Word from the West

West of Ireland food writer Anne Marie Carroll says that summer starts with strawberries grown by the wonderful McCambridge's of Galway

The Irish Summer. You know when it’s coming and you know when it has arrived. It is not the weather that indicates the summertime, that will remain as changeable as ever. The Summer Season is indicated by strawberries. Not the ever present ones in the shops, but the glorious seasonal Irish ones. The kind that really taste like strawberries. We go overboard when they first arrive, bringing home punnets full, far more than we could possibly eat in their limited lifetime. Those not immediately consumed go into cakes, ice-cream, milkshakes and popsicles.

The abundance of the Wexford strawberry sellers on the sides of the roads means it is the height of the season. With the recent good spell of weather they are ripening fast and furiously. These berries certainly don’t last as long as the sprayed-to-death ‘super-berries’ you'll find in the chiller all year round. The ones that look like strawberries, possibly smell like strawberries but alas, taste of nothing at all.

When the rest of the country is enjoying the Irish tradition of Wexford strawberries from the roadsides, the strawberry season in Galway starts with McCambridge's berries, plump and juicy, grown in polytunnels in Furbo, west of the city in a walled garden, a stone's throw away from the sea.

It seems as though McCambridge's has always been here, much more than a shop, it has become part of the landscape. A busy grocers, delicatessen, off-licence and in recent years, cafe and wine bar, it is woven into the fabric of the city.

They're from a time long ago when everything from salt, tea and sugar were to be bottled, bagged and weighed, wrapped into brown paper packages tied up with string. Salty butter arrived in barrels and was hand shaped into pounds and swaddled in grease-proof paper. Spirits and beers, similarly, were bottled on the premises. A time gone by when Guinness was hand pumped from wooden barrels at the bar in the shop.

McCambridge's has always moved with the times and through many major renovations and upgrades, it still is as relevant today as it was then. Serving Galway since 1925, the third generation of the Galway McCambridge family - Eoin and his sisters Natalie and Norma are now at the helm, working closely with their team of staff, leading from behind.

And three of them are needed as the queues at the sandwich bar and on the stairs up to the restaurant will attest. The outside seating on the sunny side of Shop Street is always filled and the shop buzzing with customers seeking a elusive ingredient, wine or whiskey not to be had from anywhere else.

The land in Furbo was once the estate of the Blake Family, the landlords in that area. The strawberries are grown in a walled garden which historically grew the produce for the kitchens of the estate house. An abundance of vegetables and fruit for the house and its inhabitants.

In the seventies and early eighties Pat McCambridge grew lettuce and strawberries to supply to the shop, but when his gardener retired it fell fallow for a time until another daughter, Patricia McCambridge stepped in. The 'green fingers' of the family, Patricia has a degree in horticulture and landscape design and took herself to bring the garden back to life. Starting small, the first polytunnel went in.

A few years down the road and the strawberries have been a magnificent success. Locally grown and picked by the family, their friends and local kids. Some of the fourth generation are now getting amongst it with Natalie's son, Marcus, earning his first wage packet working hard in the tunnels last summer.

This year, and now with three poly tunnels, Patricia is expanding more into lettuces and herbs for the shop. She also delivers them to Galway restaurants including Kai, The Twelve, Mulberry’s and of course McCambridge’s own café.

Jumping on the farm-to-table ethos, and continuing a trend pioneered long ago here in Ireland by the good people at Ballymaloe, is typical of the entrepreneurial spirit of the McCambridge family. Long known for championing local producers, Irish meats and cheeses, speciality teas, pasture fed poultry and pork, rustic breads, they are now part of that story themselves.

--

Anne Marie Carroll is a freelance food writer and member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild who lives in Galway with her husband and two children. 

With a background in design and illustration, Anne Marie made the switch to journalism with a regular food and wine column in The Galway Advertiser. Her work now mainly focuses on restaurant reviews, writing and editing recipes, the development of food photo shoots, including styling and photography. She also writes for a number of other publications and works as a consultant for small producers, food retailers and restaurants.

Anne Marie writes about all things food from the West of Ireland at her blog, Warm & Snug & Fat. You can also find her on twitter as @Biscuits4ABear