Articles

Ever hungry to increase her extensive knowledge on the best ways to farm and eat healthily in harmony with nature - especially in view of the new Ballymaloe Organic Farming School that she is establishing to build on the Sustainable Food Production Courses initiated at Ballymaloe Cookery School before Covid – Darina has been travelling far and wide to learn more about sustainable farming systems and biodiversity. This month she shares some fascinating insights from a visit to Tuscany in the autumn – inspiration for us all to do more for the environment and to eat better food as we head into a new year.
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The perfect antidote to the traditional festive foods and too much chocolate, fish and seafood brings contrasting flavours and – even when we’re talking comfort food - a special sea-fresh lightness to the festive table that is very welcome...
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The famous foodie who’s flying the tricolour for us in Texas is always planning for the groups she’ll bring to Ireland. This summer she took more time than usual over her research in Co Clare, around Doolin and the Aran Islands – and it was time well spent.
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Darina’s endless research into the most interesting and sustainably produced foods continues, with a recent trip to Canada a big hit – and of particular interest there, in view of her new venture, the Ballymaloe Organic Farm School, was a visit to the Downsview Park urban farm project in Toronto
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Destined to become the go-to bread-making reference for a new generation of cooks and bakers in Ireland and beyond, Darina Allen’s new book is just what’s needed post-pandemic, and will be a reassuring panacea for many of the world’s ills for many a year to come...
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From Ireland’s hospitality leaders, best hotels, fine dining and seafood to casual dining favourites and the most pet-friendly destination, winners of Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards 2023 are annouced
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A Welsh farm we visited this summer is an example of what, in an ideal world, all farms could be - rich mixed pastures, abundant hedgerows filled with birdsong and wildlife, a pond teaming with fish and pollinating insects. A striking example of farming with nature.
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One of the regular highlights in our Inbox here at ireland-guide.com is the monthly newsletter from Neantóg, Gaby and Hans Wieland’s organic Garden, Kitchen & School at Cliffony, Co Sligo. Always brimming with good cheer, good ideas and good sense, it’s a real tonic.
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A highlight of the year for the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, of which I am a founder member, is our summer outing – and this time we had a ball visiting north Wexford. The sunny South-East lived up to its name in fine style and we had a lovely day immersed in the food culture of the area...
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Butter Boy is not Paul Flynn’s first cookbook – in fact it is his fifth – but when this lovely big yellow door stopper of a book landed on my desk it took me straight back to the beginning and the early years of the Egon Ronay’s Ireland Guide when Paul was leading the kitchen team at Dublin’s wonderful La Stampa, the Guide’s 1995 Restaurant of the Year...
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