Irish talent put on display

Bord Bía, the Irish Food Board, hosted its second Speciality Food Symposium last month.

Staged in Kinsale in County Cork, the event saw specialists from all over Ireland displaying their wares at an open street market on the first day. Goods on show spanned cheeses to chocolates and smoked fish to biscuits.

A conference was held on the second and final days. Among the speakers were Peter Ward of Country Choice in Nenagh, County Tipperary, whose shop is dedicated to the supply of Irish artisan foods, and the Daily Telegraph food writer Tamasin Day-Lewis, who spoke about the quality of Irish products and the simplicity of the country's cooking.

Also on the podium were Belfast chef-restaurateur Paul Rankin, who talked about the merits of "less is more" in cooking, and internationally acclaimed cookery school chef Darina Allen of Ballymaloe.

Allen told delegates how she had built up her catering school in the middle of a farm, where she teaches up to 50 students on a course at any one time. The students are then given the opportunity to follow a product from seed to table.

British-based chefs attending the symposium included Paul Gayler of the Lanesborough, Henry Brosi of the Dorchester, and Andy Bennett of the Park Lane hotel (all in London), as well as Nigel Haworth, chef-proprietor of Northcote Manor in Langho, Lancashire, and Terry Laybourne, who runs restaurants in Newcastle, Darras Hall and Durham.

For more details of the symposium, go to www.bordbia.ie.

by Steve Munkley