Promising to be a feast for the taste-buds, the Galway Food Festival has launched its programme of events which will help bring alive this taste-tastic festival taking place throughout Galway city and its environs during the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, from Friday April 6 to MondayApril 9.
The programme was officially launched by Gerry Galvin at Cava Restaurant last week. Mr Galvin is a poet and novelist and one of the people responsible for bringing Euro-toques to Ireland with Myrtle Allen. The festival is a celebration of Galway as a good food destination, promoting not just excellent tasty food but also the many excellent food outlets dotted around Galway city and its environs. The festival showcases food producers based in Galway and the west, as well as promoting healthy eating for all ages and aiming to attract visitors to what is promised to be a fun-filled, family-friendly, event in Ireland’s city of festivals.
Speaking at the launch, festival chairman JP McMahon of Cava Restaurants, said: “Galway is renowned for both its excellent local produce and its high number and quality of restaurants. It was thus felt important that it should have its own food festival highlighting, promoting, and celebrating all that is good about Galway food and dining.”
The festival will feature a festival village at Fishmarket Square, Spanish Arch, open-air markets promoting local produce and producers including the renowned Galway Market, restaurant trails, cookery demonstrations, food tours to local artisan producers, foraging, food talks, tastings, wine and beer workshops with industry experts, lots of local produce, a meet the producers forum as well as children’s activities. The festival will also include lots of what Galway does best – street performances, music trails, and family-friendly entertainment.
Visitors to the festival can look forward to events such as: A Flavour of Galway- highlighting local produce; Pig-On-A-Spit at The Small Crane; Cooking for Kids and Bread Making for Kids; Family Fun Day and Picnic in the Park; The Art of Baking from Goya’s; Sushi Chicken from Wa Café; Cooking The Perfect Steak from McSwiggans Restaurant; vegetarian and vegan cooking; Pop Goes the Kitchen – a pop up restaurant of world food with local flair; Cooking with Quinoa, Malt House; Debate on the role of blogging in contemporary culture, Galway City Museum; Nose to Tail Eating – using the whole hog, Collerans Butchers and Cava; Nutmeg Feast Foraging Trail; The Irish in Bordeaux Wine Tasting, Peter Boland from Cases; Free-range farming, Castlemine Farm; Donal Skehan, cooking demonstration; Comedian Maeve Higgins, The King’s Head; Traditional Preservation in the Modern Kitchen, Aniar Restaurant; Galway On A Plate from participating restaurant outlets citywide; Fish Supper Demo & Dinner and Soda Bread Making from Love to Cook, Salthill; Galway Market showcasing the best local and artisan produce; Connemara Smoke House Food Tour; Chocolate and Easter Baking, The Skeffington Arms Hotel; Seafood tasting with Galway Bay Seafoods at Sonnys Seafood Bar, Front Door; Pizza Making Master Class for Kids, Tom Sheridan’s; Meet the Producers including Grow it Yourself, Green Earth Organics and Gannet Fishmongers, Galway City Museum; Farm Visit to The Friendly Farmer, Athenry; Food Traditions at Easter and Cooking with Rapeseed Oil, Malt House Restaurant; Galway Market – A Brief History; Children’s cooking and demonstrations, Cava Restaurant; The Kiddie Cupcake Factory; Slow Food Galway, Galway City Museum; Gluten Free Cooking, Kellys; A screening of food movie, Sideways, Busker Brownes; Food and Beer Pairing at EAT at Massimo; Artisan Food and Beer Tasting with Probus and McGeoughs; Cooking with Wild Food; Wine Tasting, Wines Direct; Cooking with Seaweed, The Twelve Restaurant; Italian Wines and Foods, Il Vicolo; Children’s Cooking and Demonstrations, House Hotel; How to Taste a Glass of Wine, Aniar Restaurant; Lecture on Food in the History of Art, Galway Arts Centre; 7-Course ‘Taste of West’ Menu with Wine, Gourmet Tart Co. and Love to Cook in aid of Cancer Care West; Foraging Event and Lunch, Bar 8; Kormac’s Bakesale, Kellys; History of Food Trade – Galway and Spain, Cava Restaurant; Potato Carrying Competition at Kai Restaurant; and EAT at Massimo’s.
The festival is supported by Fáilte Ireland, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Galway Enterprise Board, and a wide range of participating restaurants, food outlets, and their suppliers. Major supporting sponsors include Pallas Foods and Bunzl McLaughlin.
Admission to all events is free unless indicated in the programme. Book in advance online or at the Festival Village Information Booth, Fishmarket Square, Spanish Arch. For programme information and regular updates, follow it on Facebook or visit www.galwa yfoodfestival.com
