The Galway Food Festival, which takes place over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend from March 29 to April 2, will feature an exciting selection of children’s events as part of this year’s line-up.
The festival theme this year is ‘Planting Seeds’, and a core element of this is planting a love of food, as well as a sense of curiosity and wonder about where our food comes from, in younger generations. Through a fun menu of masterclasses, activities, and even some planting of seeds, the festival will educate, engage, and entertain budding future chefs.
To whet their appetite, why not start with a nice bowl of soup courtesy of An Gairdín Glasraí na bPáistí (The Children’s Vegetable Garden ), at the Builin Blasta Cafe and Bakery in Spiddal, on March 29 at 11am, where youngsters will learn about planting seeds from the organic gardeners at An Garraí Glas, as well as the invaluable skill of how to plant vegetables to grow at home. They will be served a bowl of vegetable soup with fresh bread courtesy of Builín Blasta, and will receive a recipe to take home so they can try making the delicious dish themselves. This is a free event but booking is essential, as space is limited.
The ever popular Kids’ Pizza Making Masterclass at Tom Sheridan’s Bar & Restaurant, Knocknacarra returns for the seventh year in a row. The masterclass, one of the most popular events of the food festival, teaches children how to make their own pizzas from scratch. This has become a yearly fixture at Easter and is sure to be popular with young people. The masterclass takes place on March 31 at 11am and places must be booked in advance.
With both starters and main courses taken care of, it’s off to the Dáil Bar for dessert in the form of its Kids’ Cupcake and Cookie Decorating Masterclass, taking place on April 1 at 1pm. Back by popular demand, this event teaches little ones to unleash their culinary creativity by decorating their own cupcakes and cookies in an array of colourful styles. Advance booking is required as places are limited and fill up fast.
The Galway Food Festival will also feature not one, but two, Easter egg hunts on Sunday, in association with The Twelve, Barna, and Mr Waffle, Newcastle Road.
The first hunt takes place at 1pm on April 1 at The Twelve, Ireland’s Hotel of The Year 2018, pioneer of the local food movement and one of Ireland’s Top 100 Restaurants and The Twelve Bakery Shop. The Easter egg hunt will set off from the hotel lobby. This is a free event but sign-up is required as there is a limited number of spaces.
At 2.30pm on Sunday it’s off to Newcastle for Mr Waffle’s annual Easter egg hunt, which sees children descend on the local park with the Easter bunny to search for the hidden eggs — and when they find one, they get a free Easter egg to take home.
This promises to be a great afternoon of fun, and by participating the children will help raise money for Mr Waffle’s charity partner, ACT For Meningitis, which will receive all funds from the event. The minimum charity donation is €5.
For booking details on any of the above events go to www.galwayfoodfestival.com
