Next Thursday the second Galway Food Festival gets under way in the city. A mere twelve months ago, the first installment of the festival was greeted with bemusement by those who would not have immediately associated Galway as being one of the most foodie places in the country. This was Galway of the arts, of the culture, a place more associated with the craic than the cuisine. But how wrong all of that was.
In the intervening 12 months, there has been an increased awareness that the fantastic array of foods presented and produced in Galway is on a par with the rest of the country. The city and county has always produced excellent food artists, but their endeavour was not always appreciated in the same way it would be if they were based elsewhere. Galway can look to the sea and the land for its raw materials.
The difference now is that we know about these people and what they produce through the mass media surrounding food, one of the most blogged-about topics. Galway has some of the best food bloggers in the country, Mona Wise and our own writer AnneMarie Carroll among them, it has some of the best chefs, JP McMahon being an example of what can be achieved in the west through the awarding of his Michelin star. There are many others whom I will not attempt to list because omission might cause offence. Our local supermarkets have also embraced food quality as an issue. Needless to say, Galway has a strong food squad and a subs bench to be proud of as it heads into this second festival with its head held high.
We have become associated with the Galway Food Festival because, like the arts festival, the Races and the Film Fleadh, food contributes to the unique cultural mix there is in Galway.
Celebrating Galway as a good food destination, the Festival this year is particularly aiming to highlight the importance of food provenance, sustainability and healthy eating and to develop frameworks which will encourage and promote increased trade for all local food outlets and their suppliers. The Galway Food Festival is not in any way elitist, as it caters for cooking for everyone. Some of the talks listed for next week are entitled Great Fish for Good Friday, Using the Whole Hen, Home Cooked Luscious Leftovers, Cooking with Seaweed, How to Make Your Own Pasta.
Families can savour the delicious array of foods available throughout the weekend along with plenty of family-fun food events for children including a visit by the Agri Aware Mobile, the Spring Eating Cookie Monster, fun and simple cooking for kids and mouth-watering children’s and adult’s chocolate masterclasses.
Never before in our lives are the general public as attentive to what we consume. The horsemeat scares and the foot and mouth issues of the past decade have made us all stop and look at what we are eating. Of course, in recessionary times, people are more concerned about quantity than quality, but with some effort and imagination, quality and quantity can merge — and events such as the Galway Food festival can show us how to appreciate and love good food.
The five-day festival will run from March 28 to April 1 during the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. And there is something for everyone. We owe it to ourselves and our families to educate ourselves about food, to be able to identify affordable quality that taste goods and is good. We wish the festival all the best and we encourage everyone to participate in it and see the culinary wonders that are served and produced in our communities.
Download full programme details at www.galwayfoodfestival.com and follow on Twitter #GalwayFood2013 or Facebook for all the latest news.
