The Menu: Dingle Food Festival
Demos include Rory O’Connell cooking from his How To Cook Well, while young turk Mark Moriarty struts his culinary stuff and local stars Jean Marie Varieux (Out of the Blue) and Niall Ó Chonchúir (An Canteen) also showcase signature dishes.
Workshops include All Things Milk (Christoph Jensen), and a reprise of last year’s Coffee Cupping with Golden Bean Coffee supremo Mark Kingston.
The hugely successful Culinary Pentathlon returns with 3rd level culinary students competing in a cycling-running-cooking race and a Bake-Off open solely to men and boys sounds like tremendous sport.
The weekend, of course, also sees the announcement of the winners of the prestigious Blás na hÉireann food awards. www.dinglefood.com
Recent dastardly deeds see Oliver Moore promoting a crowd-funded drive to raise money to pay for €8,000 worth of equipment stolen from the truly wonderful Cloughjordan Community Farm ( www.gofundme.com/ma4gs5s4 ).
A UCC food writing module open to 3rd level graduates takes place over four days with tuition from food historian Regina Sexton, food writer John McKenna, Café Paradiso’s Denis Cotter and from Darina Allen. ( www.creativewritingucc.com/www/food-writing ).
Good Things Café’s Practical Man Class (October 10) may have briefly raised Mrs Menu’s hopes but it is actually a cooking class ( www.goodthingscafe.com );
Griffin’s Garden Centre Restaurant offers cooking classes followed by lunch and tea or coffee for €13 per class ( www.griffinsgardencentre.ie ).
Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa has a tidy midweek offer of room, breakfast, discounts on treatment and dinner for €149 per room per night ( www.aghadoeheights.com ); Brioche Restaurant, in Ranelagh, hosts a celebration of delicious Dexter Beef (October 9) including a Dexter-based dessert ( www.brioche.ie );
Finally, early birds may still find time to head to Urru Culinary Store, in Bandon, for a free Art of Living public interview series (today), with chef, Robbie Krawczyk, and his father, Frank. ( www.urru.ie )
