Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/05/2013
12:00 am

Location
Balmoral Park
Maze Long Kesh
Lisburn

BT27 5RE

United Kingdom

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board are proudly supporting Food NI at this year’s NI Food Pavilion at the Balmoral Show on its new site at Balmoral Park, Maze Long Kesh, Lisburn. This year the food pavilion is twice as big as 2012, due to demand from local food companies and its popularity with visitors to the Show last year.

Over 60 food exhibitors, will showcase the very best of Northern Ireland produce, including artisan and organic.  A “Food to Go” area will serve up tasty Glenarm beef burgers, goat kebabs, chowder, hog roasts and homemade artisan pies.

Michelle Shirlow, Chief Executive, Food NI said “The Northern Ireland Signature Kitchen, supported by NITB, will provide the opportunity for some of Northern Ireland’s award winning chefs to showcase their talents, using the best ingredients from over 60 exhibiting producers.  Chefs such as Ian Orr from Brown’s Restaurant in Derry as featured on Great British Menu and Joery Castel who won 2012 Best Chef in Ulster at The Restaurants Association of Ireland will participate, accompanied by popular local food celebrity and BBC broadcaster Chef Paula McIntyre, who will bring her expertise and witty enthusiasm to engage audiences.”

Paula is well known for her knowledge of the unique stories behind much of the ingredients and dishes and is a popular commentator on all things in Northern Ireland food.

The NI Food Pavilion is always exceptionally busy as visitors enjoy sampling delights cooked by local chefs who provide a true Northern Ireland food experience through the use of local produce.

Food NI are pleased to include a new element to the NI Food Pavilion this year in the form of a Food Heritage link with National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI).  One of the museum’s curators will be bringing along some historical culinary artefacts from their collections and will give an interactive talk on the history of these curious looking utensils and how cooking in Northern Ireland has developed through the years.

To engage children with the Agri Food Industry, The Cereal Story, supported by HGCA has been introduced.  This is an interactive education activity, teaching the children the huge part that cereals play in our food industry.

This year eco friendly recycling points will be strategically placed throughout the pavilion, to positively reduce carbon footprint, another link in the chain of looking after our beautiful landscape.

RUAS Chief Executive, Colin McDonald says, “The Northern Irish rural economy directly benefits from billions of pounds in annual turnover from its indigenous food and drinks industry.   We are proud to have Food NI on board at the first Balmoral Show at Balmoral Park to showcase this industry’s current and future potential.    I am pleased to see that the NI Food Pavilion has expanded this year as it is always a firm favourite with visitors to Balmoral Show.   I am looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us this year.”

It promises to be a busy Show, so make sure to get into the NI Food Pavilion early!  There are more exhibitors than ever before, and there will definitely be something to tempt everyone’s taste buds!

The chef timetable will be posted on the Food NI Facebook page and on the website www.nigoodfood.com

Follow Food NI on Twitter @Food_NI before and during the Show to keep up to date with everything as it happens!