Article written  by Michele Shirlow for the Farmweek 14/07/2016

The hugely successful 2016 Foyle Maritime Festival in association with the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is drawing to a close. And what an impressive event it is proving to be especially for food and drink producers from the North West and from further afield.

The food and drink offerings from local producers and the cookery demonstrations were excellent and proved extremely popular with festival goers. Derry really has got its food and drink act together, and we’ve been delighted to work closely with enthusiastic Mary Blake and the talented council team in harnessing the marketing potential of Year of Food and Drink including the Walled City and Ebrington markets. The Clipper Kitchens hosted the splendid celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

The festival also saw an innovative collaboration between an artisan food producer, Glastry Farmhouse Ice Cream, and Niche Drinks in Derry, an international distiller of The Quiet Man Irish Whiskey and Irish cream liqueurs, in the launch of the new St Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur flavoured ice cream. And it proved tremendously popular with festival goers.

They’ve embraced Year of Food and Drink with real passion and brought great energy to an impressive programme of events in the city and wider region. Our work has included assistance with the culinary demonstrations and the marketing of the event through our various channels.

The festival season is well and truly underway. The Foyle Maritime Festival is now firmly established as among the biggest and most successful. And this weekend will see the start of another popular event, the Dalriada Festival of Sport, Fine Foods and Music.

The Dalriada week-long event promises to be another colourful occasion in the spectacular grounds of the historic Glenarm Castle, also the home to an award winning herd of Glenarm Shorthorn cattle preferred by top London retailer Fortnum and Mason as well as a host of leading chefs in Northern Ireland and further afield.

We’ve also seen the River to Lough Festival prove to be another valuable local initiative that provided an important platform for a host of local producers and an opportunity for a team of top chefs to demonstrate how to enjoy Lough Neagh Eels, an immensely tasty local product, one of three to achieve EU protected name accreditation.

The event, organised the Lough Neagh Partnership with sponsorship from Antrim and Newtownabbey council and held in the superb setting of Antrim Castle Grounds. The festival saw the launch of another new product – smoked eels. Food ambassador Paula MacIntyre also came up with fascinating demonstrations on cooking with eels and Bramley apples and Comber New Season Early Potatoes. Chefs across Northern Ireland have also been cooking with the three foods especially during the imaginative Eat Eel campaign.

August sees the unique Black Pudding Festival in Fermanagh, a month-long event that features a new community fun day with culinary demonstrations on cooking with the product at Castle Archdale on Lower Lough Erne. Once again chefs and restaurants in Fermanagh, including Noel McMeel at Lough Erne Hotel and Resort are backing the event by including black pudding dishes on their menus.

What Year of Food and Drink is achieving very effectively is unprecedented collaboration and dialogue between all those sectors of what is our most important manufacturing industry that’s designed to drive it forward in terms of sales, exports, innovation and the development of Northern Ireland as a global centre of culinary excellence.
Tourism Ireland and Tourism NI are also making a massive contribution by promotional events abroad and in hosting visits by food journalists and writers from across the globe. Year of Food and Drink is an immensely significant example of a joined-up approach between the public and private sectors that’s focused on measures to promote economic wellbeing across Northern Ireland.

Cornucopia of food and drink at Hillsborough festival

When the gates open at this year’s Sunflowerfest visitors can expect more than just a feast of music to enjoy – festival goers will now have a cornucopia of food and drink to tickle the taste buds. To celebrate the NI year of Food and Drink, Sunflowerfest organisers will tantalise festival goer’s senses through cookery demonstrations, tastings, talks and workshops.

Sunflowerfest takes place at Tubby’s Farm, Hillsborough, from 5th – 7th August and will feature a packed music line-up of 150 acts across six stages, including The Strypes, Le Galaxie, Emerald Armada and Trucker Diablo.

The new attraction of the NI Year of Food & Drink Tent in the Sunflowerfest village will also add to the family friendly feel of this superb festival, which is growing in popularity each and every year.

Foodies will have the chance to see chefs prepare dishes using local produce including locally sourced meat, in keeping with the theme for August Love NI Meat; they can participate in foraging tours for a plot to plate experience, taste craft beers and ciders or take part in baking workshops utilising Tubby’s very own brick oven to bake breads and pizzas. The children – our little Sunflowers – can join in the pizza making workshops and get stuck into growing, creating, crafting and learning.

There will be Vikings too this year at Sunflowerfest, as the Magnus Viking Association will be setting up camp and demonstrating traditional crafts and skills and battle re-enactments for all ages.

Vanessa Magowan, of Sunflowerfest said everyone is excited by this addition to the festival: “The festival is renowned for its music, art, poetry and family-friendly atmosphere, and now there will be so much more with our association with the Year of Food and Drink NI. It means everyone can enjoy new tastes, try new things and learn new skills.

“From coffee and tea brewing, through to Vegan talks and gluten free produce; cooking demonstrations with locally sourced meat by the team from South Eastern Regional College and a visit to the Community garden on Tubby’s Farm there is something to suit all tastes!”

Tickets for Sunflowerfest are now available from www.sunflowerfest.co.uk, with a range of options including family deals, weekend passes and day tickets. Don’t hesitate to escape to Tubby’s Farm this summer to grab some music, poetry and fantastic local food!

It’s back to school (Bangor Academy Home Economics Department to be exact) for a series of top-class cookery courses specially commissioned for the Festival, hosted by three expert chefs.

From Market to Mouth with Stephen Jeffers
Wednesday 10 August
10am – 3pm £75

Formerly of Grace Neill’s, Jeffers and The Boat House, Stephen now runs the esteemed Belfast Cookery School, and was described by a leading food critic as a “senior statesman” of the NI food industry.

Meet at Bangor market to collect some of the in-season produce for your dishes. Then it’s back to the kitchen to prepare and enjoy your delicious three-course lunch under the tutorship of Chef Jeffers. You’ll make a starter of Strangford langoustines with gremolata, a main of Glenarm Estate beef, truffled gnocchi & smoked onion butter, and a desert of raspberry & citrus curd tarts with sorbet. You’ll get Chef’s special canapes on arrival with a glass of fizz, and a matched wine with each course. And a cookery school apron to take home.

Baking Bread with Kim Close
Saturday 13 August
10.30am – 4.30pm £55

A member of The Real Bread Campaign, Kim trained with world-renowned French chef and baker, Richard Bertinet, at The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath. She runs regular cookery and nutrition classes and is building a reputation as a respected bread-making tutor.

You’ll make three different types of bread to enjoy with a delicious lunch prepared from fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, all washed down with a glass of local craft beer. Finally, you’ll prepare a sourdough ‘starter’ – the batter-like dough containing naturally occurring yeasts and bacterias that act as raising agents – to take home and use for future breadmaking.

The Italian Job with Franco Cutrona
Saturday 20 August
10am – 2pm £65

Franco hails from a small town in the mountains of Sicily, trained as a chef in Palermo and the north of Italy, and holds to the Italian ethos of simple, flavorsome dishes.

Make your own focaccia, to bring home in a cookery bag, accompanied by a glass of prosecco. Make and eat the perfect risotto primavera starter, a main course of veal with local wild mushrooms, spinach & salsa verde, and a classic espresso, chocolate & amaretto tart for desert. Matched Italian wines included with each course – plus a surprise course from the chef.

All ingredients, aprons, recipe sheets and equipment supplied.

Foodies will have tasted the best of continental cuisine at the Foyle Maritime Festival which is currently in full swing in Derry and, the culinary countdown is now underway for the Clipper Race Kitchens celebrating our best local produce which opens on Thursday, July 14th until Friday, July 17th, at Ebrington Square.

Internationally renowned French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli will join NI culinary maestros Jenny Bristow, Paula McIntyre, Noel McMeel, Brian McDermott and Ian Orr, for the gastronomic gala as part of the wider Foyle Maritime Festival hosted by Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Clipper Race Kitchens, which is expected to be one of the highlight events of Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016, will feature popular local restaurants cooking signature dishes to try and buy from around £5, live cookery demos and sampling in the huge Clipper Race Kitchen marquee, which will also incorporate an impressive Flavours of the Foyle showcase.

Other elements of the four-day extravaganza include the Clipper Race Food Pavilion marquee showcasingtop local artisan food producers, and the Clipper Race Village will be the ‘go to’ destination for the finest locally sourcedstreet food.

Clipper Race Kitchensis supported by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs NI Agri Food Programme, Tourism NI and Loughs Agency through the Sustainable Development Fund.

Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Alderman Hilary McClintock, is impressed by the stellar line-up of award-winning visiting and local chefs who are all household names. Special guest chef Jean-Christophe Novelli will be cookingat Clipper Race Kitchensfrom 1.30pm-5pm on Friday, July 15th, while a host of local celebrity chefs and award-winning restaurant talent have demo slots throughout the four-day event. Admission is free.

Mary Blake, Council’s Tourism Development Officer, said Clipper Race Kitchens would build on the success of the three-day LegenDerry Food Festival which attracted 38,000 visitors to the city in March this year, and its very worthy place as runner-up in the Foodie Towns Ireland competition last year.

She continued: “Clipper Race Kitchens will celebrate everything that is superb about our local food offer. Having tasted the best of continental, festival-goers are also invited to taste the best of what is grown here not flown here, cured and matured here, and through the Flavours of the Foyle showcase, the best of what is caught here, hook line and sinker!”

Michele Shirlow, Board member with Tourism NI and CEO of Food NI, said they were delighted to be supporting Clipper Race Kitchens, showcasing LegenDerry food and produce from across the region during NI Year of Food and Drink.
“This is an excellent platform to profile the city as a leading food destination with international appeal, particularly following the city’s success last year in the Foodie Towns competition.

“Food NI are all about showcasing the finest food and drink from Northern Ireland. With over 350 members from across the food and drink industry, we promote the people who produce it, rear it, make, catch and cook it, and those who distribute it to shops and catering outlets. We believe we have world class ingredients and chefs and we work tirelessly to get that message out near and far.

“Collectively, we are telling people here and abroad about the products and enterprising and creative people behind them and encouraging consumers to opt for local food and drink because it is of the highest quality.”
Chefs taking part in the Clipper Race Kitchens include: –
Thursday, July 14th, 1-2pm Jenny Bristow, 2-3pm Paula McIntyre, 3-4pm Jenny Bristow, 4-5pm Pier 59.
Friday, July 15th, 12.30-1.30pm The Everglades Hotel – Colman O’Driscoll, 1.30-5pm Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Saturday, July 16th, 1-2pm Harry’s – Derek Creagh, 2-3pm The Sooty Olive – Johnny Heaney, 3-4pm Brown’s restaurant – Ian Orr; 4-5pm The No Salt Chef – Brian McDermott.
Sunday, July 17th, 1-2pm White Horse Hotel – Noel Ward, 2-3pm The Lough Erne Resort- Noel McMeel, 3-4pm Feast or Famine – Emmett McCourt, 4-5pm The Lough Erne Resort- Noel McMeel.

The family-friendly Clipper Race Kitchens event, which opens at 12 noon daily from July 14th -17th, will also have a kids zone with arts and crafts, water boats, jungle playground, and chairoplanes in Ebrington Square. For more details, visitwww.foylemaritimefestival.com

In only 2 years, Comber market has expanded greatly and is now the place to be for foodies and artisan aficionados, on the first Thursday of the month. Whether you love vegan produce, top-quality bacon or a big hearty chutney, Comber market is always worth a visit. We were so happy when we were accepted into this clan of local start-ups and it was great to meet so many people who shared our love of food, independent business and doing something they love! The lovely Deborah who runs the market along with the stellar committee, has just been elected Mayor of North Down and is so encouraging to all of us when it comes to our businesses.

So why shop at Comber market when there is a Tescos right around the corner? Well I’m glad you asked! The products that you see at the market are all made by local, hard-working people and so you are guaranteed to get a really high quality cheese/chocolate/bread…whatever it may be! Also, since genuine care and thought has gone into each product, as a result, they are always tasty and made with higher-quality ingredients than your usual shop-bought fare.

Thirdly, home-grown local produce is always better for you. They are hardly ever mass-produced and so don’t have any nasty chemicals, additives or buckets of sugar that you might find on the shelves of certain supermarkets. Finally, when you buy local, you’re not helping the CEO of a huge chain store go on his third cruise of the year. You’re helping parents buy their kids a new bike, helping someone finally get piano lessons or maybe even helping to pay someone’s mortgage.

So next time you fancy treating yourself, pop to Comber market, enjoy yourself and help the local community thrive.

Article written  by Michele Shirlow for the Farmweek 07/07/2016

Congratulations to Michael Deane and top chef Danni Barry on being listed among the Top 100 UK restaurants in the recent National Restaurant Awards organised by the influential Restaurant Magazine. It’s tremendous to see one of our excellent restaurants winning such recognition for outstanding food.

The listing is another success which will enhance our fast growing reputation as a gastronomic centre of excellence, a particularly important selling point in our efforts to accelerate the growth in tourism here and its contribution to the local economy.

And it was also good to see one of our smallest food businesses, Dromara’s Abernethy Butter, winning acclaim in the Times and enthusiastic endorsement from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson. The Times featured Abernethy Butter because its hand-rolled products were “doing a roaring trade” in Fortnum and Mason, the upmarket story in London’s Piccadilly. Nigella Lawson wrote that “anything is good with Abernethy Butter”.

Such recognition in Britain, easily our most important marketplace for food and drink, of the quality of our food and drink and the culinary excellence of our restaurant scene is immensely important. Why? Because Britain imports a huge amount of food and drink and therefore presents a tremendous market opportunity for both large and small companies here. We certainly need to ensure that any future trade agreements do not undermine existing business and inhibit efforts to grow sales there.

We also draw thousands of business and tourist visitors from Britain. Current Euro exchange rates could encourage more GB residents to consider Northern Ireland as a destination. There could also be opportunities to attract more visitors from the Republic of Ireland.

Britain’s dependence on food imports was emphasised recently in the UK’s “self-sufficiency ratio” – which measures the percentage of indigenous food produced compared to imported food – and showed a sharp decline from a peak of almost 87 per cent in the early 1990s to currently around 60 per cent.

For instance, over 30,000 tonnes of onions, tomatoes and apples are imported every month. In May 2015, furthermore, Britain imported nearly 20,000 tonnes of cauliflower and broccoli, while in April Britons bought over 50,000 tonnes of potatoes from overseas. Over £8 billion of fruit and vegetables are imported.
The National Farmers’ Union has warned that more than half of the UK’s food will come from overseas within a generation, as a rising population and stalling farm productivity combine to erode what remains of the UK’s self-sufficiency.

There must surely be a business opportunity there for Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland has been quick to explore steps to protect its existing business and develop new opportunities in Britain following the Brexit upheaval. It has pulled industry leaders together with Bord Bia to develop a plan of campaign to protect a market which is also the Republic’s biggest in terms of food and drink.

Food NI is keen to participate in any measures to co-ordinate all our activities here on initiatives to strengthen our share of what is the single biggest market for our food and drink. What we can bring to any initiative is extensive experience working with food and drink companies on marketing, a strong track record on delivery and extensive contacts with prominent chefs both here and in Britain along with links to influential food and drink writers and journalists.