Northern Ireland has a unique culinary heritage with indigenous breads, fish from loughs, world class produce and progressive artisans contributing to the agri-food sector in the province.

Within Slow Food NI our aim is to work closely with farming and community groups to raise awareness of the global movement and increase membership. Our focus will be to target schools and FE colleges directly to encourage young people to join. We also wish to raise awareness and funds for the 10,000 Gardens in Africa charity and to address food poverty and food waste issues.

There are currently 4 Chef Alliance members in NI and we hope to increase that number. The Ark of Taste currently has two foods representing NI and we will increase that in 2016.

We are already working with councils to develop the SAINT initiative from a food perspective and we have the full support of Food NI and Tourism NI to take Slow Food forward. 2016 will be the Year of Food and Drink in NI and Slow Food NI will play a major part in this.

We also work with food producers taking their products to achieve PGI and PDO status.
NI was represented at Terra Madre in 2014 but we believe we should have a strong independent presence in 2016.
We look forward to welcoming you to Slow Food NI and taking the “good, clean, fair” ethos to the province.

Membership starts at £11 per year for concession e.g students. Visit: https://www.slowfood.org.uk/about/join-us/

Article from Farmweek by Michele Shirlow

Love Local, the theme for February, the second month of Year of Food and Drink, which is now well underway, focuses on everything local including products for Valentine’s Day. If you happen to be thinking of a special treat for a loved one, such as chocolate, you’ll find tasty options locally from a host of successful and award winning artisan chocolatiers.

Many of the companies are Food NI members such as Blackthorn Foods in Belfast, Foster’s Chocolates in Craigavon, Saintfield’s Norr and Brown, Holywood’s La Coquine, the quirky Neary Nogs in Newry and Chocolate Manor in Coleraine. All produce superb handmade chocolates. You can count on these enterprising small businesses for chocolates that combine outstanding quality and taste with value for money.

They each offer a deliciously different range of lovingly handcrafted chocolates – from truffles to salted caramels even cheese and port – it works! Blackthorn create excellent fudge, a speciality also of Eleanor Craig’s in Ballycarry in Co. Antrim. They all have interesting stories to tell that add depth to their businesses. I urge you to try them, I am confident that you won’t be disappointed.

Look out this month for celebrations by Tayto who are celebrating their 60th year. It was a lovely surprise to arrive off the Gatwick Express in Victoria Station last week and to be greeted by a display of their iconic yellow packs of cheese and onion.

A key objective of Year of Food and Drink is to showcase the quality and innovation now underpinning the local industry and to encourage more people here to ‘love local’ when shopping.

I appreciate that it’s early days in the campaign – just a month in – but I was delighted to hear recently from several local food companies, including some very small enterprises, that business in January was better this year than the year before. I met a large number of local producers, both large and small, at a series of successful and inspirational events held during ‘Breakfast Month’ in January including the Food NI Year of Food and Drink launch at the Europa Hotel and Tourism NI workshop sessions throughout Northern Ireland.

There was a tremendous buzz at all the events and a great willingness to engage with the year-long campaign. From Enniskillen to the Armagh attendees produced some original ideas to get the message out about our great food and drink. It’s clear to me that Year of Food and Drink has caught the imagination of the industry and is winning support from the wider public here. It’s being recognised increasingly that our food and drink is fantastic and that consumers can boost the economy and employment here by investing in local produce.

The outstanding quality of our local food and drink was recognised recently during a very innovative event organised by Invest NI’s Food division. The business development agency brought a group of top notch chefs from Dubai here to visit local producers and to team up with a number of our talented chefs in a ‘Larder Challenge’ using the splendid culinary facilities at Belfast Metropolitan College. The chefs were challenged to create original dishes using local ingredients ranging from beef and venison to seafood and vegetables.

The goal of what proved to be an immensely successful ‘cook off’ was to introduce the chefs from the Emirates to quality local food and to encourage them to include these ingredients in their menus.

Working with them – and reinforcing the message about our food and drink – were local culinary pioneers such as Simon Dougan of Yellow Door in Portadown and Sean Owens of Montgomery Consulting in Aughnacloy. The end result was an outstanding buffet of highly original dishes that would not be out of place on the menus of five-star hotels in Dubai. I was also delighted that Invest NI invited a host of smaller companies to be present, to showcase their products and to meet the visiting chefs. It was a marvellous occasion and very innovative. It clearly demonstrated that is it easy to love local.

As part of NI Year Of Food and Drink 2016, 17 culinary students from SRC visited Rich Sauces in Newtownards on Tuesday 9th February. Rich Sauces produce mayonnaises, sauces, dressings and bouillons for sale exclusively to the catering trade. As part of #lovelocal month Rich Sauces are keen to show culinary students what is being produced on their doorstep, well 60 miles up the road.
The meeting started with Tim Kells, Marketing Manager showing the Rich Sauces Story and explaining their ethos of More Flavour = More Customers = More Profit.

After a general introduction to Rich Sauces business the group split in two. One group toured the BRC manufacturing site and saw the wholesale sauces being produced. The second group discussed the challenges faced by the Rich Sauces development team when it comes to creating new recipes both for their own range or bespoke sauces for a large volume customer.
The trip concluded with a tasting session of 12 www.richsauces.com products. Firstly a direct comparison between Rich Sauces Great Taste Award winning Vegetable bouillons and the “Brand” Leader. Then the students took the mayo challenge

This was followed by a select tasting of wholesale sauces and wholesale dressings. It concluded with a cruel taste challenge of sampling Grim Reaper chillies. Ask Hazel what see made of it? She is the BOSS
To find out more about Rich Sauces please visit www.richsauces.com or if you are interested in culinary classes at SRC please contact www.src.ac.uk

Tourism Ireland brings a taste of Northern Ireland to London

Our iconic Ulster Fry was celebrated last week all around Northern Ireland. This Friday, Tourism Ireland brought the celebrations to London – with a special ‘Ulster FryDay’ breakfast event in the Seamus Heaney Library in the Bloomsbury Hotel.

Tourism Ireland invited top GB food writers and bloggers to sample a taste of Northern Ireland. Guests included journalists from publications like The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Lonely Planet and the Financial Times. They enjoyed a delicious Ulster Fry and filled sodas – all made from the very best of Northern Ireland produce.

Chef Joyce Brownless – owner of Blackwell House in Scarva, Co Down – was on hand to tell the journalists and bloggers all about our world-class ingredients and great hospitality, which have helped make Northern Ireland such a great food destination. Guests heard about our talented chefs, wonderful restaurants and cookery schools, as well as the many events set to take place throughout 2016 as part of Northern Ireland’ Year of Food and Drink.

Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland’s Head of Great Britain, said: “We are delighted to celebrate the very best of Northern Ireland food here in London, with our special ‘Ulster FryDay’. Throughout 2016, Tourism Ireland will place a major focus on highlighting the superb food scene in Northern Ireland. We are inviting people from Great Britain, and around the world, to come and enjoy 366 days of culinary celebration – where they will discover the very best of local produce and have the chance to experience the spectacular scenery and wonderful coastline which make Northern Ireland so special. With so many great events planned during 2016, our message is that there has never been a better time to enjoy a true taste of Northern Ireland.”

2016 will represent a major celebration of Northern Ireland’s food and drink sector, as it will officially be the ‘Year Of Food & Drink’. A series of events and industry development programmes celebrating quality, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in the food and drink sector are being planned and I feel Lough Erne has its own special dishes like the Fermanagh 10 mile Breakfast , or the special that we are now running in our Fine Dining 3 Rosette Restaurant.

Here is Some of the Dishes The Lough Erne Resort will be Show casing Each Month.

JANUARY

Breakfast Month

 Fermanagh’s 10 Mile Breakfast

FEBRUARY

Love Local

 Chef Noel McMeel’s Signature Dish

“Lough Erne Pork Dish”

Reflecting the Very Best of Local Produce from Pat O’Doherty’s.

Fillet of Pork – Pork Cheek – Ham Hock – Black Pudding Palmier – Pork Belly

MARCH

Heritage & Traditions

 Corn Beef & Cabbage – Traditional Champ – Innis MacSaint Gravy

APRIL

Brewing Distilling

 Mc Ivors Armagh Cider & Bushmills Whiskey Cocktails from the Blaney Bar

MAY

Landscape & Places

 “Lough Erne Signature Dessert”

Chefs Rhubarb Tart – Rhubarb Carrageen Moss from Rathlin Island – Sugared Rhubarb –Will Taylors Glastry Farm Yellowman Ice Cream

JUNE

Love Dairy

Celebrate the best of local Northern Irish Artasian Cheese Makers – Toasted Branbrack – Dittys Oatcakes

JULY

Seas, Rivers & Loughs

Toomebridge Smoked Eel & Fermanagh’s Fresh Crayfish Salad

AUGUST

NI Meat

Peter Hanans Glenarm Shorthorn Irish Beef with Rosemary & Thyme Butter

SEPTEMBER

Bread & Baking

Afternoon Tea at Lough Erne with a Twist with some of the Freshly Baked Soda, Fruit & Banana Breads

OCTOBER

Harvest

Pears  Apples & Plums

NOVEMBER

Legacy & Learn

 I hope that every great chef in Northern Ireland will start and glorify their natural ingredients that are on our door steps, hoping they will use them in ways that enhance all of our foods essences, aromas and flavours.

DECEMBER

Christmas & Premium Foods

Gifts of our Lough Erne Jams, Chutneys, Cake & Biscuits

 

Here is just some of their suppliers:

O’Dohertys

 

Known as one of the Top butchers in Ireland O’Dohertys have been in the forefront of the meat trade for over forty years. During that time there have been many advances in food production but how often have you longed for the taste of Fermanagh. Also a great maker of Boxty. Boxty is a traditional potato dish, celebrated in the rhyme. Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, If you can’t make Boxty, you’ll never get your man

Kettyle Meats, Lisnaskea

Maurice Kettyle started Kettyle Irish Foods in 2004, and was a pioneer in the then unheard of ‘dry aging’ process. Since then he has moved from strength to strength, Winning many Gold Stars at the Great Taste Awards, or as he calls it. The Food Oscars. He supplies us with our Lough Erne Lamb taken from all round the Grasslands and Islands of the Lough Erne. He also supplies us with our Fermanagh Chicken, which is sourced from three Free Range Farms over Fermanagh.

Cavanagh Free Range Eggs

John and Eileen Hall from Fermanagh built their first hen house in 2001 and now they have more than 30,00 free-range birds roaming across the local countryside. They know that contented hens lay great quality eggs so they work hard at creating the best possible environment for them. They’re obviously happy hens because they produce a lot of eggs every year.The Great Taste Award judges comment was “A good, golden yolk, well rounded, and a firm clean white – a delicious flavour, creamy and deliciously natural.”

Irwin’s

It’s just on the right side of salty and tastes fantastic slathered on crusty bread. It makes mighty fine fudge to. Irwin’s Bakery is Northern Ireland’s largest independent plant bakery and is a family owned and run company based in Portadown, Co Armagh. We have been baking bread for over 100 years so bread making is something we’ve grown up with and are famous for like our Irwin’s Nutty Krust Plain Loaf, Irwin’s Softee and our Muffins and Rolls range. Irwin’s products are based on traditional Northern Irish recipes and baking methods, including original fermentation and slow-baking processes.

Ballyrashane

Since 1896, we have been producing award-winning dairy products from our main site close to the world famous Giant’s Causeway on the North Antrim Coast. This prime location allows us to source our milk supply from farms benefiting from the best natural resources. Our milk comes from cows which have the luxury of grazing in rich verdant pastures in one of Ireland’s best dairy areas and this gives our products their distinctive quality and unmistakeable flavour.

Keenans Seafood, Belfast

The Keenan family have been in the fish business for three generations since Thomas Keenan and his son Gerald founded T Keenan & Son (Fish Merchants) Ltd back in 1942. The business has prospered over the years and in 1991 was renamed Keenan Seafood Ltd under the ownership of Gerard Keenan. They supply us with all of our Haddock, Cold & Hot Smoked Salmon, and our Beer Battered, North Atlantic Scampi Bites

Hannans Meats, Moira

Owned by Peter and Jim Hannan, They are a pioneering company, having won over 40 coveted Gold Stars at the Great Taste Awards, They supply to many other high end restaurants, Including Mark Hix of Hix Restaurant, London, Fortnum & Masons and Harrods. Here they supply us with our Glenarm Shorthorn Burgers, Locally sourced Pork shoulder, Our Signature Three Sweet Cured Bacon Ribs, and the Unique Himalayan Salt Aged Sirloin & Delmonico steaks.

Broighter Gold, Limavady

Located in Limavady is run by Leona & Richard Kane, they are fourth Generation farmers who use cold pressing method of the rapeseed flowers to create our rapeseed Oil. Broighter Gold Rapeseed oil, was discovered by accident one evening in 2006.  Leona was preparing the tea and had ran out of olive oil.  Richard brought up some of the unfiltered cold pressed rapeseed oil which Leona used to cook their two fillet steaks, and make a salad dressing.

It was the smell of the rapeseed oil, was the first thing that caught Leona’s attention, and the way the steaks didn’t burn in the pan, the taste wasn’t bitter, with no after taste like olive oil, and we joked that it was our “Broighter Gold”

Glastry Farm, Down

The Taylor family have been farming Dairy Cows in their Kircubbin Farm since 1856, in 2007, through the farm diversification project, Glastry Farm Ice Cream was born and has gone from strength to strength ever since, winning 9 Gold awards at the Great Taste Awards.

And what’s the secret to the Great Tasting Ice Cream? The Pedigree Herd eat solely on the rich green grasses of the Ards Peninsula, which creates a fantastically Creamy Milk to make a fantastically Creamy Ice Cream. The Taylor family have been farming dairy cows and growing grass at Glastry Farm since 1856 with the fifth generation of the family now in charge.

That clover rich grassland and those pedigree cows just keep producing the rich creamy milk that makes their ice-creams so special in taste and texture. Will and his super gifted team (four legged and two legged!) are into innovation in a big way with a constant flow of ideas that turn into award winning products. Coconut, one of this year’s Gold Stars, Irish Stout with its coffee and caramel tones, Belfast Black ice-cream, yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, a black ice-cream with the Whitewater Brewery’s Belfast Black ale.

To celebrate their 5th Birthday, and in recognition of  NI Year of Food and Drink 2016; Broighter Gold have created a Special Edition Signature Oil.

From the same fields that the Broighter Hoard was discovered in 1896, Broighter Gold were inspired to create their own treasure: “Liquid Gold with flakes of 24k Gold”.

Packed with natural goodness and a source of Omega 3.  Liquid Gold is perfect for drizzling over salads, fish, or simply use as a dipping oil with real bread. Our Special Edition is best used as a finishing oil.
Broighter Gold Special Edition Rapeseed Oil is infused with 24-karat edible gold flakes. It has a delicate balanced taste of slight buttery taste and sweet pea flavour, and is perfect for a variation of uses.

Their products are all handmade and special attention to detail and skill has been taken to make their new Liquid Gold oil. We will have a number of Special Edition bottles for 2016, and will be available from our Website or at our Economusee.

Its aromatic and golden properties are captivating — a true taste of luxury…once you experience our Special Edition Liquid Gold you will feel the sense of opulence.

Leona had always the vision of bringing our the Real Liquid Gold but found the time was never right and now with their 5th Birthday and the Year of NI Food and Drink 2016 she decided that we had set about making our Special Edition Liquid Gold. They are very excited about their new product and look forward to seeing the reactions of both chefs and customers.