Article from the Farm Week written by Michele Shirlow

Our first-ever Year of Food and Drink is now up and running. And it’s going to be a very exciting 12 months in Northern Ireland and indeed further afield as we celebrate our fantastic food and drink and the people and companies behind the products that are increasingly being recognised here and abroad as being outstandingly tasty, wholesome and safe.

In the next month there will be a great deal to report on with progress on 2016. Celebrations kick off this week with Tesco launching their plans to celebrate 2016, next week TourismNI are holding a 2016 banquet in the Ulster Hall and a further series of ‘ food and drink revolution’ roadshows to inspire the tourism industry. The month finishes with several business breakfasts highlighting Breakfast Week.

January is Breakfast Month and there’s surely no better way to start the year than by celebrating local breakfast foods. When we think of breakfast we tend to think of the traditional and hearty Ulster Fry, of traditional potato and soda breads, eggs, bacon and pork sausages (which I love) but Northern Ireland is also outstanding in production of oat based cereals and dairy products which make great options for breakfast.

Research shows that eating a good breakfast improves overall wellbeing. It’s an essential start to the day. Breakfast eaters tend to be slimmer than breakfast skippers so for anyone trying to lose a few pounds after Christmas, planning a healthy breakfast is vital. Breakfast provides the essential energy and nutrients needed for an active lifestyle

The longstanding Farmhouse Breakfast event in Belfast is one of the most enjoyable occasions in January. And many of the ingredients in the local breakfast regularly win prestigious awards in competitions such as the UK Great Taste Awards.

Charles Campion, for instance, the influential food writer and MasterChef judge, is on record as describing a good Ulster Fry as ‘probably the best breakfast in the world’. Indeed there’s nothing I enjoy more than a well-cooked Ulster Fry. But I also enjoy a steaming bowl of porridge from locally grown oats topped with local honey and cream, pure indulgence. Oats, of course, are a great source of fibre and also have a low GI, which means porridge keeps you fuelled until lunch.

Encouragingly, cereals grown in Northern Ireland for porridge and granola are also now being enjoyed at breakfast from the US to Taiwan. And our wonderful breakfast tea is even now being exported to Japan, central Europe and Africa!

Even if you prefer a continental-style breakfast experienced on those holidays abroad such as croissants, cold meats and cheese you’ll also find these readily available from local producers. We’ve some of the best bakeries in the UK and Ireland and some excellent producers of meats especially delicious ham. We are also seeing the emergence of a charcuterie sector including Wagyu and venison sausages.

Showcasing the breadth and quality of what’s readily available here is, of course, what our Year of Food and Drink is all about. We, collectively, 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.

We are working with our cadre of talented chefs to harness the products to develop Northern Ireland’s growing reputation as a global centre of original dishes and increase our appeal to tourists and other visitors.

To mark the Year of Food & Drink 2016, the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation and the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland are celebrating breakfast during the month of January and challenging members to create healthy breakfast options of 400 Calories or under.
The competition is easy to enter and is open to all NIHF members. All you have to do is create a healthy breakfast dish which can be a cereal, beverage or cooked dish. Then simply photo it and submit it with a short description of under 100 words (including the calorie count of the entry) via email to breakfast@nihf.co.uk by 5.00pm on 29th January 2015.
Full details below. Entries are limited to one per premises and the calorie content should be calculated using the MenuCal tool available from the FSA website here. The entries will be judged by an independent panel and will feature on the final top ten healthy breakfasts. The top ten will receive a certificate of recognition and will be promoted via the NIHF social media and published materials. They will also be featured in the local trade press. The top ten will be announced on Friday 5th February 2016.

How to Enter
Create breakfast dish for one person at 400 Calories or under per portion.
Prepare dish and take a reasonable quality photo of it (this doesn’t need to be professional but should show your dish off in the best way possible. A modern smart phone camera should be fine as long as the photo is sent to us full size).
Write less than 100 words to describe the dish and include the total Calories in your description.
List the ingredients and quantities used.
Email photo, description and ingredients to breakfast@nihf.co.uk by 5.00 pm on Friday 29th January 2016.
The entries will be judged by an independent panel and a Top Ten Breakfast list produced. This list will be promoted widely.

Rules

•  All entries must have a photo, ingredients, description and calorie count included in their email entry. The photo  may be used by the NIHF for promotion purposes.
• Calorie count should be calculated using the MenuCal Tool which is available via the FSA website.
• Entries are only accepted from hotels, guesthouses and guest accommodations that are Members of the Northern  Ireland Hotels Federation.
• One entry per accommodation provider/member property.
• Entrants must agree to abide by these 
and any other rules of the competition and 
to any publicity as a result of their entry.
• Winners must not engage in promotion of their win without prior consent of NIHF.
• The judges’ decision is final.

The closing date is the 29th January 2016 at 5.00pm.

Great Taste is the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink awards.

Putting your food or drink to the test with our panel of over 450 experts is a quick way to get honest, straightforward and impartial feedback from chefs, buyers, food writers and retailers. Whether your product receives a 1-, 2- or 3-star accolade, Great Taste stars are highly respected seals of approval.

The Great Taste Awards general entries open 3rd February 2016

Please visit: https://gff.co.uk/awards/great-taste-awards/ for further information

Retailer kicks off year-long celebration of local food and drink

Tesco Northern Ireland today announced a jam packed programme to the value of half a million pounds, providing a platform for the local food and drinks industry to engage with the Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016 initiative led by NI Food and TourismNI.

The year-long programme, which includes established local suppliers and artisan producers will include in-store food fairs, multi-store sampling, radio and press advertising, PR and media support as well as the highly anticipated annual Taste Northern Ireland Festival, set to be the biggest and best yet.

Today’s launch event brought together the great and good of local food and drink at Tesco Northern Ireland’s flagship Extra store at Knocknagoney, and was officiated by Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Permanent Secretary, Noel Lavery, on behalf of the Minister.

Noel Lavery said: “Year of Food &Drink 2016 is an opportunity to celebrate our food and drink successes and capitalise on these through trade and consumer communications. It is also an opportunity to harness the benefits of these successes to drive quality, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in our food and drink sector. The north of Ireland will gain greater benefits via increased visitor satisfaction and spend, as well as increased demand for export sales. The strength of the north’s food producers and the stories behind them will continue to be the foundations of this success.

“I welcome Tesco’s commitment to the local agri-food sector which has seen an increase in annual investment from £50m in 1997 to £550m in 2015. Major investments in locally-sourced produce demonstrate the potential to build long-term sustainable supply chains on this island.

“The Year of Food and Drink 2016 is an opportunity to provide a platform for sharing the supply chain story from primary producer through to consumer and to show the strength of our agri-food industry as a whole.

“I commend Tesco in fully embracing the opportunities that the Year of Food & Drink 2016 will provide and am pleased to launch their year long programme of activities that will provide a key engagement platform for our local food and drinks industry.’’

The event saw Tesco customers able to sample an array of products from local iconic brands such as Punjana and Irwins, provided networking opportunities and discussions facilitated between producers and industry bodies, a parade of local food company mascots, as well as a surprise performance by the Belfast Community Gospel Choir.

Brendan Guidera, Store Director for Tesco Northern Ireland, said: “The Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink is a celebration of everything that is delicious here and what’s more it pays homage to our local food and drinks businesses – an industry that is truly bolstering the Northern Irish economy and one that is gaining more support than ever before from customers keen to support local businesses.

“We know from research and ongoing feedback that our customers are choosing local produce where and when they can and know that at Tesco, they can not only buy more local products than anywhere else in Northern Ireland, but can also be confident in the knowledge that we truly support and encourage food and drink businesses to succeed. As the number one champion of local products, we wanted to be sure we got behind this fantastic initiative for the Province and planned a programme worthy of the quality of produce on offer, the hard work and commitment of our suppliers and the needs of our customers.”

Michele Shirlow, CEO of Food NI, said: “It’s great to see so many of Food and Drink’s leading industry figures in one spot, to launch what is set to be a stellar year for Northern Ireland. The initiative is designed to celebrate our quality produce, the businesses behind the success stories and the platform being provided by Tesco Northern Ireland does exactly that, and more by facilitating maximum engagement between the suppliers, consumers and industry bodies. The programme Tesco has put in place is testament to the retailer’s ongoing and unparalleled support for NI Food and Drink businesses and will give the initiative the boost it needs.”

Squeeze Wheatgrass from Warrenpoint, Co Down which won one of the first Good Choice! Quality Food Awards in the UK has launched its new product range to coincide with the start of NI Year of Food and Drink 2016.
Squeeze Wheatgrass shots were recognized in the Healthy Juice category of the Quality Food awards as one of the very best ‘free from’ and ‘healthy option’ food and drinks available in the UK.
Jacquelyn Stewart from Squeeze Wheatgrass has been producing the 30ml Ready to Drink Wheatgrass shots since 2011. The company has strived to bring Wheatgrass into the 21st Century by working with the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute to develop a method of keeping the Wheatgrass juice in its most natural state without deterioration in flavour or nutrition or the addition of preservatives or additives.
Whilst most people recognize the nutritional properties of Wheatgrass juice, its grassy taste is not to everyone’s liking. Assisted by InvestNI, through its Innovation Voucher Programme, Squeeze Wheatgrass have developed three flavoured Wheatgrass shots unique to this company. Each juice flavour has been carefully selected for the “extra” health benefits it will bring to the Wheatgrass juice. The new “flavoured” wheatgrass shots have a 6-week shelf life.

The three juices which has been added to the Wheatgrass juice are:-

• Beetroot Juice -which has been gaining in popularity as a new super food due to recent studies claiming that beets and beetroot juice can improve athletic performance, lower blood pressure and increase blood flow. Choline is a very important and versatile nutrient in beetroot that helps with sleep, muscle movement, learning and memory.
• Apple & Pear Juice – which contain a kind of sugar called fructose. The benefit of fructose, as compared to sucrose, is that it metabolizes slower and does not create a spike in blood sugar levels in the way that sucrose does. Apples and Pears are a source of phytochemicals of the flavonoid family called quercetin. Quercetin is a powerful antioxidant and many studies have shown how its anti-inflammatory properties can help with a variety of health issues.
• Orange and Lemon Juice – citrus fruits are the sole source of a group of flavonoids called flavanones. According to research published in the August 2008 issue of the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,” citrus flavonoids prevent the formation of new cancers by blocking carcinogenic agents, and they lower blood pressure and prevent disease-causing inflammation.

Squeeze Wheatgrass have already secured a listing for the new products with online food market place TheFoodMarket.com whose aim is to only have products available on their marketplace site that contain no rubbish, are made with high quality, natural ingredients and can prove where they come from. www.thefoodmarket.com
The new flavoured Wheatgrass shots are also available to buy online at the company’s own website www.squeezewheatgrass.co.uk and will be added to their existing listing with Yumbles.com, another indie food online store.