‘100 Years of Irish Food’, ‘Zero Waste Solution’, ‘Galway Food Throughout the Decades’ and ‘The Vital Importance of Organic Farming in Ireland’ are just some of the exciting and innovative topics that will be explored at this year’s Galway Food Festival Talk Series, taking place over two days of the five day festival from Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th of March.
To coincide with the theme of the Galway Food Festival, the first panel discussion ‘100 Years of Irish Food’ will be held at 11am on at the Mick Lally Theatre and will discuss the origins and roots of Irish Food, exploring the past, present and future of Ireland’s food. This inspiring discussion will feature a stellar line up of Ireland’s best chefs, chaired by Galway Food Festival chairperson 2016 JP Mc Mahon, Michelin Star Chef Ross Lewis, Wade Murphy of the award winning 1826 Adare, Gavin Mc Donagh from Dublin’s Brioche, Galway’s leading female chefs Jess Murphy of Kai and Michelle Kavanagh of The Kitchen Café at Galway Museum.
At 2pm, representatives from Galway’s most respected and longest-standing food establishments will come together for an interactive discussion with audience participation about Galway’s Food Trade throughout the years. Each representative comes from generations of Galway’s great trading families, each bringing their historic family traditions and passion over many years, passing on their inherited traits of customer service, along with the trading of fresh, home-grown and local produce to the younger generation. Featuring in this historic talk are Pat and Eoin Mc Cambridge, of Mc Cambridge’s of Galway, purveyors of fine food and wine for over 90 years, Ray Colleran of Colleran’s butchers who are celebrating over 80 years in business, Martine McDonagh of Martine’s Restaurant and Galway’s famous Mc Donagh Seafood Family. The discussion will be chaired by Jimmy Norman, MD of Norman Media.
At 4pm, the discussions will move to a pressing modern day issue that is highly topical at present. ‘Fighting TTIP – Protecting Ireland’s Trade Interests’ will be held in association with Eurotoques. TTIP stands for Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. However this is being done in secret without any input from citizens. Galway Food Festival’s Industry panel will raise the alarming question ‘Is Ireland for sale?’.
The second day of talks will begin at 12pm Saturday the 26th March with the ‘Zero Waste Solution’ discussion with the local authority and members of the food industry. John Farrell, The City Bin Co., Galway County Council and JP Mc Mahon will explore how we can be limit our output of waste in order to reduce the level of landfill and recycle smarter. At 2pm, ‘The Vital Importance of Organic Food Farming in Ireland’ will explore why only 2% of farms in Ireland are organic and how farmers must be encouraged and supported to go organic. This discussion will feature pioneers of organic farming in the West of Ireland, Beechlawn Organic, Green Earth Organics, Saol Café, Little Milk Company and Barlows Organic Farm.
The final discussion of the Galway Food Festival will be closed with ‘Hoptical Illusions’ a craft beer talk and tutored beer tasting with Beer Sommelier and Head Brewer of Soulwater. Attendees at this exciting and innovative talk will learn about and sample 5 very different beer styles, discovering how each style is produced while exploring and tasting the current beer trends in Ireland and around the world. This talk is the only ticketed event, priced at €5. Numbers are extremely limited so early booking is strongly advised.
For more information check out www.galwayfoodfestival.com, and follow the Galway Food Festival on Twitter @galwayfood and Facebook.
