On Wednesday 27th September, over 100 food writers, bloggers and food lovers gathered to celebrate the launch of Neven’s Italian Food Trails, a six-part TV culinary and travel series premiering on RTÉ One on Thursday, 5th October.

Sponsored by Dunnes Stores Simply Better, the series follows Neven’s journey across Italy, where he meets local food and wine producers along the way.

Neven stated: “It was an experience of a lifetime for me and I am looking forward to sharing my adventures with viewers throughout the six weeks of the series. During the making of the series, I tasted some of the best food and wine I have ever experienced and met with the most interesting food and wine producers who are as passionate about creating great products as I am about cooking with them.”

Neven, the Simply Better Brand Ambassador, added: “I believe Irish people have a strong connection to Italy and as a nation we have a great love of Italian food and wine. Throughout the series, I will be creating dishes using the very finest Italian products. I am really looking forward to sharing these recipes with viewers.”

Many of the producers featured in the six-part series have existing strong ties with Ireland and the Dunnes Stores Simply Better Italian Collection includes 50 Italian products from 14 producers, who combined have over 20 national and international food awards.

Antonio Marchetti from Bertangi supplies his fresh pasta to Simply Better. He commented: “We have a long standing relationship with Dunnes Stores and their customers. To be involved with the Simply Better Collection is such a wonderful opportunity.

“During our visit to Ireland we also get to meet some of our Irish customers who have been using our products for years, creating and enjoying great food at home and it has been an honour for us to be here to celebrate Ireland’s love of Italian food.”

To​ ​celebrate​ ​the​ ​launch,​ ​Dunnes​ ​Stores​ ​Head​ ​Office​ ​Atrium​ ​was​ ​turned​ ​into​ ​​“Little Italy”, with​ ​waiters​ ​serving​ ​Italian​ ​antipasti inspired ​by​ ​Neven​,​ ​featuring​ ​products from​ ​the​ ​Simply​ ​Better​ ​Italian Collection.

Guests​ ​then enjoyed an exclusive ​preview​ ​of​ ​the​ ​series, with Diarmuid Murphy, Brand Manager for Dunnes Stores Simply Better Collection, saying: “Through the Dunnes Stores Simply Better Collection, our mission is to enable our customers to enjoy restaurant quality food at home and we have been honoured to have one of the greatest chefs in Europe, Neven Maguire, on this journey with us over the past two years.

“The supplier story is so important to us and through this TV series, viewers will get to see the origins of many of the products in our Italian collection and will have the opportunity to try these products at home by picking up some of the collection when they are next visiting one of our stores.”

The latest Cook with Neven Maguire magazine, features many of the producers appearing in the TV series and is now available in stores and by download via www.dunnesstores.com.