This is a great piece by Sean O’Riordan in the Irish Examiner
Food, wine and 50 shades of tae at West Waterford festival
Celebrating an 8th successive year, the West Waterford Festival of Food returns this week with fabulous food and wine, a host of engaging events, pop-up restaurants and much more, with fun for all the family.
‘Generations in Irish Food’ is the theme of this year’s event in Dungarvan and surrounding areas.
Some of Ireland’s finest chefs, producers, stall-holders and all round lovers of fine food will be in the locality from Thursday until Sunday next.
The festival shines a spotlight on some homegrown heroes and the generations of families who continue to produce, cook, sell and run some of Ireland’s greatest and best-loved restaurants and food businesses in the local region.
Dromana House — celebrating 800 years of ownership by the same family —hosts a key event, created by local chef Eunice Power, as a tribute to local West Waterford food families.
Called ‘Celebrating Generations of West Waterford Food Stories,’ Eunice’s menu celebrates the food stories of the McGraths, Flahavans, and Barrons by showcasing not just the continuing history and narrative of the family businesses but their delicious ingredients too.
Other highlights focusing on generations in Irish food include Darina Allen and her brother Rory O’Connell of Ballymaloe Cookery School in conversation with John McKenna, giving their family insight into the industry.
The ‘Emerging Generation’, meanwhile, is a series of demonstrations from up-and-coming members of established food families. It features Jack and Tim McCarthy, the award-winning butchers from Kanturk, Richard and Duncan Blair of Blairs Inn, and charcuterie master Frank Krawczyk and his son Rob who will demo together for the first time with the title ‘Charcuterie from Father to Son’.
The Tannery restaurant continues as a cornerstone of the festival, having tasting menus on Friday and Saturday called ‘Generations of Food Producers’, evenings of celebration and fine food based on the family producers participating in the festival.
On Sunday, they host a duck feast for lunch, in association with Silverhill. And the Tannery Cookery School will also host a brunch on Saturday, featuring Flahavan’s, a family enterprise since 1785.
Returning also is ‘Seafood Saturday: Cois Cé’, from fresh seafood to inspiring demos.
Another popular event is the Farmer’s Market, in the main square on Sunday. One of the largest artisan food markets on the island, it will have over 100 stalls.
Busanna Bia will return, with three different routes this year, giving festival goers the opportunity to visit as many producers as possible on each route.
Always at the centre of the festival, given the Generations theme, are the little cooks. With a jam-packed programme of events, perfect for toddlers to teens, it will see sous chefs shine with events such as ‘Cócaireacht le Chéile’, as well as workshops, including one for little pizza chefs, ‘Mucking Around with Kitchen Sink Science’, and baking.
Visitors can expect bike buffets, seaweed seminars, 50 Shades of Tae, Irish craft in a glass which offers a series of opportunities to taste and learn about the increasingly popular craft beer, gin, cider and whiskey of Ireland, and much more.
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