Not Your Usual Food Conference. A 1st for Ireland

Darina Allen opens food conference, a 1st for Ireland

Weston A. Price Foundation International

 Food Conference for Limerick 

Darina Allen

February 7th and 8th 2015 at Thomond Park in Limerick will see the first Food Conference of its kind take place on our island. Named the Wise Traditions Ireland Conference the focus is on Food, Farming and the Healing Arts and will no doubt appeal to foodies and non foodies alike.

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism based on the solid research of nutrition pioneer Dr Weston Price.  It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. 

Founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon Morell, the Foundation has grown and expanded in its membership and activities exponentially.  In an era when populations are struggling with ill health, both physical and mental, digestive problems, allergies etc it is timely that this event comes to Ireland and gives an opportunity for us to see how it is possible to regain health and reverse many chronic health conditions using the wisdom of our ancestors. 

For an eye opening and mind-expanding two-day event that will challenge all your beliefs about nutrition, don’t miss this one of a kind conference where you get to hear expert speakers, meet nutritionists, parents and people who care about their and their family’s health, and eat some delicious food too!

Key speakers: Darina Allen - Ballymaloe Cookery School and Champion of local food.

Sally Fallon Morell - USA, author of Nourishing Traditions, the cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. 

Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride MD PHD, She is well known for developing a concept of GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome), which she described in her book  Gut and Psychology Syndrome   - Natural Treatment for Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression and Schizophrenia, 

Joe Fitzmaurice - Award winning bakery and bread school Riotrye, Cloughjordan Eco Village 

David Wetzel - founder of Green Pastures (fermented Cod Liver Oil) 

Elizabeth Ryan - Founder of Raw Milk Ireland Campaign 

Tickets for the event cost €70 for one day and €117 for the full two-day event and a delicious lunch based on WAPF and GAPS principles created from locally sourced produce is included in the price.

Further information and tickets available on www.wapfmunster.com or wapfconferenceireland@gmail.com 

a press release

Super Saturday. Castlemary Farm. Midleton Farmers Market. The Food Emporium.

Super Saturday

Castlemary Farm. Midleton Farmers Market. The Food Emporium.

Olive and one of her goats.

This super Saturday started with a visit to Castlemary Farm. Great to meet up with the hard-working Olive Hallahan and her goats (who have a very comfortable life, especially Dan the Man!). Olive’s small shop on the farm opens every Saturday morning and today, for the first time, she had her Smoked Goats Cheddar on sale.

Frank Hederman did the smoking here so that cheese was top of our list but we also got a  few other bits and pieces including a Goat Cheese Fruit Yoghurt and a lovely brown loaf made with goat buttermilk! She also sells produce by the neighbours, including honey and eggs. The smoked cheese, by the way, tastes like a success, the smoking very finely judged indeed.

Olive meets another Billy

You may also buy Castlemary products at the regular Friday Country Market in Midleton and at the nearby shop recently opened by Helen Aherne. Olive tells me that Helen is a talented baker and her cakes also feature in the Midleton shop.

From Castlemary, I made my way to Midleton and to the regular Saturday morning Farmers Market. We were still reasonably early but O’Driscoll’s of Schull were rapidly running out of fish. Still we managed to get some fresh cod. Mushrooms from Irish Shiitake, Smoked Mackerel from the aforementioned Mr Hederman, and a lovely sweet Almond Brioche ring from Arbutus Bread were among the other products to find a way into the sturdy shopping bag. Lots of choices for lunch and later!

Gurnard

The sunshine was giving way to rain as I headed downtown in the afternoon to the Food Emporium at Brown Thomas. Lovely to meet Darina Allen who was signing copies of her most recent book, 30 Years at Ballymaloe (with over 100 new recipes), and to renew acquaintance also with Anthony Cresswell of Ummera Smoked Products who had samples of his brilliant produce for tasting.

Ballymaloe have a pop-up wine shop here and some of their wines were open for tasting with Peter Corr of Febvre Wines doing the honours and opening some terrific wines including a Vacheron Sancerre, a lovely pure white wine, mineral rich and zesty, produced by biodynamic farming.

That was good but the star of the show was undoubtedly the 2008 Raveneau Chablis. It was a rare pleasure to sample this Classic Chablis 1er Cru from Reveneau’s Butteaux vineyard.

The tastings here are of a very high standard indeed and that will continue next Friday evening at 6.00pm when Chris Forbes of Taylor's Port, one of the oldest of the founding Port houses, and Sarah Furno, of the magnificent Cashel Blue and Croizier Blue Cheeses, are the distinguished visitors. Should be a lovely evening.

Darina Allen, Ursula Bosman (Brown Thomas) and Yours Truly at the
Food Emporium.

Try the Taste of the Week at Brown Thomas this Saturday.

Taste of the Week

This smoked chicken, from Ummera in Timoleague, is a top top product. And very versatile too,. We used it in a paella last weekend and it was a treat. There are quite a few more recipes on the Ummera website here

If you are in Cork City this very Saturday, November 9th, Ummera will be up on the 2nd Floor of Brown Thomas in their new Food Emporium offering tastings as Darina Allen signs copies of her new book, "30 Years at Ballymaloe". Peter Corr of Febvre Wines will be tasting a selection of wines from the classic French wine regions. Time: 2pm to 4pm