"One of the best food festivals in the country"
Seamus Enright
“It’s absolutely brilliant, easily now one of the best food festivals in the country,” enthuses celebrity chef Rachel Allen, speaking ahead of her upcoming appearance at Taste of Cavan 2016.
No stranger to the local stage having attended and presented in previous years, the award-winning television personality and writer told The Anglo-Celt: “Each time I have been there I’ve come away saying what a super time I’ve had. From a chef’s point of view, it is just so well organised. I know a little bit about the effort that goes into putting these events on and the organisers at Taste of Cavan do exceptional work each and every year,” she said.
Rachel, the face behind the famed Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork will be demonstrating her kitchen skills at noon on Saturday, August 13, and she says she is “very much looking forward” to attending TOC yet again.
“I am consistently impressed with the quality of produce, both grown and prodcued in Cavan. The creativity of people to develop their own businesses deserves great credit, and the same too for the organises of TOC who are providing them with a platform from which they can build and develop their brand,” Mrs Allen adds.
Line-up
Over the two day event, Rachel will share the stage with a variety of world-class chefs, from Neven Maguire (MacNean Bistro, Blacklion) to Richard Corrigan (Park Lodge, Virginia), Virginia-native Enda McEvoy (Loam, Galway), Gearoid Lynch (Olde Post Inn, Cloverhill), Stradone’s Shane Smith (Airfield Estate, Dundrum), and Bawnboy’s Adrian Martin (TV3 and RTÉ), among others.
One new exciting addition to the line-up, and a recent arrival to the expanding well of culinary talent in the county is Eddie Atwell, of St Kyran’s, Virginia, and soon to appear representing Northern Ireland on the BBC’s ‘Great British Menu’.
Delighted to have been invited to be part of this year’s TOC, Eddie told the Celt: “It’s fantastic to be part of it and to share the stage with so many big names. It’s nice to be able to get down there and see what it’s all about, and of course to show people then what we at St Kyran’s are doing too.
“We just want to tell our story, and be part of the bigger narrative that is TOC and the county brand. It is clearly something that has brought the whole place together, stirred up the passion that a lot of people have for food and that can only be a good thing when it comes to flying the flag for this part of the country and encouraging others to come visit the region,” he said.