Ballymaloe Festival of Food is a new three-day food festival that this year celebrates 60 years of Ballymaloe — six decades of good food and fine hospitality, renowned in Ireland and beyond — while also showcasing all that the Irish food and drinks community has to offer today.
At Ballymaloe from Friday May 17th to Sunday May 19th this year, the inaugural Ballymaloe Festival of Food will be three days jam-packed with cooking demos, pop-up dinners, talks, walks, producers’, craft exhibitors and activities celebrating the journey of good food from the soil and sea to your plate. With wine tastings and cocktail making, all day dining opportunities featuring the best local and international talent, this weekend focuses too on everything that is great and innovative about modern Irish food, from apiarists, oyster farmers and cheesemakers to local whiskey distillers, artisan bakers and award-winning jam makers, with chefs from around Ireland and the UK joining for a fantastic weekend of exploration and pleasure.
Among the instigators of the Irish farm to fork movement, Myrtle Allen and her husband Ivan opened The Yeats Room at Ballymaloe back in 1964, initially advertising in the Cork Examiner saying “Come dine in a country house”, becoming one of the first country homes of its kind in Ireland to open their doors to guests.
Based in and around that original family country house, and the unique complex of outbuildings including The Grainstore, Big Shed and magical grounds and gardens, Ballymaloe Festival of Food is another invitation to guests, this time to an event with a clear message — one of sustainability, and a return to the roots of that original farm to table movement so important to Mr. and Mrs. Allen — with interesting and engaging talks from some key experts, producers and advocates telling the crucially important story of sustainable local food.
With an exciting lineup of Irish and international chefs confirmed, the full programme is available on the website here, detailing pop-ups, demonstrations, speakers and much more.
Ballymaloe Festival of Food is proudly sponsored by Local Enterprise Office, Cork County Council, Failte Ireland, Bord Bia and Cully and Sully.
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