culture experience - Stories from the Soil, Stories from the Sea
eating sessions on Friday 19th September in Skibbereen. The event is
being organised by ourselves at West Cork LEADER Co-op and is part of
the Taste of West Cork Food Festival. We'll be sitting down to on
three occasions during the day to dine on local seasonal food and
listen to the personal stories of 2 local producers at each sitting.
Diane Curtin will be on hand to guide diners and introduce the
speakers. Diane is a journalist and chef and is deeply involved with
food in West Cork, particularly through Slow Food. She recently
published her own book The Creators, which combines the life stories
of farmers and food producers in West Cork with enjoyable recipes.
The breakfast session focuses on fish and we will hear from Sally
Barnes of Woodcock Smokery and Frank Fleming, a fisherman from
Crosshaven. Sally is one of Ireland's most highly acclaimed artisan
producers and has been smoking fish in Castletownshend since 1981. She
has an unswerving commitment to producing the very highest quality
food. Like everyone else involved in seafood though, her business has
had to cope with turmoil and uncertainty. Frank Fleming has been
fishing with his brother Martin for 24 years. They concentrate largely
on catching prawns. Frank has strong views about the future of fishing
and is committed to finding positive solutions to many of the
industry's current dilemmas.
Lunch will have a bovine theme with talks from Paul Johnson of the
Traditional Meat Company and Bill Hogan of West Cork Natural Cheese.
Paul rears Dexter cattle on his farm near Dunmanway. Dexters are a
rare breed of cattle native to this part of Ireland and as such are
uniquely well adapted to live in harmony with our environment. Bill
Hogan is one of our foremost cheesemakers, he and Sean Ferry produce
Gabriel and Desmond Cheese. Bill is a real champion for the small
producer and the importance of food for rural areas.
The final session of the day will be afternoon tea, a chance to enjoy
some very fine baking and patisserie with Jean Domican from Buns 'n
Stuff in Macroom. Jean will be joined by food historian Diarmuid Ó
Drisceoil, who besides writing the fascinating history of Cork's
English Market, also spins a great tale.
Places for each session are limited so I would advise booking early by
calling West Cork LEADER Co-op at 023-34035, tickets cost €15 per
person.
The Stories sessions will be followed at 5pm by the launch of a new
food map of West Cork by West Cork LEADER Co-op. The map presents the
area as a photo montage of food and is bursting with colourful images
of cheeses, fish, fruits, cattle and fowl. The map will be used by
local retailers promoting food from West Cork and will also be
available to local schools as an educational resource. As part of the
launch I have been asked to present some of the stories from my Food
Culture column. This is a free event, so come along if you'd like to
hear more about the people I've met in researching this column and the
part they play in creating such a thriving food culture in West Cork.
