President praises rich food heritage at Terre Madre gastronomic festival

THE Irish palate and food industry have been revolutionised in recent years, President Mary McAleese told the Terre Madre gastronomic festival in Waterford.

“We have, firstly, a wonderful food heritage and, secondly, an ambition to secure a wonderful, healthy and profitable food future,” she said yesterday.

“The first is the bedrock of the second for, as Slow Food Ireland rightly reminds us, we have a very rich resource in our traditional food culture.”