FOR those of us who love to grow some of our own food, this is the beginning of the bountiful season where each meal begins with an ‘oops’ in my tummy and a feeling of delight at the first radishes, first new potatoes, the first beets, the first fresh green peas, the first cucumbers, and most amazing of all, the first little cherry tomatoes, the earliest ever.

THEY’VE all gone back to their respective countries now but it was such a buzz to have so many diverse top chefs from all over the world with us here at Ballymaloe for the Litfest.

At last the countryside is springing into life once again. Wild garlic is in full flush all along the roadside here in East Cork. 

WE ARE in the midst of a real crisis in food production. Increasingly farmers and food producers are being paid well below an economic level for their produce and the general public seem totally unaware.