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.

HERE at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, we run three-month certificate courses every year for students who want to gain the skills to earn them a living from their cooking.