Joe McNamee: Small producers are the bedrock on which real Irish food is built

Without small producers, there would be no Dingle Food Festival, and no Blás na hÉireann

Bart Pawlukojc and Nicole Server-Pawlukojc from Aran Bakery, Kilkenny. Winners of the Supreme Champion for their Spelt sourdough, at the 19th Blas na hÉireann / Irish Food Awards, Dingle. Picture: Allen Kiely

Bar 2020 and 2021, when so many public events were cancelled because of pandemic restrictions, I have attended the Dingle Food Festival and Blás na hÉireann Awards every year since 2013. I couldn’t imagine missing it. In a country awash with multiple fabulous food festivals, for many in the Irish food world it is the last and most special ‘swallow’, literally and figuratively, of the annual Irish culinary calendar.

Though I fly solo for the rest of the year, it became a habit to bring along some combination of family members to Dingle. This year, La Daughter and I were both struck down with the dreaded lurgy and though ailing, we headed off to Dingle once more, all other members of the tribe struck down with ‘work’. We might have lacked the stamina for our more usual nocturnal shenanigans but we still soaked up of the atmosphere by day, nibbling our way around the festival’s legendary food trail.

Over the years, the Blás Awards have diverged from the festival proper, becoming a separate entity and a nationally renowned benchmark of food quality. These days, Blás sets up in the Blás Village, just off Green St, on Dingle’s upper slopes. It includes: a networking forum for finalists, buyers, trade, and press; a public market space showcasing finalists and winners; and the Showcase Marquee, where products are displayed and awards handed out. Come prize-giving Friday, it is the place to be for all Blás entrants still with skin in the game.

It is also a good place to take the current temperature of the Irish food producer world.

Right now that’s a pretty tough place to be. Some years ago, Blás began to accept entries from large food processors and major multiples. This industrial-scale influx certainly beefed up the coffers, covering much of the expense of such a large, complex and year-round operation, but I never really consider this side of the house, despite often perfectly fine foodstuffs. The real innovation, the real culinary creativity comes from the small or ‘artisan’ producers.

Many of those small producers are struggling. Every single one I spoke to rolled eyes and listed out myriad challenges on all fronts, many even questioning their own sanity. Yes, most of us having been struggling in recent times, whether as private citizens or those operating commercial concerns of all stripes and sizes. But for the small food producer, along with soaring costs of inputs, ingredients, labour, energy, transportation, and so on and so forth, they also have to deal with a ludicrously over-zealous level of health and safety regime that is not remotely fit for purpose — quite literally, it was designed for the industrial food sector and is too often policed by an inspectorate with scant knowledge of … well, food, to be honest.

And yet to see these same small producers over the weekend is to truly renew your faith in humanity for they are a dogged bunch, seeking out the camaraderie of their fellows, always sincerely cheering winners, even at their own expense. When Suryajith ‘Sunny’ Joy’s ecstatic yelp of triumph pierced the air as his Co Mayo-based GoMeal ready meal company won best start-up, it was those older producers who chuckled most in appreciation, recalling a time when their own first Blás award arrived as a timely pat on the back and encouragement to keep on going against the odds.

Some years ago, a young woman freshly returned home to Cork from San Francisco fetched up in my kitchen with samples from her fledgling product range. I offered my feedback and, over the years, registered the rise in quality, so it was a special joy to be present when Claire Keane’s Second Street Bakeshop won Best Artisan Producer, the culmination of a long journey. Shortly afterwards, Kilkenny’s Arán Bakery & Bistro became the first food producer to win the Supreme Champion Accolade for a second time, including once again for their sourdough bread — at the very first Blás awards, a sourdough category didn’t even exist.

Without the Irish small producer food movement there would be no Dingle Food Festival, no Blás na hÉireann Awards or any other food festivals around Ireland. Fail to support them as consumers or to allow them to be browbeaten and sometimes even bullied out of existence entirely by bureaucracy, as has happened too often in the past, and we lose the bedrock on which real Irish food is built.

Table Talk

The Irish food writing world is a vibrant and multi-faceted space, incorporating people from all sorts of media, not just the traditional print sector, and over the years, I’ve come to know many of them like family.

What’s more, our regular ‘family gatherings’ tend to be at festivals and events such as the Dingle Food Festival and though this year I wasn’t to be found pinned to some dark Dingle bar at midnight, I did get a chance to briefly catch up with wonderful old friends in food, an always delightful experience.

Accordingly, it was especially poignant to return home to the news that one of my favourite members of the food family, food and wine writer, and restaurant critic Corinna Hardgrave, had died.

Corinna was an award-winning food writer and reviewer with a tremendous store of knowledge built up over years to buttress her writing, yet she wore it lightly and always in the service of her readers, never her ego.

Bubbly, bright and always energised, we enjoyed some splendid occasions with our fellow food family members but also met up outside of that circle, especially when our regular holidays in West Cork coincided. It is where I came to know her lovely husband, Steve, as well, and am now sending heartfelt condolences to Steve and his and Corinna’s daughters, Katherine and Isabelle. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

Today's Special

Second Street Toffee Popcorn Brittle

Second Street Bakeshop Toffee Popcorn Brittle (€6.75 ) does a wonderful job of taking several different snack/confection tropes and combining them in one single and rather addictive mouthful.

The ever excellent classic buttery toffee is leavened with the lighter crunch of air-popped corn, then finished with a coating of chocolate and a sprinkling of Achill Island sea salt, near enough the entire flavour and texture spectrum in every single bite.

• secondstreetbakeshop.com