Fine food in Waterford

There comes a time in spring when The Menu pokes his nose into the air and draws deep a draught from the east, checking the wind for first stirrings of his beloved West Waterford Festival of Food in Dungarvan (April 10-14).

This year’s programme promises another splendid skite, with an emphasis on the women who have made Irish food what it is today, from Myrtle and Darina through to Rachel and Trish Deseine and current Menu favourite, Jess Murphy, from Kai in Galway.

Local and national star Eunice Power creates a tribute to Tawlet, the internationally-renowned Beirut-based co-op restaurant staffed by Lebanese women while The Menu himself will be nattering up a storm with Dungarvan-born, internationally-acclaimed food writer and blogger Niamh Shiels as she regales him with tales of her jet-setting life in pursuit of the global nosebag. www.westwaterfordfestivaloffood.com