The Menu: Food festival frenzy

One of the great ironies of the ‘Edible Erin’ calendar is that the arrival once more of a new school year coincides with the busiest time of the year for food festivals, the season really beginning around now.

The Doolin Craft Beer & Roots Festival (August 21-23) is a last chance to kick out the jams before a return proper to the groves of academe and all the attendant school-related activities, with a short spell in wonderful west Clare, drinking Irish craft beer, dining on some of the very excellent local produce and listening to splendid tunes ( www.doolinbeerandroots.com ).

It is also the end of the summer for the splendid Boyne Valley Food Series, the final event, Lady Well Fete (August 23) in the grounds of Slane Castle.