The Menu: Food for the future

For a spell, the gastronomic reputation of the lovely seaside town of Kinsale appeared to be succumbing to a certain flabbiness of practice but recent years has seen the arrival of some sharp new operators raising standards across the board. 

Another equally important influence, though less obvious to the general public, has been the Permaculture/Sustainable Horticulture faculty of Kinsale Community College, greatly enhancing the local food and produce scene, and helping to swing the local emphasis from the sybaritic to the sustainable.

The permaculture course was the first such full-time course anywhere in the world when it began in 2005 and, under the aegis of Rob Hopkins, it saw the emergence of the ground-breaking Transition Towns movement with Kinsale becoming the first transition town in the world.