The Menu: Samhain Food Festival, mushroom foraging and more Halloween fun

Boyne Valley Flavours has assembled a quite superb programme and a line-up of chefs, cookbook authors, culinary experts, and international guest speakers for this autumn’s Samhain Food Festival

Plus longtime Menu favourites and legendary Irish food pioneers, Ballyhoura Mushrooms, will be embarking on more of their ever-excellent mushroom foraging expeditions.

Trick or treat

It’s coming close to the end of a splendid run for the Meat & Potatoes exhibition in Crawford Art Gallery and its attendant programme of ancillary events. Samhain: The Origins of an Irish Halloween and The Festive Foods of Humans and Fairies (Oct 31, 3-5.30pm), may well fit the bill for some afternoon’s entertainment for off-school children before an evening of trick and treating, as food and culinary historian Regina Sexton and UCC folklorist Dr Jenny Butler engage in a hands-on workshop, digging up spuds and cooking colcannon while discovering traditional dishes of the festival, looking at the pre-Christian and folk dimensions of an Irish Halloween, and the role of food in the festival. Suitable for all ages, and pre-trick or treating Halloween costumes are welcomed.