The atmosphere was electric when Darina Allen and her brother, Rory O’Connell, stood up on stage at the Ballymaloe Grainstore, at Ballymaloe House, one Sunday evening in May 2017, to receive the unbridled acclaim of a stellar audience that included Irish and international food superstars at the end of the fifth — and what would subsequently prove to be the final — Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine, which had over the course of five years become one of the most important and influential food festivals around the world.
As closing speeches were made, an emotional audience hooted with enthusiasm, and O’Connell even dabbed away what might have been a tear as the energy flowing between audience and stage threatened to take off the roof.
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