The Menu: The Burren's Winterage festival is a special time indeed

Plus: Savour Kilkenny Food Festival; and Too Savage's vibrant vegan sauces

Sat, 21 Oct, 2023 - 02:00

Joe McNamee

Burren Winterage Festival

The Burren at any time of the year is a boon to The Menu’s heart but there is something special about fetching up in this very magical part of Co Clare for the Burren Winterage Festival (October 27-29), which marks the ancient farming tradition of transferring cattle to a different location for winter grazing.

Unusually, in The Burren, unlike most other parts of the globe where such transhumance is practiced, the grazing beasts are moved to the uplands rather than being brought down from summer heights, a practice that is key to maintaining the unique flora and fauna.

The Winterage Walk (October 29), beginning with tea, coffee, and scones, is a joyous tramp through this very special part of the world, albeit a challenging and steep 6km walk not suitable for buggies or dogs (booking essential at burrenwinterage.com).

Also part of the festival is the annual showcase of local food and drinks producers of the Burren Ecotourism Network, the Burren Food Fayre (October 29) which will include beef, salmon, pork, oysters, cheese, breads, jams, chutneys, along with Burren whiskey and gin, and many taking part adhere to the GEOfood concept, an international UNESCO initiative, which promotes sustainable agriculture and conservation and supports local farmers and communities.

Rachel Allen: among those set for Savour Kilkenny.

Something to Savour

The Menu is long overdue for a return visit to Savour Kilkenny where he managed to put down a weekend of industrial-strength high jinks and shenanigans in the most wonderful and food-friendly city.

Now in its 15th year, Savour Kilkenny Food Festival (October 27-30), which drew more than 50,000 attendees last year, offers a sterling programme of cookery demonstrations, dining events, talks, workshops, and entertainment for adults and children alike, with a strong focus on zero waste, sustainable cooking, gardening, and preserving and restoring our precious native biodiversity.

It is always most definitely a place for star chef-spotting and this year is no different with the line-up including Darina Allen, Rachel Allen, Rory O’Connell, Kevin Dundon, Dylan McGrath, Jess Murphy, Arun Kapil, Conor Spacey, The Cupcake Bloke, and Edward Hayden.

Children can enjoy an animal farm, juggling and plate spinning workshop and show, as well as stilt walkers, Latvian dancers, face painting, and Halloween treats, while adults can look forward to a yoga brunch, foraging, gardening, biodiversity and candle-making workshops, as well as a knife making skills workshop.

And the Parade will host over 100 speciality food producers and street food vendors. Special events include: a Michelin Star dining experience at Lady Helen, Mount Juliet with John Kelly; Rachel Allen hosting Statham’s ‘Farm To Fork Tour of Flavour’; and Dylan McGrath guest cheffing in The Bridge House.

savourkilkenny.com

Today’s Special

The Menu is absolute in his support of Irish farmers, much less so in his approval of the industrialised model of agriculture which sees so many conventional farmers as little more than indentured slaves.

At the same time, he believes it is essential to the war on climate change that the planet consumes less meat, so advocates for the adoption of a flexitarian diet — ie, substituting some meat dishes for more vegetarian or vegan food.

When he does so, it is always with the proviso that meat still consumed is premium and Irish and, ideally, bought directly from the primary producer who otherwise fares worst of all in the more usual commercial chain, involving industrial processors and giant multiples, that put the meat on your plate, to ensure that the primary producer receives her or his just desserts.

Accordingly, The Menu is always open to trying new vegan products, not least the range of vegan mayos from Too Savage.

A recovering vegetarian himself, the reason The Menu could never go entirely vegan is his extraordinary epicurean kinship with certain non-meat animal-derived products, including dairy produce and eggs, which is why he’ll always prefer the inherent airy lightness of a well-produced mayonnaise made with eggs over an eggless vegan version.

Hence he is adopting the mindset of viewing the Too Savage range as a cousin condiment, perhaps more akin to an upmarket salad cream in terms of its liquid viscosity.

But once that bridge is crossed, the Too Savage range is indeed a versatile option for non-meat and meat eaters alike, and most recently added to the original Spicy Mayo, Curry Mayo, and Smoked Garlic Mayo versions in the range is a Wasabi Mayo, a collaboration with Beotanics, the plant-based food and crop development enterprise in Stoneyford, Co Kilkenny, producing wasabi on a commercial scale.

Made with rapeseed oil, sea salt, mustard powder, and white wine vinegar, with xanthan gum as a thickener, it presents as a dip every bit as much as a mayo and The Menu used it accordingly, a creamy, lush emulsion with punchy wasabi notes, adding further bite to the acid tang and working well with all manner of dishes, including tempura fried veg and a very nice egg and cress sandwich.

And if you’re currently attempting to wrangle a newly converted, full-blown and fervent vegan in the household, then the Too Savage range is a very handy fallback when it comes to adding flavour to the often less-than-inspiring meat substitutes such as faux burgers, sausages and ersatz ‘chicken’ that new converts invariably favour in the early days of transition away from eating meat, reluctant just yet to leave behind entirely the familiar meat staples of their childhood.