Dungarvan chef Eunice Power on love, loss, and her determination to keep going

It is six months since Eunice Power's son passed away tragically. As she publishes her debut cookbook, Vickie Maye meets her in her Dungarvan home where they talk grief, kindness and the healing power of food

Eunice Power, at home in Dungarvan, seated by the Aga with a copy of My Irish Kitchen Table, her newly published cookbook.

I am sitting at Eunice Power’s kitchen table, in the heart of her Dungarvan home. 

To my left the Today show chef is laying out a spread of dishes — lemon cake, an orange salad — all recipes taken straight from her debut cookbook. To my right, her mother Eithne joins us for food and chats.

It feels cosy, homely, and nourishing as we sip hot coffee and nibble on Eunice’s feast.

A ubiquitous name in food, most of us would assume Eunice Power had already written a cookbook. This is after all the woman who catered for Graham Norton’s West Cork wedding.

But My Irish Kitchen Table is her first book, and it’s decades of expertise in the making.

The focus is on food that is accessible. There are no intimidating ingredients, convoluted recipes. This is honest to goodness food —roasts, tray bakes, apple pie — and at its centre is the importance of family and community.

Her theme is particularly poignant, the book launching just six months after the tragic and sudden death of her 24-year-old son, Jerome.

As we chat, almost all of our conversations circle back to him. We meet just days after his inquest and Eunice’s grief is raw. At times it is quiet, at other moments it bubbles to the surface.

She hands me a framed photo of the two of them. The photo was taken just days before he died. 

Eunice Power and late son Jerome

On site for the food shoot for the book she launches this week, the photographer, Joleen Cronin, grabbed Jerome as she was leaving, ushering mother and son into the garden for a family photo.

Today, the framed photo is treasured, capturing a precious moment in time.

“He was so proud of the book,” says Eunice, laughing that he was “eating everything as soon as it was finished”. The book publication was delayed, but Eunice was determined to keep going.

“What do you do?” Eunice asks. “What do you do?”

She trails off. “You just keep going.”

She fulfilled catering commitments through her grief, not wanting to let people down. It’s Eunice through and through, and this strength and determination saw her deliver a beautiful eulogy at Jerome’s funeral, a moving tribute to a beloved son and vibrant young man.

She has a strong family, good friends, to see her through the darker days. And she has the therapeutic benefit of being in her kitchen. It helps her, she says, to cook, to bake.

Sitting in her kitchen, the heartbeat of the six-bedroom house she built two decades ago, initially as a B&B, it’s obvious this room is her haven. The large table has fed family and friends, the couch by the window is wrapped up with cosy throws and cushions, the Aga gently heats the space.

“I love something slow in the oven, knowing it’s there,” she says.

“One of the favourite things here will be a cottage pie. You know, minced beef, cook it away, slow cooked.

“But then Sunday lunch is really important. I have done a whole recipe in the book on the symphony of the roast beef dinner ... how to roast your potatoes, trying to get your timings right. In this house a roast was always a really big thing.

“Sunday is my favourite day here. I love to listen to the radio, and nobody’s around. I remember one Sunday I was working, and one of the kids came home, and he said to me: ‘what’s for dinner’? And I said something like chicken and pasta. And he was, but it’s Sunday! This is something he was really looking forward to.

“Of course, nothing competes with my mum’s roast and her apple crumble. It’s all those memories of childhood.”

Her mum Eithne, a former home economics teacher, launched the book in Dungarvan last week. Their bond is close, and she pays tribute to her for instilling her an appreciation of food and hospitality.

Eunice never formally trained as a chef. Instead she studied hotel management in Shannon, and worked successfully in the industry in London. Then, 25 years ago, she built her six-bedroom house in Dungarvan — her plan was to open a guest house and restaurant.

“I had in mind that people would come and stay and have dinner. Here they would eat whatever was in season. I wasn’t a trained chef myself, so I had lot of learning curves, and I had small children, but I had that one motivation,” she recalls.

Relaxed at home, Eunice Power sits on the couch as she talks about writing My Irish Kitchen Table. Picture Chani Anderson.

SLOW BUT STEADY

SOON, the critics came calling, and her home cooked seasonal food, as well as her hospitality, secured her rave reviews.

There was just one problem. As her three young sons grew older and found their voices, they told her how much they hated running a B&B. 

Eunice laughs at the memory. They wanted their home back, and so her catering business was born.

Her family was young, so growth was slow, but steady.

“I was always doing a little bit of catering, and then I just built up a reputation, and went from one wedding to two weddings to three weddings to, I think I did 52 one year,” she says.

Before long her high-profile clients included names like Graham Norton (“a joy to work with”). Her residency on the Today show, with her focus on accessible, no nonsense recipes, has made her a household name.

And still the success kept coming — AndChips, her high-end takeaway in her hometown, garners rave reviews. And then there’s her role as CEO of Waterford’s Festival of Food.

Despite her grief, she has retained her position and is deep in planning for next April’s event. It’s crucial, she says, for the community.

“I love how food brings people together, it’s the heart of my community,” she says of the festival. “It’s something that people are really proud of.

“And honestly, when Jerome died, I realised what a community I live in and how lucky I am.”

This year’s festival includes plans for a street feast — Eunice wants to reach the isolated people in her locality.

“Hopefully we can reach out to people who don’t engage, let them know about the street feast, but send them a box of tea bags and a packet of biscuits to have a cup of tea at home,” she says. “But what would be better is if we could get someone to go to the house and have a cup of tea with them.”

The festival is not about attracting big names, she adds. “It’s more about getting big names in here to see what we’re doing,” she says.

Eunice has built a support outside of Dungarvan too — her Today show audience has been another unexpected revelation.

“The viewers were so nice,” she says. “You don’t really realise that that whole community is out there.”

Eunice Power welcomes guests the way she cooks — with heart. A warm, generous spread laid out on the table, she talks about food as comfort, memory and family, always cooked with care and a smile.

Her down to earth approach to TV cooking is also reflected in her new book.

“Because I don’t have that training as a chef, I don’t have those sort of rules, so anything goes,” she says.

“I really like cookbooks. I’m somebody who looks at a recipe, or looks at a cookbook for inspiration, and then l’d go off on my favourite journey with it.

“But then I started to find that every cookbook I got I needed to go to the English Market for ingredients. Like, sometimes I can’t even pronounce the ingredients. It must be intimidating for people.

“I came home from the festival office last night, after a full on day, and I knew you were coming, and wanted to cook something from the book. So I looked at the cupboard and looked at what I had. I wanted a book where you could go into a supermarket or a shop in town and buy the ingredients and make a nice dinner.

“And there are things as basic as cutting up sausages and rolling them, mixing them with something nice and making a pasta dish.

“First of all, you’ve got the basic nourishment –you know, we need to eat.

“You go home tonight, and the family is looking at you for dinner. The thing is it doesn’t have to be exotic. It has to be real tasty — and easy.

“Baking, making a cake, is honestly one of the most relaxing things you can do, and none of the ones in the book will go wrong on you. Everything in there is doable, and it gives a sense of self worth.”

“The book has a heart to it. When you look at Instagram and social media, there are so many things that are outside of our control, Gaza, climate change... There’s nothing that we can do about them. But you know, one thing that’s happening on our watch is loneliness.

“I tell people share food from the book. Build community, shop locally, support local, be nice to people.

“And if you’re making a cake, give a slice to somebody, or when you’re doing shopping, talk to somebody. Make those little changes every day —bring kindness. That’s what I want my book to achieve.”

As she writes in her foreword: “Food is such a powerful connector and a way of bringing people together and creating a sense of belonging, reminding us how important we all are to each other.”

Our conversation draws to a close, and again Eunice brings the conversation back, full circle, to Jerome.

“What we’ve been through as a family, well it has shown us true kindness. People have been incredible.”

• My Irish Kitchen Table is published by Gill