A bland brand

THERE are billions of flavours in this world, but when it comes to selling food, only one ingredient seems to matter: celebrity.

While the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Jamie Oliver are great chefs, just how much foodie dust can they sprinkle across restaurants, TV shows, cookery books and supermarket shelves before quality begins to suffer?

Ireland has no shortage of celeb chefs, but Clodagh McKenna is probably the closest to becoming an all-conquering brand. She does TV, publishes books, runs a cookery school in Co Kildare, sells a saucy range of 1950s-style aprons and recently became a brand ambassador for the Volvo XC60.