Weekend break: How Dingle became a top food destination

How did Dingle, once a poor, little fishing port, evolve to become one of the most important towns in the Irish food world? Ahead of the Dingle Food Festival - and the Blás na hÉireann Irish National Food Awards - Joe McNamee pays tribute.

One wintry January evening, in 1977, I was driven from my home in Cork City down to Dingle, arriving long after nightfall, the small fishing port shrouded in blustery, wet darkness.

I was met by the family with whom I was to live as a Gael Linn ‘scholar’ for the next eight months and we headed out into the pitch-black peninsula to their little farmhouse in An Riasc, near Baile an Feartearaigh.