Ballymaloe Cookery School’s students spread far and wide, using the skills they learned to push the boundaries of the global food scene.

It’s all about home cooking these days, encouraging busy people to readjust priorities around food and how we feed both ourselves and our families.

She began her career at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. Now the owner of a chain of Mexican restaurants in London, Thomasina Miers is returning to her roots for the Litfest.

IN JANUARY 2002 a tall gangly irrepressible girl with thick dark curly hair and a wonderful gappy smile arrived at Ballymaloe Cookery School in a cute little Renault Deux CV.