Looking for gift ideas for food lovers? Strap yourselves in for a Christmas shopping spree with The Menu.

I’M just on my way home from the Slow Food Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre in Turin. It’s a biennial event that kicks off on Friday and finishes on Monday evening. 

He shall cover it in more detail next week but The Menu can hardly contain himself at the prospect of the imminent Taste of West Cork food festival (September 9-18) with over 170 events taking place in 32 towns and villages and eight islands across the West Cork region.

Until a deluge split the heavens at lunchtime on Sunday, many were increasingly inclined to believe rumours that Satan was spotted somewhere east of Shanagarry bearing a bagful of souls, his part in a Faustian bargain that saw the 2016 Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine bask in an utterly improbable mini-heatwave while the rest of the country took to the lifeboats.

The Irish Food Writers’ Guild announced the annual selection of the best of Irish producers and food heroes.

On a stormy night, from deep underneath his quilt, The Menu will always spare a thought for any poor souls caught out on the high seas with an especially heartfelt addendum added for those impossibly brave crew-members of the lifeboats.

It’s time for a return to the Marble City where Bia Beag are reprising their Meet the Bakers event (January 24).