A new book in aid of an Irish charity asked people to recall their favourite concert, writes Don O’Mahony.

One recent evening, towards the tail end of his annual Christmas sojourn in West Cork, The Menu purchased a little ‘dote’ of his favourite of all cheeses, Milleens, to enjoy by the fire with a fine vino, still intent on staving off the return to reality for another few days. 

Des O’Driscoll shares the latest news from the world of showbiz

With the Hunger Games destroyed forever in Mockingjay: Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 2 (12A) opens with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) plotting the final downfall of the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) as the rebellion against the repressive government in the Capitol achieves an irresistible momentum. 

A takeaway is to be included for the first time in the list of 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland.

The Dingle Food Festival is upon us again (October 2-4). 

With more food tours and trails in Ireland than ever, there’s never been a better excuse to eat your way through a short break, says Pól Ó Conghaile.

Asylum seekers deserve the right to cook for themselves, writes Sharon Ní Chonchúir.

THE excitement is really mounting, it’s just a week to this year’s Lit Fest at Ballymaloe, May 16-18.

Casual restaurants which exhibit flair and creativity have been the most notable innovation of Irish restaurant culture over the last 12 months, according to food writer John McKenna.

FOOD writing did not begin in the 1990s, with the rise of the celebrity chef and their (often ghostwritten) glossy tomes of recipes and pretty pictures. Mesopotamian clay tablets dating to 1750BC had recipes inscribed in a complex writing form.

Great food writers must master more than one discipline, because food’s in every aspect of our lives

WALK into any restaurant these days and you’re frequently confronted by a wall covered with plaques and framed certificates, telling you how great the restaurant is. What do they all mean, if anything?

One of the world’s leading food writers has revealed Myrtle Allen is revered by the top chefs in France in a new RTÉ documentary celebrating how she changed the face of Irish cuisine.

Dublin-based food and wine writer Ernie Whalley set up www.forkncork.com as early as 2002 to collate his archive of published content; Donal Skehan started blogging in 2007, and was one of the first Irish food bloggers to publish a cookbook just two years later.

FOR most of the year The Burren is more moonscape than landscape.

Barack Obama’s pastry chef and the co-founder of the world’s best restaurant are among a galaxy of global culinary giants on the menu for a major national festival next month.

It’s champagne time for the country’s top chefs who made the grade in one of the most exclusive culinary and hospitality clubs in the land — the 100 Best Restaurants and 100 Best Places to Stay in Ireland.

With craft beer one of the few success stories to emerge from the recession, the Mitchelstown-based brewers Eight Degrees stand out as the brewmasters. And they’re only just getting started, writes Trish Dromey

A new year and time for The Menu to don his Gypsy Rose outfit to serve up some predictions for 2013. The Menu enjoyed some memorable 2012 events: Dungarvan Food Festival, The Irish Examiner Food Festival, International Slow Food at Terra Madre in Turin and Theatre of Food at the Electric Picnic and Liss Ard Music Festival. Equally, he was heartbroken to miss Savour Kilkenny Festival and Dingle Food Festival — that will be rectified in 2013.! But the inaugural Kenmare Food Carnival was a bit special, not as multi-faceted as the aforementioned but as one of the original culinary outposts in the dark pre-food days in Ireland, KFC has all makings of a future top food attraction. www.kenmarefoodcarnival.com

There is “no recession in Irish, quality food”, according to John McKenna, author of the national food bible, The Irish Food Guide.

Food terms such as “farmhouse” and “artisan” need formal legal labels to protect a €4.1bn industry with a potential for up to 7,500 jobs, warns the Taste Council of Ireland.

GASTRONOMIC science students doing a Masters in marketing now have a list of evocative terms guaranteed to resonate with consumers who are seeking a more authentic wholesome product or eating experience — local artisan handmade, farmhouse, traditional and hand crafted.

Top names from the food, restaurant, and tourism sectors have sharply criticised the Environmental Protection Agency for potentially destroying Ireland’s “clean, green” agricultural image by allowing GM potatoes to be grown in Ireland.

People are eating, not drinking, their way through the recession, claims the country’s top food and accommodation critic.

RURAL Ireland has been stripped of its post offices and garda stations and now the Government is squeezing out small national schools in a bid to make savings, a meeting of the Save our Small Schools Campaign in Dunmanway, Co Cork, heard yesterday.

HUNDREDS of people are expected to attend a meeting in West Cork tonight as fears mount that Government-imposed budget cuts will lead to the closure of up to 10 rural schools in the region within three years.

A TRAVEL writer and food critic who sparked an outrage 11 years ago when he said Killarney was a town best seen through a rear-view mirror has now conceded that the Kerry holiday hotspot has improved enormously and is the undisputed capital of Irish tourism.

A MOUTH-WATERING programme of events was unveiled at the weekend for the fifth annual Savour Kilkenny Food Festival which takes place over the October bank holiday weekend.

THE pensioner priest with the Midas touch has done it yet again.

FOOD producers in Mayo will see their talents showcased as part of the innovative gourmet trail, the Great Western Greenway, Irish winner of the European Destination of Excellence Award.

Fine Gael's Jimmy Deenihan has been elected in Kerry North-West Limerick.

STILL wearing his overcoat and leaning forward on a chair in his somewhat chilly constituency office in Tralee town centre, battle-hardened TD Martin Ferris shakes his head and reveals that he has never before experienced a reaction quite like what he is encountering on the doorsteps.

GOOD local cuisine and a homely atmosphere are a recipe for success in the restaurant business. The countries top eateries and hotels are proving this as they go from strength to strength despite the recession.

TIPPERARY’S Long Table Dinner next Wednesday will promote the county’s reputation for fine foods.

BOOKER Prize winner John Banville was further honoured last night when he scooped the top award at Writers’ Week, in Listowel, Co Kerry.

FOOD fashionistas are going green – eating locally grown food and reducing their carbon footprint, Ireland’s leading food critic has claimed.

POLICE authorities in the Maryland town of Prince George have suspended a sergeant who was at the scene of a beating last month of an unarmed University of Maryland student that occurred after crowds took to the streets to celebrate a basketball win.

IRISH farmers are slaves to the multinational supermarkets and the Government has ceded control of the country’s agriculture, food writer John McKenna has claimed.

St. Eunan's 0-13 Naomh Conaill 0-7

FOR YEARS the “inner hippy” in me has longed to go to a rock festival but I’ve always chickened out at the last minute for a variety of reasons — those huge crowds seemed scary and would I not look and feel completely ridiculous in the midst of all those be-bopping young people.