Gourmet capital heats up for festival

GOURMETS are set to get their tastebuds tingling this weekend as more than 30,000 meals are scoffed as part of Ireland’s oldest food festival.

The 31st Tio Pepe Kinsale Gourmet Festival, which is on for three days, was opened at the Trident Hotel last night by RTÉ broadcaster Derek Davis.

“One thing is sure,” Davis said, “no one will be leaving Kinsale hungry after this weekend.”

He has been a guest at the festival for more than two decades and declared that he knew his first visit to Kinsale certainly wouldn’t be his last.

“The town gets into your blood because you feel like you’ve always been here just seconds after you arrive. It’s a flagship for tourism in Ireland and the jewel in Cork’s crown when it comes to food,” the broadcaster said.

Today, hundreds of people will take part in Ireland’s biggest food crawl — The Beringer Mad Hatters Taste of Kinsale. The event, which was sold out months inadvance, gets under way with a champagne reception in Acton’s Hotel before guests split into four groups and head off on a restaurant crawl to sample all the delights of the town.

“It’s a really great day and it allows us to show off the town of Kinsale and all its local suppliers at their best,” festival chairwoman Carole Norman said.

This year the festival has added a new competition with The 50-Mile Meal Award.

“We are passionate about using local produce and don’t believe that food should have done more air miles than the people who eat it,” Ms Norman said. “We have amazing suppliers of food in this region and to celebrate we are delighted to be giving out this award to the best meal put together with ingredients that come from inside a 50-mile radius,” she added.

Tomorrow sees the Newport Lobster Bake. Top chefs from the Rhode Island capital of seafood will prepare a full lobster each for more than 200 guests at Acton’s in the traditional Native American way by burying the lobsters in a pit on the lawn outside the Kinsale hotel.

“We have been involved in the festival from almost the very start and it is wonderful to see it grow and grow,” said Michael Barry of Barry, Fitzwilliam, Maxxium, main sponsors of the festival.