Food fans to go wild for ‘gourmet safari’

A food trail during the upcoming Dingle Peninsula Food Festival will include “a gourmet safari” of more than 60 establishments, including pubs, restaurants, pottery studios and even hat shops.

The outlets will showcase almost exclusively local produce such as Dingle Bay shellfish, Blasket Island lamb and Dingle Peninsula cheeses.

The Oct 4-7 festival will have a heritage food theme, with events highlighting foods and cooking methods used on the peninsula in living memory.

An Canteen restaurant will host a beer and cider festival, featuring many of the new micro-breweries cropping up all over the country, not least in Dingle which now boasts two of its own — the Dingle Brewing Company and the West Kerry Brewery.

The new Dingle Whiskey Distillery will also be launched during the festival.

Dingle will host the finals of the prestigious Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards, with over 40 judges blind-tasting produce across 40 food categories.

Recognised as a premier competition for top-quality Irish produce, winning at Blas is a passport for producers to gain a route to market for their produce both at home and abroad.

Cookery demonstrations and numerous workshops for adults and children will also take place throughout the festival, in St James’s Church.

A huge farmers’ market is also planned for the weekend, offering the finest of Irish artisan food.

Live music will also feature at this year’s festivities in venues and on the pavements of the town.

* Information on the Dingle Peninsula Food Festival can be found on www.dinglefood.com. For information about the forthcoming Blas na hÉireann, National Irish Food Awards see www.irishfoodawards.com