Tasty menus whet appetite at the Green Awards

It’s a tasty little dinner menu that’s set go down a treat — literally.

Guests who order their meal off the menu at the eighth annual Green Awards ceremony in Dublin tonight will also be invited to scoff the menu too, thanks to a Cork firm.

Creative design agency CoolGrey said it was delighted to create the special edible menu for the gala event.

“We’re a small design and creative company and we’re always looking to do something different for our clients, to think outside the box,” CoolGrey’s sales director Justin Cronin said.

“We produced edible menus for the awards last year and they came back to us and asked us to do it again this year. And we’ve produced about 500 for tonight’s event.

“It’s a bit of a gimmick and it’s sure to be a conversation point, as much as the food itself. It’s the ultimate biodigester really.”

The menus, which feature the Green Awards logo, its website address, and the awards’ Twitter hashtag, will be handed out to guests sitting down to dine ahead of tonight’s awards.

The wait for his starter proved too much for CoolGrey sales director Justin Cronin. Picture: David Keane

The menu offers a tempting lime-marinated Clare Island salmon starter, served with a chilli and scallion crab cake, and a choice of main courses, including a seven-ounce prime fillet of beef served with whiskey pepper sauce, truffle-infused dauphinoise potatoes, and a seasonal vegetable bundle, or a roast fillet of hake from the Atlantic Quest trawler, landed in Castletownbere, served with steamed samphire, nutty butter, a roast fondant potato, and vegetables.

Warm apple, rhubarb, and blackberry crumble will be served up for dessert.

But if what’s on the menu doesn’t tempt guests, they can opt to eat the menu itself.

Mr Cronin said the cake and pastry industry has been printing edible products for several years, and his firm just adapted the process to produce the menus.

The menus for tonight’s event were printed on A4-size rice or waffle-type paper, using a special ink-jet printer and edible ink.

“The printing process is the same as any other printing process, it just takes a little longer,” he said.

The Green Awards honours businesses, charities, and groups which pursue and promote eco-friendly and sustainable practices.