Chef Allen defends herself over hunting furore

Celebrity chef Rachel Allen has defended herself after coming under fire from animal rights

activists.

The Ballymaloe-based chef was pictured on her Facebook page with five dead pheasants on the bonnet of her car and a double-barreled shotgun in her hand.

The picture was taken on St Stephen’s Day and a recipe for cooking the birds was listed below it.

The image incensed animal rights activists who contacted radio phone-ins yesterday to protest.

John Carmody of the Animal Rights Action Network, said he had been inundated with phone calls expressing outrage about the picture.

In a statement, Rachel Allen said: “My Facebook page is an information outlet for food-related topics only and I have always tried to include information relating to the recipes or events featured, both to promote them and contextualize them.”

“The origin or sourcing of food has been a long-held interest and concern of mine and I have gone to great lengths in my current series to trace the provenance of food and respect it. No objection was raised to showing pigs being sourced for chorizo, or sheep for a curry dish, for example.”

The Ballymaloe family also came under fire for allowing hounds to become part of a traditional New Year’s Day hunt.

The Allen family had given a commitment that hounds would not be part of their New Year’s Day hunt outing, but said a mix-up in communications meant that some hounds were brought to the property without permission.

Rachel said: “Firstly, I should point out that I have no interest in fox hunting of any kind and I am not aware of any association between family members and fox hunting. Secondly, the lands at Ballymaloe House and Ballymaloe Cookery School are and for generations, have been, preserved.

“The hunt traditionally meets at Ballymaloe House on New Year’s Day only, since long before I was born.

“The welcome of Ballymaloe House is world famous and we are always anxious, when we can, to uphold that traditional country hospitality.”

Another member of the family, Hazel Allen, yesterday apologised that hounds formed part of the outing.

She said: “We are not a hunting family. We’re neither for or against it. We are in the hospitality business. The New Year’s Day outing is more of a ride than a hunt.

“It was our intention that there would not be hounds on the property. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

“We apologise for that. People know us in Cork and know that we are not in the habit of offending people,” she added.

This story courtesty of the Evening Echo