My fantasy year would be to have nothing to do but to flit from one Irish Food Festival to the next but even then there is so much going on you may even miss one or two. As you can see from the list below there’s plenty happening in this harvest month of September and I’ll be heading to Waterford Harvest Festival next week.
Hillsborough Oyster Festival, 6th to 9th September 2012
All Ireland Craft BeefFest, RDS Dublin, 7th to 9th September 2012
Midleton Food Festival, 8th September 2012
Waterford Harvest Food Festival, 10th to 16th September 2012
Taste of West Cork, Skibbereen, 10-16th September 2012
National Organic Week, 10th to 16th September 2012
GIY Gathering, Waterford 15th to 16th September 2012
Taste of Northern Ireland, Belfast Custom House, 15-16 September 2012
Clarenbridge Osyter Festival, Clarenbridge, Galway, 14th -16th September 2012
Taste of West Fest, Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick 15th & 16th September 2012
Westport Food Festival, 21st to 23rd Sept 2012
Galway International Oyster Festival, 28th to 30th September 2012
Leenane Autumnal Festival, Leenane, Co. Galway, 29th to 30th September 2012
Macroom Food Festival, 28th – 30th September 2012
Tipperary Harvest Food Festival, Clerihan, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, 30th September 2012
OktoberBeerFest, Dublin Docklands, 20th Sept – 7th October 2012
Waterford Harvest Food Festival have kindly provided the following information which may entice you to attend:
Slow Food Tours at Waterford Harvest Festival
Ireland’s biggest food festival – ‘Harvest’ which takes place in Waterford from September 10 to 16 has announced a series of Slow Food Tours to take place throughout the festival week.
Over the course of the week, the Harvest Festival will be offering fantastic opportunities to join guided tours of Waterford’s finest food, drink and agricultural attractions.
The first Slow Food Tour of the Festival takes place on September 10 and will visit a prize winning dairy farm at milking time to view the process in action and will then meet John Flahavan at the sixth generation miller’s facility at Flahavan’s Porridge in Kilmacthomas. The final stop is an opportunity to meet Grace Kiersey and take a tour of her vegetable garden also near Kilmacthomas, County Waterford. It promises to be a real treat of a day out and somethingthat should not be passed up for any curious foodies who want to get a behind the look at some local food production.
Day two, September 11 is for seafood lovers.. Ahoy there me hearties! Take a nautical adventure where you can experience seaweed foraging on Boat Strand, a talk from Bord Iascaigh Mhara on local fisheries and a visit to Flanagan’s Fish Mongers where you will be able to taste scallops, mussels, oysters, crab, lobster and many more seafood delights.
Day three September 12 will see visitors taken on a journey north of the River Suir to south Kilkenny to visit High Bank Organic Orchards where you can view the production of their organic juices and syrup and also sample the finished products. From there the tour will travel to Goatsbridge Trout Farm where you will experience their eco friendly work environment and taste their premiumfish and smoked trout produce. You may even be lucky enough to get some tasty caviar samples! To round off the tour, it is then on to Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese to observe their cheese production and indulge in some of the finished products.
On September 14 a trip to Dunhill Ecopark & Community Garden is first on the cards for this Slow Food Tour. Visitors will be able to take in the fantastic scenery of the community garden and stretch their legs out in the fine County Waterford air. You will also be able to sample some very tasty treats from artisan food producers and see the recently installed apiary from the Beekeepers Federation along with the Crough Venison Farm.
For the final day of our Slow Food Tours on September 15, a trip to a traditional Waterford Craft Butcher is the first port of call. At the butchers, guests will get the chance to view and sample local meat specialties such as Crubeens, Chucks and Pig’s Tail. A visit to the uniquely Waterford Bilberry Goats Heritage Trust at Bilberry Rock, Gracedieu is a perfect way to finish up the Slow Food Tours. You will be able to experience the protected creatures in their beautiful and often periloussurroundings and sample their homemade goats cheese!
All Slow Food Tours depart the House of Waterford Crystal at their appointed date and time, tickets are €14 for a place on the bus and a car travelling is €10 per car. Guests will travel on a 15-seat bus and 8 persons are required to make trip viable. Tickets for the tours are available on waterfordharvestfestival.ie
The city will be in festival mode from September 10 to 16 with a further programme of events on offer for all the family. For a full programme of events see waterfordharvestfestival.ie
