Our 2022 Performers & Guests

(shown alphabetically)

  • Aishling Moore

    Aishling Moore

    Aishling is one of Ireland’s most exciting young chefs and her fish and seafood restaurant, Goldie, in Cork’s city centre, has pioneered gill to fin cooking in Ireland.

    She was named Best Young Chef in Ireland, by the McKenna Guides in 2020; the restaurant achieved Michelin Bib Gourmand status in 2021, and was awarded Best Casual Dining in Munster 2021 by Food & Wine Magazine.

    https://goldie.ie

  • Alexandra Raitaneva

    Alexandra Raitaneva

    Alex is the Restaurant manager and Sommelier at The House Restaurant, Cliff House Hotel, coming from the renowned Restaurant Ora in Finland.

    Amongst her many talents is a pronounced gift for beverage pairing with food that goes beyond simply matching wines to dishes and is especially keen on natural wines and using locally produced Irish beverages such as Stonewell Tawny Cider.

    https://cliffhousehotel.ie

  • Ali Dunworth Grub Circus 2022

    Ali Dunworth

    Ali works as a freelance food and travel writer, TV producer and food consultant and writes about food, drink & travel for The Irish Times, Food & Wine, Sunday Times and other publications.

    She has curated & worked on festivals and food events including Beyond The Pale, The Wine & Cheese Festival, Beatyard, Taste of Dublin and The Big Grill.

    Instagram: @alidunworth 

  • Allison Roberts

    Allison Roberts

    Canadian born Allison moved to Ireland in 2008 and has continued to push boundaries and question ethics in an industry with an often deserved reputation for global exploitation. 

    She specialises in alternative, ethical chocolate with her brand Exploding Tree and teaches bean-to-bar chocolate making and preaches her love of cacao to any and all who will listen.

    https://explodingtree.com

  • Andy Noonan

    Andy is a pitmaster and owner of Baste BBQ and curator and owner of Dublin's annual The Big Grill Festival which is fast becoming one of the most popular and respected live fire cooking events in Europe, attracting big names from all over the world.

    https://biggrillfestival.com

  • Anja Murray

    Anja is an ecologist, environmental policy analyst and broadcaster, familiar to many as a presenter on Eco Eye on RTÉ 1 and from her weekly Nature File on RTÉ Lyric FM.   

    Anja also writes a weekly column, Natural Solutions for The Irish Examiner newspaper and makes radio documentaries about Ireland’s natural environment.  

    Her latest, Root & Branch, is a six part series on native Irish trees, also featuring Brían McGloinn of Ye Vagabonds.

    Twitter: @MiseAnja

  • Beverley Mathews

    Beverley spent many years living in Italy before returning home to complete a diploma in Wines & Spirits and set up L’Atitude 51 in 2011 and today it has one of Ireland’s best selections of organic, biodynamic and natural wines, also serving up a selection of small plates featuring Cork’s famous local, seasonal produce.

    Beverley also runs wine-themed events and masterclasses with the aim of making wine fun and accessible to everyone.

    https://latitude51.ie

  • Brian McCarthy

    Brian McCarthy

    Brian is the founder of Cork Rooftop Farm, Ireland’s first and only commercial urban farm located on a rooftop.

    A 2021 Nuffield Scholar, Brian is a passionate advocate for urban agriculture and producing nutritionally dense, sustainably grown food as close as possible to population centres.

    He supplies produce to the people and restaurants of Cork City grown on a 6800 sq ft rooftop and his no dig market garden based on the outskirts of the city.

  • Brian O’Connor/Brian’s Wines

    Brian O’Connor’s journey in food began as a teenager manning the Arbutus Bread stall at farmers’ markets in Cork, in the Oughties but it was his travels abroad, particularly, a prolonged spell in Melbourne, Australia, that introduced him to the world of natural wines.

    Brian works exclusively with winemakers who farm without chemicals & add nothing to their wines.

    As he says, ‘They are part of a movement that has unfastened from the tailspin of industrial agriculture to create nourishing wines that are full of personality and life.’

  • Caitriona Keating & Fergal Walsh

    Baker-Proprietors of Dún Artisan Bakery in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, where they produce hand-crafted naturally leavened specialty sourdough breads and pastries showcasing the best of the bakery’s own homegrown seasonal produce alongside locally foraged ingredients, with a focus on sustainability and very low food miles.

    They also have a half-acre plot close to their home in Tramore with over 200 mature berry bushes producing a wide range of fruit and vegetables for their baking.

    Instagram: @dunbakery

  • Camilla Houstoun

    Camilla Houstoun

    Camilla first came to Ireland from Scotland to attend Ballymaloe Cookery School.

    After graduating with a degree in education, she returned to live and work there, in cafes, the cookery school and Ballymaloe House, as farmers markets and at all the Ballymaloe LitFests. 

    She currently lives in Dublin where she bakes cakes at The Fumbally Café.

    http://thefumbally.ie

  • Caomhán de Brí

    Rising star Caomhán spent a decade working professional kitchens, including a year in in Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred restaurant, Maze, in London, and was Kwanghi Chan’s support chef in the opening series of RTÉ’s Battle of the Food Trucks, which Kwanghi went on to win.

    Caomhán launched his own food truck, The Salt Project, as a precursor to the opening of the bricks-and-mortar version in Co Sligo in the near future, cooking highly innovative dishes based on local, seasonal produce.

    He returned to Battle of the Food Trucks, this year as a competitor in his own right.

    https://www.thesaltproject.ie

  • Cliodhna Prendergast

    Cliodhna Prendergast

    A trained chef, Cliodhna now works as a journalist and photographer and is one half of Lens and Larder, creating photography and food styling workshops with International photographers in Irish Country Houses.

    Her photographs illustrate Ballymaloe Desserts, the debut cookbook from Ballymaloe House head pastry chef, JR Ryall, coming out this autumn.

    http://www.lensandlarder.com

  • Colm McCan

    Colm McCan

    Colm is the wine teacher at Ballymaloe Cookery School and ‘pops up’ in the Drinks Theatre in the Grainstore at Ballymaloe.

    Awarded Food and Wine Magazine Sommelier of the Year during his time as Head Sommelier at Ballymaloe House.

    Colm works with Le Caveau, the specialist wine merchant.

  • Cookie de la Cuisine & The Culinary Clownshow Ensemble

    Cookie de la Cuisine & The Culinary Clownshow Ensemble

    The beyond talented and soon to be legendary Grub Circus in-house band performs throughout the weekend.

    Niamh McDonald was lead vocalist with Dublin band Giant in the late 80’s and then sang with rockabilly blues group, The Mosquitoes.

    Brian O'Higgins an animal on the drums, and is most known for drumming with Imelda May.

    Justin Grounds is a violinist, composer and producer based in Clonakilty where he works as a record producer and composer.

  • Darina Allen

    The internationally renowned Darina Allen is a legend in Irish food. She is the co-founder, with brother Rory O’Connell, of the Ballymaloe Cookery School and is the author of multiple award-winning cookbooks.

    She is one of Ireland’s most powerful and dedicated advocates for change for the better in the food production system.

    http://www.cookingisfun.ie

  • Dave Larkin

    Dave Larkin

    Dave is executive head chef of The Old Bank restaurant, in Dungarvan, where he combines a passion for sourcing finest local produce, including from the restaurant’s farm, with superb culinary technique and delivery on the plate.

    He has worked in Dublin, London and Barcelona and previously worked for many years with chef Michael Quinn at Waterford Castle.

    https://theoldbankdungarvan.ie

  • David Whelehan

    David Whelehan

    David is the founder-proprietor of Whelehan’s Wines and has been submerged in the world of wine for over 40 years, tutored by his father, the legendary TP Whelehan, who was the first Irish Times Wine correspondent.

    David has previously worked in the Napa Valley, Sequoia Grove, Chablis Vincent Sauvestre & Champagne House Pol Roger.

    https://whelehanswines.ie

  • Diarmuid Gavin

    Diarmuid is an Irish garden designer and television personality and has presented gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show on nine occasions from 1995 to 2016, winning several medals, including gold in 2011.

    He has also authored or co-authored at least ten gardening-related books. His latest book is Gardening Together, co-authored with Paul Smyth.

    http://www.diarmuidgavindesigns.co.uk

  • Éidín Griffin

    Éidín Griffin

    Éidín is a seed activist, permaculture designer and creative based in Kinsale, Cork. She spent two decades living in Southern Africa where she built an eco-home near Lesotho and supported the creation of hundreds of resilient food gardens at underprivileged schools and communities.

    Since returning to Ireland, she set up Rebel Seed and collaborates with educational institutes to share seed saving knowledge.

    https://www.rebelseed.ie

  • Ellie Kisyombie

    Ellie Kisyombie

    Ellie came to Ireland from Malawi in 2008 and spent eight years living in Direct Provision.

    She is a nationally renowned food and Direct Provision campaigner and is co-founder of Our Table which operates pop-up cafés in Dublin and catering services.

    She is also founder of the food brand, Ellie’s Kitchen, producing African-inspired food in Ireland.

    https://ellieskitchenhomeedition.com

  • Enda McEvoy

    Enda earned the first star for Aniar, in Galway, in 2012 before setting up Loam, also in Galway, with his wife, Sinead. Loam earned its first Michelin star in 2015 and has held it ever since.

    In 2020, Loam became the inaugural winner of the Michelin Guide’s Sustainability Award for Britain and Ireland and that same year achieved the highest rating of three stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He and Sinead are the co-proprietors of new Galway restaurant, Éan.

    https://loamgalway.com

  • Erin O’Brien

    Erin O’Brien

    Erin is a landuse planner and the Project Manager of the Cork Urban Soil Project (CUSP), a yearlong experiment in “community-scale” composting, urban agriculture, and closed loop systems in the heart of Cork City.

    In addition to CUSP, Erin’s planning work primarily focuses on city centre revitalisation and has included support for various urban growing initiatives.

    https://www.urbansoilproject.com

  • Eva O’Doherty

    Eva O’Doherty

    Eva was appointed Distiller at the Method & Madness Micro Distillery, at Midleton Distillery, in Cork, at the end of June 2021, where she is part of a female-led distilling team.

    She oversees the daily running of the Micro Distillery for both pot and gin distillation and is responsible for fermentation, distillation and maturation.

    She graduated from TU Dublin in 2019 with first-class honours in Food Innovation with Brewing and Distilling, BSc.

  • Fanny Leenhardt Cohalan

    Fanny Leenhardt Cohalan

    French-born Fanny studied Bread and Nutrition as part of her PhD, investigating the impact of soil quality, varietal selection, milling and bread making processes on bread nutritional quality and its digestibility.

    She moved to Cork 15 years ago to work at UCC and now runs her own bread school, Wellbread and grows heritage wheat and rye varieties on her family farm.

    She also works as a consultant in bread & nutrition for bakers in France, Ireland and America, promoting better baking practices and the use of heritage varieties.

    www.wellbread.ie

  • Gillian Nelis

    One of Ireland’s foremost food writers, Gillian is editor of The Sunday Business Post’s iconic Food & Wine magazine and is also the newspaper’s weekly restaurant reviewer and editor of the annual SBP 101 Great Irish Restaurants.

    She was one of the critics on TV3’s Celebrity Masterchef and is the presenter of the food podcast, Plate.

    She is also Deputy Editor/Managing Editor at The SBP.

  • Jennifer Nickerson

    Jennifer Nickerson

    Jennifer Nickerson is MD of Tipperary Boutique Distillery which started trading in 2016. She was awarded the title, Whiskey Brand Ambassador for Ireland, by UK & Scotland’s Whisky Magazine.

    The daughter of one of Scotland’s Master Distillers, Jennifer presides over Tipperary Boutique Distillery with her husband Liam and young son Brodie on the Ahern family barley farm based in the Golden Vale.

    This is one of the few distilleries in Ireland which can boast a true field-to-bottle operation with grain grown on the farm and water from the land at Ballindoney used in each of their whiskies.

    www.tippdistillery.com

  • Jenny Flynn

    Jenny Flynn

    Wexford native Jenny grew up in the country surrounded by an abundance of fresh produce and began cooking as a child alongside her Grandmother.

    She trained at the Residential College in Rosslare Harbour and completed her studies at WIT and completed a degree in culinary arts in 2018, graduating with distinction.

    She has been Head Chef at Faithlegg Hotel, in Co Waterford, for 13years, where she continues to exercise her passion for local, seasonal fare.

    http://www.faithlegg.com

  • Jillian Bolger

    Jillian Bolger

    A former editor of Food & Wine Magazine, Dublin-based Jillian Bolger fell into food writing and restaurant reviewing in her 20s after a stint working in a kitchen in Martha's Vineyard.

    A regular food and travel writer for national and international publications, she's Georgina Campbell's Dublin Editor, has lived on 4 continents, travelled to over 50 countries and is happiest browsing food markets wherever she goes.

  • Jill Somers

    Jill Somers

    Jill is originally from West Cork and grew up in the family business, Good Things Cafe, owned and operated by her mother, chef Carmel Somers.

    She is currently working as a chef in Dublin’s Fumbally Cafe, and is especially interested in fermentation and sourdough bread baking.

    http://thefumbally.ie

  • Joe McNamee

    Ringmaster, Grub Circus

    Joe is a weekly columnist/food writer and restaurant reviewer with The Irish Examiner, and is current Irish Restaurant Writer of the Year, awarded at the inaugural Irish Food Writing Awards, in 2021.

    He also writes for other publications and works as a consultant in the food and hospitality sector. He is the founder, curator and ringmaster of Grub Circus.

    https://www.irishfoodwritersguild.ie/member-profile/joe-mcnamee/

  • John Relihan

    John Relihan

    John completed a course at Oliver’s famous Fifteen restaurant and college back in 2004, also appearing on the TV show Jamie’s Chef and later worked as head chef in Barbecoa, Oliver’s BBQ smokehouse restaurant in London for six years.

    He is now the head chef of Pitt Bros & Co and is a fire cooking and BBQ consultant.

    Instagram: @johnrelihan

  • JR Ryall

    JR Ryall

    JR is head pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and in February of 2019, picked up the Trolley of the Year award at the inaugural World Restaurant Awards, in Paris.

    His debut cookbook, with photographs by Cliodhna Prendergast, Ballymaloe Desserts, comes out this autumn on Phaidon.

    Instagram: @JRRyall

  • Justin Green

    Justin Green

    Justin grew up at Ballyvolane House, an immensely popular Irish country house hotel which he now operates with wife Jenny.

    He created Bertha’s Revenge with his friend and business partner Anthony Jackson in , one of the very first of the new wave of independent Irish boutique distillers.

    https://ballyvolanespirits.ie

  • Karen O’Donoghue

    Karen O’Donoghue

    Karen is founder of The Cottage Market and worked with GIY (Grow it Yourself), where she helped scale the groundbreaking social enterprise.

    Karen was co-producer and presenter of RTE's Grow Cook Eat television show.

    She now works for ChangeX which connects people with proven ideas for strengthening communities with the resources needed to start them.

    https://www.changex.org/ie/pages/about

  • Keith Bohanna

    Keith Bohanna

    Keith is co-founder of Real Bread Ireland, a support network of real bread bakers, millers and growers others whose aim is to support Ireland’s real bread bakers and to help rebuild Irelands grain to loaf supply chain.

    He is the driving force behind its growth from just six original baker members to well over 170 members throughout the 32 counties of Ireland.

    In 2016, the Irish Food Writers Guild recognised RBI with their Notable Contribution to Irish Food Award.

    https://realbreadireland.org

  • Kevin Thornton, Grub Circus 2022

    Kevin Thornton

    One of Ireland’s most renowned of all chefs, Kevin is the only Irish chef to have held two Michelin stars and with his partner Muriel owned the iconic Thornton’s Restaurant for 26 years and now caters for private events with Kevin Thornton’s KOOKS. He is also a lecturer, food writer and broadcaster, having worked on television and radio.

    https://www.kevinthorntonskooks.com/about-kevin

  • Dr Lucy Deegan

    Dr Lucy Deegan

    Former food scientist Lucy is the founder of Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms, the internationally award-winning specialty mushroom business which she operates with her husband, Mark Cribben, where they grow a wide range of specialty mushrooms and forage for wild mushrooms for Ireland’s best restaurants.

    To date, they have won three Great Taste Three-Star Awards, as well as a further 24 one and two star Great Taste awards.

    BMM also carry a range of award-winning added-value mushroom based products, including Ireland’s only range of Irish-produced mushroom health supplements.

    https://ballyhouramushrooms.ie

  • Leslie Williams

    Leslie Williams

    Leslie Williams is a freelance journalist specialising in wine, food and beverages and has written the Irish Examiner Wine column since 2012.

    He is also a restaurant reviewer with the Irish Examiner and McKenna’s Guides. He appears regularly on the Movies and Booze slot on the Sean Moncrieff Radio Show on Newstalk 106 FM. 

    Leslie conducts tutored wine tastings and has taught wine courses for almost 20 years. 

    Twitter: @LesliesWineFood

  • Lily Ramirez-Foran Grub Circus 2022

    Lily Ramirez-Foran

    We like Lily’s description of herself enough to use it here: ‘Mexican cook, storyteller, food writer, shopkeeper, mad dreamer & lover of all things Irish.’ She is co-owner of Picado Mexican food shop with husband Alan and a regular on TV cookery shows.

    She is also a cookbook author and her latest, Tacos, came out this year on Blasta Books.

    https://www.picadomexican.com/products/blasta-books-tacos

  • Loose Cannon/Table Wine/Fruit Seller

    The endlessly enterprising collective comprising Kevin Powell, Brian O Caoimh and Fabian Beickhorasani have a substantial history in Irish food, wine and hospitality between them operate some of Dublin’s most exciting food and wine venues where they were early champions of the natural wine movement and now their Fruit Seller Wines operation has moved into importing low intervention wines.

    https://loosecanon.ie & https://www.tablewine.ie & Instagram: @FruitSellerWines

  • Máire O’ Mahony

    Máire O’ Mahony

    Máire is the co-proprietor of O’ Mahony’s of Watergrasshill and the fourth generation landlady.

    Máire has a background in fine-art, as seen in the modern rustic interior of the bar and restaurant, working in hospitality throughout her career trajectory, O’ Mahony’s is a perfect crossover of both interests and influence’s.

  • Mark Ahern

    Mark Ahern

    Mark is head chef at Pigalle Bar & Kitchen, on Barrack St, in Cork, where he specialises in producing highly innovative dishes—including influences from his many years of living in Thailand—based on superb sourcing of finest, local, seasonal produce.

    A late arrival to cheffing, only beginning in his late 20s, he is the ‘veteran’ of the new wave of young Cork chefs.

    https://www.pigallebarandkitchen.com

  • Michael Quinn

    Michael Quinn

    Michael trained and worked under Myrtle Allen in Ballymaloe House who used him as her ‘spy’ when sending him off to stage in top restaurants in London.

    He spent 17 years as Head Chef in Waterford Castle and has worked and travelled in Africa, Mongolia, US, and Europe.

    He now lectures in Culinary Arts at SETU, and was most recently Paul Flynn’s support chef on the TV show Paul Flynn’s Favourite Food Trucks.

  • Mick Kelly

    Mick Kelly

    Mick is founder of GIY, one of the most important social enterprises to have emerged in Ireland.

    He co-presented/produced Grow Cook Eat for RTE which is now watched around the world on Amazon Prime and is an Ashoka Fellow, member of The Irish Food Writers Guild and a board member at ChangeX.

    He has written four books, food columns for The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and Food & Wine Magazine.  He was the 2017 Local Food Hero in the Food & Wine Awards.

    https://giy.ie

  • Mick O’Connell

    Mick O’Connell

    Mick spent 11 years working in the wine trade in London, much of it sourcing fine wine and managing bonded portfolios for private clients and he is a Master of Wine, one of just eight in Ireland and 400 worldwide.

    He writes for the Sunday Business Post monthly and is a contributor to Movies & Booze on the Moncrieff show on Newstalk.

    The other half of Neighbourhood Wine, along with Shane Murphy, he also makes wine.

    https://neighbourhoodwine.ie/

  • Niamh Shields

    Niamh Shields

    Waterford woman Niamh Shields is now a UK-based food writer and cook, and is the author of Comfort & Spice, and Bacon: The Cookbook.

    She won the annual Observer Food Monthly Best Food Blogger award, in 2011, and was named in the Top 100 most influential people in UK food, by The Daily Telegraph.

    https://eatlikeagirl.com

  • Oisin Davis

    Oisin Davis

    Oisin Davis is an award winning cocktail creator and award winning spirits writer (2021 Best Irish Spirits Writer).

    Through his company Great Irish Beverages, he has run nationwide drinks festivals, worked all around the world for 6 years educating and marketing for Jameson Irish Whiskey's global team and manages publicity for some of Ireland's most prestigious whiskeys like Midleton Very Rare and Redbreast.

  • Pamela Kelly

    Pamela Kelly

    Dublin-born and Ballinsloe-raised, Pam has been cooking in Cork city for almost 20 years, very soon taking on head chef positions, including six years as head chef of Market Lane in charge of 24 chefs.

    In 2018, she took over as head chef of the nationally renowned Farmgate Cafe & Restaurant, in Cork’s English Market, an iconic Leeside institution that has been one of the national leaders in presenting local, seasonal produce on the plate as delicious yet simple and unpretentious traditional Irish fare with contemporary tweaks.

    https://www.farmgatecork.ie

  • Pascal Rossignol

    Pascal Rossignol

    Burgundy-native Pascal Rossignol founded Le Caveau Kilkenny, a family-owned and run independent wine shop and wine import business, in 1999.

    Le Caveau imports from small-scale, quality-driven artisan winegrowers and since 2008, has specialised in importing and selling Natural wines (made from organic grapes, with no additives or hard manipulations in the winery) and works directly with over 105 winegrowers, making their selection of Natural wines the largest and the most diverse in Ireland.

    www.lecaveau.ie

  • Peter Sztal and Frank Kavanagh

    Peter Sztal and Frank Kavanagh

    Partners in business and in life, Peter and Frank established Cloudpicker in February 2013 in a premises on Sheriff Street, in Dublin 1.

    Their hugely popular Cloud Picker Cafe, on Pearse St, has been in operation for a little over three years, and the pandemic saw them pivot their wholesale roastery business to develop a whole new swathe of clients keen to purchase their beans for domestic consumption.

    Cloudpicker have always employed entirely ethical and sustainable business practices in every aspect of their business, beginning with the sourcing of the primary product, raw coffee beans.

    https://cloudpickercoffee.ie

  • Paul Flynn

    Celebrity TV chef Paul Flynn is the chef/proprietor, with his wife, Máire, of The Tannery Restaurant, Townhouse and Cookery School, Dungarvan, Co Waterford and is renowned for cooking modern Irish food. His latest TV programme is Paul Flynn’s Favourite Food Trucks, on RTÉ.

    https://tannery.ie

  • Paul Smyth

    Paul Smyth

    Carlow native Paul is a trained horticulturalist and plantsman and has worked in two of the UK’s top specialist nurseries.

    He has also gone on plant hunting expeditions to Vietnam, to the mountainous uplands, collecting seeds to be brought back to Ireland for conservation.

    He has recently begun working alongside Diarmuid Gavin on a show titled Gardening Together and the duo have recently published a book together, Garden Together.

  • Robert & Bhagya Barrett

    Robert & Bhagya Barrett

    Robert & Bhagya are founders Founders of Rebel City Distillery, in Cork city, creating Maharani Gin and Ireland’s first commercially available absinthe.

    They have recently begun offering tours of their historical distillery premises, sited in the old Ford factory on Cork’s Marina.

    They also plan to open a distillery school in the near future.

    https://www.rebelcitydistillery.com/home/

  • Rory O’Connell

    Former head chef at Ballymaloe House under his late, great mentor Myrtle Allen, TV Chef Rory is co-founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School with his sister, Darina, and is considered one of Ireland’s greatest culinary teachers.

    He is also an award-winning cookbook author (winner of the prestigious André Simon book award in 2013) and has made a series of cookery programmes for Irish television.

    http://www.cookingisfun.ie/ballymaloe-cookery-school/lecturers/rory-oconnell

  • Sally Barnes

    Sally Barnes

    One of the earliest pioneers of the modern Irish artisan food movement, Sally began smoking fish at her Woodcock Smokery, in West Cork, in 1979, and has gone on to become an internationally renowned producer, her smoked fish featuring in Michelin starred restaurants, in Ireland and abroad.

    She is a multiple award winner, including the prestigious Supreme Champion at the Great Taste Awards and a recent Lifetime Achievement award from the Irish Food Writers’ Guild.

    She recently added The Keep to her West Cork base, from where she teaches masterclasses and is now dedicating herself to preserving the vanishing traditions of her craft.

    https://www.woodcocksmokery.com

  • Sarah Richards

    Sarah Richards

    Sarah began baking in a shed in her garden and eventually opened Seagull Bakery in 2014 in Tramore, Co Waterford.

    Seagull Bakery has gone on to become one of the best bakeries in Ireland, renowned for its superb breads and commitment to specialising in Irish grains.

    Sarah who now runs the business with husband Conor, is especially committed to sustainability in every aspect of the business and they added a bakery shop and deli in Waterford city and now employ 18 people, with eight bakers including Sarah.

    https://www.seagullbakeryshop.com

  • Seáneen Sullivan

    Seáneen Sullivan

    Seáneen is the founder of Mistresses of Malt, a series of whiskey tastings celebrating the women of whiskey and is the co-owner and executive chef of L. Mulligan Grocer, an award-winning pub and restaurant in Stoneybatter.

    She recently completed a post-grad in Irish Food Culture in UCC with a particular focus on food sustainability.

    Seáneen writes for various Irish and international publications on the subject of all things Irish and boozey.

  • Shane Murphy

    Shane’s wine journey started in his native Australia, picking grapes and pruning vines during school holidays and has a winemaking background.

    He has been a wine specialist in both Melbourne and Dublin for over two decades and headed up Ireland’s largest wine importer, and started importing natural wine back in 2012. 

    He co-opened Neighbourfood Wine, with Mick O’Connell, in 2020.

    https://neighbourhoodwine.ie/

    Shane Murphy  @shanedigswine on twitter and instagram

  • Smokin’ Soul

    Smokin’ Soul

    Jim O’Brien & Pat Conway design and manufacture a huge range of BBQs, Smokers, open fire cooking apparatus and grills and specialise in custom builds, working with individual and corporate customers all over Ireland and the UK.

    They also deliver superb and highly comprehensive BBQ/Grill/Smoking masterclasses from their Smokin’ Soul HQ in Wexford.

    https://smokinsoul.ie/our-story/

  • Steve Collins

    Steve Collins

    Steve wears many hats. He is an organic farmer, in West Cork, growing produce and raising Dexter Cattle, pioneering regenerative agriculture and cutting edge nutrition.

    But Steve is also a qualified medical doctor and founder/director of Irish charity Valid Nutrition (VN), and has spent over half his life working on the frontline of famine relief in some of the most troubled hotspots of sub-Saharan Africa.

    During the Somalia famine in 1992, his groundbreaking research and nutritional work caused the mortality rates of children arriving at the famine relief camps to drop from 75% to 20%.

    In 2007, the UN adopted his model (developed with nutritionist Kate Sadler), Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition, which has subsequently treated over 4m people in 65 countries, saving several hundred thousand lives last year alone, and he has been awarded an MBE for his work in Africa.

    https://www.derryduff.ie & www.validnutrition.org

  • The Greedy Couple

    Michelle and Greg Bowe, are a food obsessed, thirty something couple living in South Dublin with their two daughters.

    Their very popular Greedy Couple website chronicles their passion for all things gastronomic, including their favourite restaurants, food and wine shops and Greg curates the weekly Irish Times food quiz.

    http://www.thegreedycouple.com

  • Victor Murphy

    Victor Murphy

    Victor is the co-proprietor and maitre d’ extraordinaire of O’ Mahony’s of Watergrasshill, an award winning restaurant, pub and venue in Co.Cork.

    Victor has 30 years experience in hospitality in Cork including such place’s as House café at Cork opera house, The Savoy, The Bodega, The Sextant and The Cruibin.

  • Virginia O’Gara

    Virginia O’Gara

    Virginia is co-founder of My Goodness Foods, in Cork’s English Market, with her partner, Donal O’Gara, and their vegan food business is a firm favourite on the festival circuit, including All Together Now.

    My Goodness is also a national exemplar in how to best operate such a business with maximum and innovative sustainability.

    Virginia is also co-founder of the Cork Urban Soil Project.

    https://www.mygoodnessfood.com