"Our grandparents were so familiar with the inside of a butcher’s shop — or multiple butchers’ shops, when ‘shopping around’ was de rigueur — they could probably reassemble an entire carcass from the constituent cuts laid out at the counter, most of us now buy our meat in the supermarket; the supermarkets, in turn, mostly buy it in already shrink-wrapped from the processor."

"The vaulting epicurean ambition afoot in Mara is very apparent. It is also remarkable. To paraphrase Churchill, never has so much been cooked by so few for so many."

Food to match classy cocktails at Cask

Some commercial judges would struggle to judge a crisp-opening competition

I am now in deep mourning for the permanent loss of aubergines

From waterside tables to seaside views, each of these places will make your sunshine dining extra special

Three of seven awards on offer went to food producers from the Southern province with many other Munster producers amongst the nominees

An old school classic reborn anew in wonderful west Waterford.

Good food transcends all borders

Since the 90s, we have lost over 90% of horticultural producers and on what Bord Bia once marketed as the Food Island, we import 83% of our fresh fruit and vegetables, including apples and potatoes, both easily grown in Ireland