With the season that’s in it, The Menu would like to focus on on giving as much as receiving, kicking off with Our Table’s Christmas Appeal for People In Direct Provision. Many asylum seekers in Ireland will not get an opportunity to sit with loved ones and share Christmas meals or open a present.
Many in hotels or other accommodation without cooking facilities won’t even be able to cook their own festive meal. Our Table, led by Ellie Kisyombie, is fundraising to once again ensure up to 5000 otherwise deprived migrants, in Dublin and across Ireland, share a little of the same Christmas spirit we all hope to enjoy. All funds raised will be used to purchase One4All vouchers and organise gift parcels for children and parents and help those in need of food.
The very wonderful Cork-based artist Ben Reilly will host a studio sale (Dec 10, 11am-4.30pm) of his art works along with free teas, coffees and cakes in the Backwater Artists Group, Wandesford Quay, Cork, with 100% of monies raised benefitting asylum seekers, specifically, newer International Protection applicants, for whom there isn’t even room in Direct Provision centres, many sleeping in homeless shelters or at the airport, and some 150 in communal tents in Athlone. Funds raised will be distributed by the Wallaroo Playschool Child & Family Project through the Asylum Support Network.
GIY’s GROW At School Food Education programme is in 132 schools across Ireland, combining food education and outdoor learning. GIY launched a €3.2m fund aiming to give every Irish primary school a free garden and the resources to learn to grow food, reconnect with nature, and develop healthier, sustainable food choices.
One in four GROW schools is a DEIS school and GIY aim to have 500 schools by the start of the 2023-24 academic year. GIY are seeking special Santas (individuals, companies, foundations, members of a school community) to row in with a unique gift of a school garden this Christmas. €2,000 sponsors a full garden and access to the programme, but all donations are equally welcome.
Hat’s off to Innishannon’s own tattoo-ed Santa, Chris Fahy of the most excellent Wildflour Bakery who offers a not-for-profit loaf of his superb sourdough bread made using Ølands heritage grains from Kilkenny. Says Chris: “I wanted more people to discover real bread, its tastes, textures and health benefits and make it a permanent part of their lives.
Somehow, a loaf of sourdough has become a luxury. The price of wheat, wages, electricity is mind blowing but I don’t want people struggling with the cost of living to miss out on the benefits of sourdough. The loaf is €2.60 and anyone can ask for it.”
The Menu has top tips on how to get creative with Christmas celebrations, beginning with a series of fabulous seasonal feasts (Dec 16 and 17 at 6pm; Dec 18 at 12pm) at Camus Farm Field Kitchen. Party with colleagues, friends or family eating superbly cooked homegrown and locally sourced food from a Christmas Menu (beef, vegetarian and vegan) cooked by dynamic cheffing duo, Bob Cairns and Simon Kershaw, in a gorgeous cosy rural venue with a log-burning stove ( www.fieldkitchen.ie).
If on a seriously tight budget, The Menu very highly recommends the Festive Grazing Box from the cracking Village Deli, at Ravenscourt Garden Centre in Kerry Pike. Chef Bryan Phelan assembles an extraordinary selection of charcuterie, cooked meats, Irish cheeses, smoked salmon, crackers, brown bread, fruit and salad, and a host of fabulous homemade sauces, dips and relishes for just €50 and €80, feeding up to eight for the night. Village Deli’s festive catering menu runs to Christmas Eve and they also offer Christmas Wreath Workshops (Dec 6 & 8). 021-4871909 or email bryan.thevillagedeli@gmail.com
And should you be looking for excellent wine to pair with the above or for general seasonal swilling, then The Menu can’t recommend highly enough the L’Atitude 51 Christmas Wine Fair, taking place tomorrow (Sunday Dec 4, 12-5pm) to find recommendations for Christmas drinking and wine gifts, from a variety of wines perfect for the festive season, specially opened on the day for tasting, with special discounts for orders placed on the day. Tickets cost €12.50pp. Spaces are limited.
Tramore has been undergoing something of a revival in recent years and while surfing culture has been to the vanguard of a movement rediscovering what was always one of the most attractive of all the beach resort towns, set on a hill that sweeps sharply down to the sea, food has played an even greater role.
To The Menu’s mind it began with Sarah Richards’ splendid Seagull Bakery but has been followed by the opening of Peter Hogan’s and Jumoke Akintola Hogan’s Beach House restaurant, a sibling to their splendid Dublin-based Fish Shop, and Mezze, a delightful little cafe/deli opened by Nicola Coleman and her Israeli husband, Dvir Nusery, which offers quite delicious Middle Eastern accented dishes made from superb Irish produce with an emphasis on local and seasonal, other than some judicious and well-used imports.
The Menu has previously sung the praises of their wonderful lavosh flatbreads, perfect for any buffet style dining with dips, and more recently he has used some of their excellent spice blends and condiments (ras al hanout; shawarma, peanut dukkah) and was quite bowled over by their wonderful little self-published cookbook, Middle Eastern Food to Share, other than their preference for rapeseed oil over olive oil.
To be fair, this preference is based on choosing to ‘shop local’ but for The Menu, rapeseed oil will never remotely come close to the edible ecstasy that is extra virgin olive oil. Also, check out their online shop for all manner of Middle Eastern cooking packages and goodies, and for some quite superb alternative edible Christmas presents.