Thursday, September 16, 2010

Kitchen

Kitchen
Enjoying some food!


If you attended 'Kitchen' last week i'm sure you will agree that it was a great event! There was a great turnout with over 500 visitors mixed between foodies, press, families, hotel guests and local residents.



Face Painting



There was plenty to keep the kiddies occupied such as face painting, not to mention the constant queue for the smoothie stall!
Paula Mee & Brain Mc Carthy
There was a great Carnival atmosphere with visitors enjoying the fine evening, sipping wine outside and listening to Cafe Orchestra.


Nutritionist, Paula Mee gave very interesting talks on the importance of healthy family eating to combat the rise in obesity, heart disease and diabetes in Ireland. In the section on sustainable fish, Paula highlighted the benefits of including more fish in our diet and gave some great advice and tips on 'Eating Out & Staying Trim'. In a later discussion Paula highlighted that many children have never actually seen a carrot and as far as they are concerned they grow in 'batons'!

There were 10 key suppliers present for the duration of the event, all of whom were very generous with their samplings. Included in these samplings were:
silver hill duck | smoked seafood | lamb cutlets | mini beef & yorkshire puds | free range chicken | delicious desserts | seasonal berries | killowen yoghurt.
Food tastings from the stage included (brasserie hotpot | baked apple & berries | mackerel on brown bread | pollack n chips | chicken & pesto risotto | homemade veg soup

At the fruit and vegetable stand, one of the main items of interest was actually a brussel sprout tree. Did you know they grew on trees? Paula remarked upon this herself talking about how kids in the states particularly are not privy to fresh produce enough and many wouldn't recognise a carrot in its original form as they only see them as 'batons' coming out of packets....true!

The main lesson that guests left with was that we should be sourcing and buying more fresh Irish produce. Not only does it taste better but it helps our economy- which could do with all the help it can get right now! This event has certainly given me 'food for thought', i am now checking where my meat and two veg is coming from and will be making a conscious decision from now on to buy Irish where possible.
Check out our pictures from the event!

Bon Appetite!

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