The Great Irish Food Quiz

WESTPORT Food Festival has a brand new midsummer date this year, from June 24 to 26. There’s a cracking line up with many old favourites returning plus some exciting new events.

One of the highlights is The Great Irish Food Quiz, a brand new event this year. It’s a festival and charity fundraiser and takes place a month in advance of the main festival on Thursday, May 26.

For some years Áine Maguire of The Idle Wall has run the famous Great Irish Food Quiz in Dublin, where gourmands from all over the country came to pit their wits against one another. This is the food nerd’s event of the year and this year it has moved west, along with Áine, and takes place in The Wyatt Hotel, Westport, on Thursday, May 26.

A selection of wonderful prizes includes vouchers and prizes from food luminaries such as L’Ecrivain, The Idle Wall, Saba, Rua, The Ice House, The Tavern Murrisk, Mescan Brewery and Kelly’s Butchers in Newport.

The quiz is a fundraiser for Westport Food Festival – a sort of aperitif - and will also support local charity Western Care. Tickets are €15 each (€60 for a team of four) and can be booked through www.eventbrite.ie. With testing and tasting and tantalising, it’ll be a night to remember! It's limited to 30 tables and they are selling fast.

Chef Áine Maguire, a native of Newport, has recently returned to her roots to open The Idle Wall restaurant at The Quay in Westport. After barely nine months in business the restaurant was listed in the Sunday Times 100 Best Restaurant List and has received nationwide acclaim and great reviews. It won the Best Newcomer in Mayo award at the recent 2016 RAI Awards (Connaught) and Áine herself was crowned Best Chef in Mayo.

Áine was immersed in a rich food culture from her earliest days. This sparked her interest in Irish foodways which has moulded her career path, from starting up The Winding Stair to the table of the British Ambassador; from France to the Caribbean and back again. It is this culture which has ultimately brought her home.

Though Áine takes inspiration from her travels, her abiding fascination is with all things Irish and local.

Full details of the 2016 Westport Food Festival are available on the website www.westportfoodfestival.ie.