Feast on Westport Food Festival
THE Westport Food Festival is taking place this weekend, Friday to Sunday, June 24 to 26.
The flagship event, The Banquet, is on tonight (Friday) - a fabulous get together feast celebrating everything that is good about Mayo food. Led by festival chairman Eoin McDonnell, this four-course feast for the senses is a team endeavour by some of Westport’s finest chefs, combining their talents for this one night only.
Local and Irish food is the main focus of The Banquet and the menu will feature some familiar products as well as highlighting hidden gems as the chefs reveal their secrets.
The gala evening takes place in Hotel Westport and includes the crowning of Best Artisan Producer as part Westport Food Festival’s support for artisan food.
It will be a night to remember, with the very best in music and food. Classical fingers tickling the ivories will kick things off and after The Banquet guests will be invited to dance the night away to a live band. Don’t miss out on the foodie event of the year by booking your ticket now.
Tickets for The Banquet cost €45 per person and are available through Hotel Westport on (098) 25122 or tables of ten can be booked online via Eventbrite (https://wffthebanquet.eventbrite.ie).
RTÉ’s Taste of Success
Come along to the Food Village on the Fairgreen from 12 noon on Saturday when RTÉ’s leading food programme, Taste of Success, will be filming live all day. Presented by Daithí O’Sé, the food innovation show gets a huge audience and will draw massive national attention to Westport.
Make sure you come along and meet award winning chef Paul Flynn as well as last year’s winner, Joanne Clarke from Westport. Joanne’s nutty brioche and butter pudding won her €100,000 and a contract for her product to be sold on the shelves of more than 140 Lidl Ireland stores nationwide.
The Food Village will transform the Fairgreen into a bustling outdoor market choc-a-bloc with market stalls and tasty street food. Admission is free but be warned – the early bird gets the choice of worms!
Cookery and cocktail demonstrations are an integral part of the successful food village. The first demo kicks off at 12 p.m. and they continue right through to 4 p.m. Again, this is a free event but does have limited seating.
The ever popular Bike Buffet begins at lunchtime and finishes up in the Food Village, adding even more colour and flavour to the day.
Festival programme
For full details of these and all the other wonderful events – artisan beer race, mushroom and seaweed foraging, Foody Tours, pizza making, kayak picnic and cupcake decorating – see the website, www.westportfoodfestival.ie. Book your tickets early as all events have limited capacity.