Connacht Tribune
Driving food to the edge
Lifestyle – Chef JP McMahon has been instrumental in putting Galway on the food map through his own restaurants, the Galway Food Festival and Food On The Edge. Ten years after opening his first premises, his passion is undimmed as Judy Murphy found out when she met him.
JP McMahon doesn’t have to think too hard about the high point of his 10-year career as a restaurateur in Galway City. “Winning the Michelin star for Aniar,” he says simply. Aniar, which opened in 2011, won the coveted award just 14 months later and the Dominick Street restaurant has retained it ever since. “Keeping that is probably the hardest thing we do every day,” he says. Another high point is the staff who have worked for them, many of whom are still in contact.
The low-point for the man who, with his wife Drigín Gaffey, owns two other restaurants in Galway is also an easy question to answer.
“Having to close Cava,” he says of the Spanish tapas bar Cava Bodega which was the couple’s first restaurant – it opened in 2008 on Dominick Street.
Cava closed in early 2013 because of what JP describes as “our equivalent to a bad mortgage”, namely upward-only lease. When the recession came, they were in trouble. It was closed for a year but since its reincarnation in the city’s Middle Street, has gone on to new levels of success. However, at the time they closed, he didn’t know if it would ever re-emerge.
Aniar, meanwhile, attracts food-lovers from Ireland and abroad – mostly abroad, he says – many of whom visit Galway to dine there and in the city’s other Michelin-starred restaurant, Loam.
As well as running Aniar, Cava and Tartare Wine Bar, which collectively operate under the EAT banner, JP has also found time to become a mentor on the RTÉ series, Taste of Success, write a weekly food column for the Irish Times and launch a campaign to have food education included on the school curriculum. He’s also written a cookbook and regularly speaks at food conferences worldwide. In 2015, he broke new ground by launching Food On The Edge, an annual two-day symposium held in Galway every October, which has put Ireland on the international food map. It’s no mean feat for a man who turned 40 this year.
JP McMahon came to cheffing indirectly and without formal training but few people have had more influence on Galway’s or Ireland’s food scene than he’s had.
Dublin-born and raised in Kildare, he graduated in English and Art History from UCC, and during his holidays, worked in the Crawford Art Gallery Café when Isaac Allen of Ballymaloe was at the helm. Before that, JP had worked in an Italian restaurant in Maynooth during his school holidays – his father taught physics in Maynooth University.
At different times too, he worked in the kitchen of Fat Freddie’s in Galway and was head chef there when he and Drigín got an opportunity to open their own restaurant. They opted for a Spanish theme with Cava Bodega. Later came Aniar, with its focus on West of Ireland ingredients and fine dining. That was followed by Eat at Massimo (now gone). Last year they opened a café and wine bar, Tartare on Dominick Street, across the road from Aniar, again focusing on locally-produced food and selling organic wine.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
