Galway schools take part in Tran Year food initiative

Thirteen Galway schools are among 200 across the country taking part in a special Transition Year project to increase their knowledge of the artisan food industry on their doorstep.

The Future is Food will see TY students broaden their knowledge and understanding of the local, artisanal and speciality food sectors through practical insight and real-life experience, and so create and inspire the next generation of Irish food entrepreneurs and advocates.

Galway schools include Archbishop McHale College, Tuam; Gairmscoil Éinne Oileain Arann, Inis Mór; Gairmscoil Mhuire, Athenry; Gairmscoil na bPiarsach, Ros Muc; Galway Community College; Glenamaddy Community School and Gort Community School.

They also include Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew; Portumna Community School; Presentation College Currylea, Tuam; Seamount College, Kinvara; St Brigid’s School, Tuam, and St Pauls, Oughterard.

Participating schools will each partner with a local artisan producer, chef or food champion who will help budding student entrepreneurs and innovators to develop their own unique food product or to work with them on an existing product.

The programme includes twenty lesson plans focussing on topics such as entrepreneurship, food origin and Bord Bia’s Origin Green sustainability programme as well as research, new product development and marketing.  It received recognition by the National Council of Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) following a pilot in eight schools in the 2013/2014 school year.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, joined Bord Bia and The TASTE Council of Ireland to launch the initiative last week.

He said that Ireland has a thriving speciality food sector, worth approximately €400 million to the Irish economy.

“There are now more than 750 artisan and speciality food producers across the country who are contributing to the unprecedented local, national and international success of Ireland’s food sector,” he said.

“I would like to congratulate Bord Bia and The TASTE Council for developing The Future is Food as a means of providing Transition Year students with an opportunity to gain real-life insight into the array of opportunities that the Irish food sector presents for young people with an entrepreneurial flair.

“Its value lies in the experiential learning process which engages not just students, but also the many local producers and food professionals who have freely volunteered their time as their contribution towards inspiring the food entrepreneurs of the future.”

Teresa Brophy, Consumer and Trade Marketing Manager at Bord Bia was encouraged by the number of schools that have signed-up to The Future is Food.

“This is a hugely important initiative for Bord Bia and The TASTE Council and the number of schools taking part this year has exceeded all our expectations,” she said.

A key element of The Future is Food is the involvement of a network of mentors comprising artisan producers, chefs and other food producers recruited by The TASTE Council to partner with schools, all of whom will pass on the benefit of their own experience and expertise.