New Galway food festival aims to leave lasting taste

Date Published: {J}

When times are tough, there’s strength in numbers. As part of this, a group of Galway restaurants and food producers are joining forces over the Easter weekend for a Food Festival to focus on the best of Irish fare and to show people we still have reason to celebrate in spite of the economic gloom.

Most of the events will be based in the city, with a special Festival village in the Fishmarket Square by the Spanish Arch. But there will also be trips outside, to places like Connemara Smokehouse and an organic farm in Athenry, as well as excursions to the seashore where experts will show people the wealth of free, nutritious food that is available to us – if we want to avail of it.

The Festival will be opened by Sally McKenna of the Bridgestone Guide at Fishmarket Square on Good Friday, April 6, which is traditionally the worst day of the year for the restaurant trade. And the organisers are making no secret of the fact that they want it to benefit the city and its environs.

This Food Festival was the brainchild of the businesses in Galway’s Latin Quarter who joined forces several years ago to attract people into that area of the city, on the basis that co-operation was more beneficial than rivalry.

Unlike previous initiatives of the group, this Festival is not confined to the geographical area of the city from Mainguard Street to the Spanish Arch. Some of Galway’s leading restaurants are taking part, including Kai, Aniar and Bar 8, while in the county, the Gallery in Gort, The Twelve in Barna and Taste Matters in Loughrea area also involved.

The Chairperson of this inaugural festival is JP McMahon, owner of Cava and Aniar restaurants, who was approached by the Latin Quarter group with the idea. He felt it had real potential as long as it was about improving food quality and not just about selling drink.

“I love the idea of bringing better and better food to Galway. The more people saying ‘we need to do better food’, the better,” says JP, whose Spanish restaurant, Cava, is one of the most popular in the city, with its choice of smaller style tapas dishes and main courses.

“Our attitude is ‘let’s not exclude a restaurant [from the Festival] because it doesn’t meet the quality, instead let’s get them to raise the bar for the weekend.”

There are three criteria for restaurants becoming involved, explains JP, who has helped put Galway City on the food map through Cava and more recently Aniar, which specialises in locally sourced, frequently foraged foods.

The three rules are that the participating restaurants must use local suppliers, local produce and seasonal food.

“There must be three items on the menu that draw from local, seasonal and artisan produce,” explains JP.

The Festival is mixing artisan and national suppliers because the reality for most restaurants is that these elements work together, he points out, citing his own restaurants as an example.

While all the wines in the fine-dining Aniar are from artisan vineyards, the suppliers to Cava include wine and spirit importers, Findlaters.

“It’s an issue of supply and demand. If you go down the route of using artisan, you have to accept you can’t turn artisan suppliers into multinationals. Artisan is good but it won’t solve every food issue in Ireland. If you produce food on a smaller scale, it’ll be more expensive.”

The idea is to find a balance on restaurant menus between bigger suppliers and local produce.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.