The Banter bandwagon is hitting the road again this month and the Marble City is where we’re going. Savour Kilkenny is now in its eighth year and will be providing cooking demonstrations from chefs like Rory O’Connell, Brian McDermott and Kevin Dundon, tastings, fine dining events and various other sideshows (we like the sound of the Spud & Hurl race) in the city from October 24 to 27.
We’re hosting four panels over the weekend, all in the National Craft Gallery where we hosted a Banter session about Irish fashion at last year’s Arts Festival. You’ll find a bunch of food writers and commentators talking and musing about a whole range of topics.
Saturday October 25
Writing about Food (12.30pm)
Being able to put together a great recipe is one thing, writing it in a way which makes the reader want to reach for their spices and larder staples is quite another. While we all can’t be Nigel Slater, there is a definite upswing for people who can combine good writing with great food. An A to Z guide from Dee Laffan and Catherine Cleary about what it takes to turn a great dish into a great read.
What will we be eating this time next year? (2.30pm)
Description: A decade ago, you’d have been hard pressed to find ripe avocados or padron peppers in the aisles of your local supermarket. Go back even further in time and the list of foods which we now take for granted would be completely absent from the weekly shop. Chalk it down to more sophisticated palattes and widespread travel and the influence of such foodies as Yotam Ottolenghi and Thomasina Myers, but we’re far more savvy eaters in 2014. As we reach peak burrito time, we ask Yvonne Carty, Aoife Ryan and Marie Claire Digby to tell us what comes next for our palattes.
Sunday October 26
War Stories from the Kitchen (12.30pm)
Are the people who start cafes and restaurants mad, driven, crazy, otherwise unemployable or all of the above? Meet some of the people who’ve already gone through all of those sleepless nights, stressful months and successful times to find out what drove them to open their doors to the public – and the restaurant reviewers who reveal what attracts them to a restaurant, what they like and what they dislike. The panel: Denise McBrien (Pichet, Dublin), John Healy (RTE The Restaurant), Paul O’Connor and Blathnaid Bergin (School of Restaurant & Kitchen Management).
What’s on your plate? (2.30pm)
It’s a question which more and more people are asking as issues of food miles, provenance and health become more commonplace. But in an age when huge reductions in the price of food mean we’ve never had to pay less for the basics, do we actually give any thought to why those sweet potatoes or that chicken cost so little? Fiona Dillon and Yvonne Carty will discuss and dissect these points.
Admission to all the Banter panels at Savour Kilkenny are free of charge. You’ll find the full programme for the weekend here. Big thanks to Marian Flannery, Paul O’Connor, Rose Mulvey and the Savour team for the invite and their help with this.