We’re heading back to Savour Kilkenny for the second year in a row. The festival is celebrating its ninth year on the go over the bank holiday weekend with an action-packed programme of cooking demonstrations from folks like Neven Maguire, Rory O’Connell, The Happy Pear, Arun Kapil and Mark Moriarty, tastings, interviews and other events in the city. It all kicks off tonight with Bressie talking about mental health and food. 
Banter will be hosting a number panels over the weekend, all in the KLP Marquee on The Parade in the middle of the city. Here’s the line-up for the weekend.
Saturday October 24
Battle of the Bottle: Beer vs Wine (noon)
What goes best with food? Beer and cider aficionados would say local beer and ciders, while Wine pros would argue that wine is the better match. There’s only one way of finding out with tastings of local food, each matched with a particular beer or cider and a wine. Le Caveau’s Colm McCan and Pascal Rossignol talk wine, Sláinte author Caroline Hennessy counters with beer and cider and you decide who is right by voting with your glasses.
What’s in your shopping basket? (2.30pm)
When it comes to knowing where our food comes from, we all talk the talk about provenance and organics, but it’s a much different matter when it comes to what we put in our shopping baskets. The notion of buying local food is all very well until your food budget and the ease of convenience come into the picture. We’ll talk to Sarah Duggan (Little Green Grocer Shop), Keith Bohanna (Bia Beag), Mairead Lavey (Farmers Journal and editor of Irish Country Living) and Ken Ecock (Oceanpath, Dunns Seafare) about what’s on and off the shopping list.
What’s so super about superfoods? (4.30pm)
The world of food likes its fancy names and packaging so it’s no surprise to see a palaver over superfoods. On the one hand, you will have folks who dismiss the whole idea as marketing and hype notions. On the other hand, there are folks who swear that goji berries, kelp, raspberries, spinach, oysters, walnuts and green tea will make you healthier, smarter and more energetic. So what exactly is going on here? Is eating a handful of antioxidant-rich acai berries better for you than an apple? Who’s right and who’s wrong? Our panel are Frances Walsh (The Honest Project), Caroline Seale (Discover Nutrition) and Colin Jephson (Ardkeen Quality Food Store)
Sunday October 25
Yes Chef! (noon)
What really happens when you go beyond the pass in an award-winning, critically acclaimed or commercially savvy kitchen? Why would someone choose the life of a chef as a career? Is it all it’s cracked up to be? What are the talents you need to be a chef in a high-pressure environment? We talk to Declan Furlong, Colin Greensmith (Pallas Foods) and Blathnaid Bergin (The Restaurant Advisor) about life as a chef.
All about coffee with Canteen (2.30pm)
Dalton Greene and Paul Williams from Canteen in Limerick join us for a hyper-caffeinated presentation on coffee, from explaining the process from seed to cup and the art of coffee tasting to matching coffee to food and brewing better coffee at home.
Sustainability challenges for Irish farmers (4.30pm)
Just what wil Irish farming may look like in the years to come? What are the issues which will be of concern to the farming sector – and what is being done now about these? Will we still be exporting beef and milk to the Chinese? Will sustainable farming have moved from the to-do list? And will the same crops still be growing in the fields around Kilkenny or are there changes ahead in the tillage sector too? Our panel answering some of those questions: Tommy Cooke (farmer, Teagasc board memmber and member of the national council of ICMSA), Rod Calder-Potts (Highbank Organic Orchards & Farm), Patrick Lydon (Camphill Callan) and Mag Kirwan (Goatsbridge Trout Farm).