[Listing] Grandmothers Day from Slow Food Ireland

Slow Food Ireland aims to promote good, clean and fair food with emphasis on knowing where food comes from. With that in mind, they are celebrating the second annual Grandmothers Day to celebrate our food heritage and forgotten skills. This event will take place in conjunction with Sandbrook House, Ballon, Co. Carlow on the 20th and 21st of April. The event will be launched by Darina Allen who said:

“The success of last year’s event lead us to recognize that there is a tangible opportunity to use our food culture to develop opportunities for rural employment and for revitalising our small town centres and communities."

Saturday April 20th will feature Slow Roots, an expert-led international symposium, which will tackle the topic of how to use traditional Irish food to create jobs in rural communities as we explore the question “How can we learn from our Food Heritage to create employment for this generation? The debate will be lead by two keynote speakers of international renown: Professor Hartmut Vogtmann, former President of Nature Conservation, Federal Republic of Germany and Angelika Ploeger, Professor of Food Science and Food Culture.

This event, lead by Dr. Margaret Linehan of Cork Institute of Technology brings together many third level Irish colleges who will present project outcomes on topics such as 'Before the Potato', ‘Food of the Monasteries’, Fish and Seaweed projects, Boxty, Artisan Food & Traditions and more. Food historian, Dorothy Cashman will speak of her work on the Culinary Manuscripts and their relevance today. The day will be concluded with a Fulacht Fiadh celebration - a one of a kind reproduction of the traditional Irish cooking method more than 3,000 years old.

The fee to attend the symposium on April 20th is €30, which includes lunch and a traditional Fulacht Fiadh dinner. To secure your spot please RSVP by emailing to grandmothersday@sandbrook.ie

Sunday April 21st is Grandmother’s Day with a series of workshops and demonstrations from some of Ireland’s most passionate Slow Food experts. We will explore the food cycle from beginning to end, with focus on sustainability and celebrating good clean and fair food.

The Sunday will be opened by Darina Allen, Slow Food pioneer, who will give the keynote speech at 12 noon. Later Darina Allen, Pamela Black, Granny Florence Bowe, Niall Murphy of Donnybrook Fair and Sophie Morris of Kookie Dough will do cookery demonstrations. For the children there will be a couple of hands on sausage making sessions with Ed Hick.

A series of workshops and demonstrations on forgotten skills including butter, cheese and chocolate making, preserving, foraging and cooking bastible bread over the open fire will be free to attend.  There will also be talks on Grow It Yourself, beekeeping, willow weaving, seaweed, seed sowing and more. While you enjoy the workshops and demonstrations why not relax on the Sandbrook grounds and enjoy our spectacular Farmers Market featuring the best of Irish artisans and producers?

Grandmothers are invited to bring along a favourite recipe that they would like to pass onto their grandchildren to include in a Slow Food Grandmother’s scrapbook. As the guardians of inherited wisdom and forgotten skills, we encourage grandparents to gather their grandchildren around and show them how to bake a cake, sow a seed, catch a fish, knit or crochet...

Slow Food Grandmother’s Day at Sandbrook runs from 11am to 6pm on Sunday 21st April. Admission is €10 with free entry to all children, free car parking and free entry to all talks & workshops. Cookery demonstrations are €10.00-15.00 and are on a first come, first served basis.

For more information readers can access the website www.grandmothersday.ie or email grandmothersday@sandbrook.ie