Best Of Belfast: Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast

Our greatest esoteric adventure yet — live from Scott’s sofa.    Join the yo-yo bros and fellow traveller Tone Floreal as we dive deep into the world of true community, the ebb and flow nature of life and moving away from shortcuts/tactics/elite biohacks to address the core of what’s holding us back from true lifestyle change.    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/the-yo-yo-principle  

Eileen Murphy is a Professor of Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast and a leading expert in ancient human remains/burial practices. Her passion is for telling the stories of ordinary people whose voices have been largely written out of history.

Dr Murphy is the author/editor of 12 books, including a book all about Takabuti: the Belfast mummy currently living in the Ulster Museum — who as you’ll hear inspired her to get into archaeology as a child.

In today’s episode we talk about about:

• Growing up with a sense of awe and adventure about the world around her
• Some of the weird and wonderful things found right here on our doorstep
• What the past can teach us about the present
• The rights of the living versus the rights of the dead
• Why a sense of place is an essential part of wellbeing
• Lessons learned from studying 1000+ human skeletons
• Discovering the first case of leprosy in Ireland (in a skeletons foot)
• And the greatest highs/lows of her journey so far

Check it out.

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https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/eileen-murphy-takabuti

Hayley Milthorpe is the creator of The Cultured Food Company. She’s also a mother, nutritionist and passionate advocate for the health benefits of fermented foods.

Described as a trend setter, her company has been leading the way in Ireland for the last 8 years by producing a range of organic fermented vegetable from sauerkraut to kimchi — making probiotic rich foods accessible for all.

In today’s episode we talk about:

• Why eating “bacteria” is good for you
• How Hayley got into the weird and wonderful world of fermented food
• Simple dietary changes you can make to improve your mental health
• Why our ancestors ate fermented food
• (And the idea that fermented foods are now a missing food group)
• Why probiotic foods are strangely addictive
• And how she went from selling jars of sauerkraut at the local farmers market to getting her products on the shelf of Lidl

Check it out!

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https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/hayley-milthorpe-cultured-food-company

People come and go in our lives — “friend’s for a season” — folks who we journey with for a while and then part ways. But every now and then a connection is made that you know will last a lifetime.   For me, podcaster James O’Connell from Dublin is one of those connections.    After strangely being introduced by previous podcast guest and current Mental Health co-host Stephen Ilardi, I first met James when he moved to Belfast last year and now he’s moving on, we decided to mark the occasion with a conversation that captures some of what we’ve wrestled with over the course of our friendship so far.   The result is a long-form conversation about dopamine, mental health, commitment, relationships, confrontation and compassion that dips into science, psyche, scripture and our own story along the way.   We don’t have the answers. We don’t have it all figured out. But we are trying — and hope that this raw, real-time wrestle will be a springboard for newfound courage, action and change in your own life.   — Matt    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/james-and-matt

Gemma Gallagher is an award-winning Visual Artist and the Founder of Design & Dine, a Creative Workshop company based in the UAE and Northern Ireland.

The aim was to create an event where guests could discover their creative abilities and learn to make art in a fun, sociable environment. What started as a small workshop has now grown to become the UAE’s largest interactive, creative experience with consistent sell-out events and over 7000 guests having attended so far.

After founding Design & Dine in 2015, she has built the company up to operate across multiple cities with a team of Artists from around the world working with her to make Art fun and accessible to everyone.

Her vision is to grow Design & Dine to be a global brand, allowing anyone to have fun and connect through the joy of creativity.

In today’s episode we talk about:

• Growing up on the Antrim Road in the 90s
• Working on a banana farm in Australia
• What brought her to Abu Dhabi in 2014
• Her experience working as a teacher in the Middle East
• Where she got the idea to start her business
• How she scaled her events from 15, to 25, to 50, to 100 people
• The secret to incredible in-person events
• What she misses most about home
• And her greatest highs/lows of the journey so far.

Check it out.

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https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/gemma-gallagher-design-and-dine

Dr Lindsay Broadbent is a virologist at Queen's University Belfast who has made over a thousand media appearances during the pandemic.    In this conversation we talk about:

• What a virus actually is
• How viruses jump from animals to humans
• The potential scientific truth behind vampire lore
• Human responses to pandemics throughout history
• The importance of transparency and nuance in public discourse
• And what we could have done differently around COVID-19

  Check it out!   https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/lindsay-broadbent-virologist  

Grab a pair of headphones, a shovel and get to work. The boys are out of town and this time we’re volunteering at Hahu Organics to try and find the meaning of life amongst the worms and dirt.   Along the way we chat about how disconnected we’ve become from our food, the change of perspective working the land can give us and whether or not our great-granda’s could beat us in a fight.   https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/esoteric-farming  

Biruk Sahle is the no-dig gardener behind Hahu Organics: an initiative that feeds 40+ families from a small plot of land in Helens Bay Walled Garden.    By flipping modern agriculture on its head, Biruk and his family have been able to create a sustainable and profitable business growing vegetables in the 21st Century without pesticides, subsidies, heavy machinery or debt — all while regenerating the land he farms and restoring biodiversity back to the area.   In today’s episode we talk about:

• His back to the future approach to farming
• What the heck a ‘no-dig’ philosophy is
• Going deep instead of going wide
• Finding customers before developing a product
• Permaculture and why it matters
• And the power of embracing each moment as it comes. 

  Check it out.   https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/biruk-sahle-hahu-organics

Dr Amilra De Silva (more commonly known as AP) is a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering who during his 40-year career with Queen’s University developed a blood analyser that has sold 10’s of millions of units and saved countless lives around the world.    In today’s episode we talk about:

• Growing up in Sri Lanka
• The role his grandparents played throughout his life
• Moving to Belfast in the 70s
• Why he was working on a molecular sodium sensor
• How it got picked up by Big Pharma
• The Lion King
• And the wisdom of surrounding yourself by curators, mentors, and other people going deep into an area of expertise

  Check it out.   https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/amilra-de-silva-chemistry-belfast

Shines Seafood are a family business based in Killybegs, Co.Donegal that sell Ireland’s only Irish Tuna, Irish Sardines & Mackerel to both the retail & food services sectors.   It’s is their aim to make the best quality Irish Seafood in the world more affordable and available to the nation. Having been involved in the fishing industry for a combined 50 years they are passionate about the consumption of seafood and the overall sustainability of the industry.   In today’s episode, we caught up with John while he was up in Belfast receiving an award to chat about:

• Why we eat fish on Fridays
• The difference between wild and farmed fish
• Some of the controversy around sustainability and fishing
• Common fish myths (mercury poisoning, extinction, preservation process)
• How “sardines” don’t actually exist
• Why eating local fish makes such a big difference to us and the communities who supply them
• The Omega 3 content of his fish 
• And the ‘true cost’ of a 17p can of tuna 

  Check it out!   https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/shines-seafood-irish-caught-fish