Today’s episode is all about fond food memories and Irish bakes with none other than Graham Herterich, aka the CupCake Bloke. He takes us on a nostalgic journey, exploring the power of food memories and the influence they have had on his life. From growing up in a butcher shop, to joining the priesthood, working with top chefs, to cooking with his grannies, Graham’s journey is filled with fascinating stories that lead him to write his first book Bake, Traditional Irish Baking with modern twists. 

In this chat we talk about the history of Irish baking including the early forms of bread baking, the impact of soda on the Irish kitchen and traditional folklore stories and fables…. Don’t forget to put a cross in the top of your soda loaf to let the fairies out!

Graham has travelled extensively and with so much cultural diversity in Ireland’s kitchen today, Graham brings an expertise into blending flavours and incorcoporating these international influences into his culinary creations. 

And of course, we get some baking tips and advice from Graham that even the most novice of bakers will appreciate. 

So without further ado, let’s dive into the world of flavours, food memories and traditional Irish baking with that modern twist with Graham Herterich. 

Bake is available now through Nine Bean Row Publishers and can be bought through their website or through anywhere that sells good books.

https://ninebeanrowsbooks.com/products/bake

 The Bakery by the Cupcake Bloke, Graham’s flagship spot where you can pop by 6 days a week and sample his creations is on South Circular Road, Dublin. 

https://thecupcakebloke.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thecupcakebloke/

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Welcome to the NeighbourFood Podcast, today we have a special replay episode for you as we gear up for Street Feast 2023. We're joined by the incredible Sam Bishop, a true force of nature in the realm of community activation. Sam is a remarkable individual—a community activist, an initiator, and a doer. He's the kind of person who not only has brilliant ideas but also brings them to life with unwavering dedication. 

Sam’s extensive involvement in various endeavors is a testament to his boundless energy but what truly captivates us about Sam is his talent for inspiring others and getting things done in the most ingenious ways. And one of these large scale achievements is the annual nationwide day of community feasting, which is aptly called Street Feast. Without Sam's persistent efforts and commitment, Street Feast wouldn't be where it is today. It's truly impressive to witness the way he has nourished this event year after year.

Street Feast is all about celebrating a lovely lunch with your neighbours. Food is not just a matter of sustenance; it’s about connection and conviviality. Sharing a meal and fostering community bonds are just as vital as the nourishment on our plates.

Mark your calendars, Street Feast 2023 will be held on Sunday June 25 this year. But remember, this is an annual event, so if you can't make it this time, keep an eye out for next year's edition or as we discuss in our chat, Street Feast has a way of unexpectedly happening and popping up at any time.

We hope you enjoy this chat with Sam Bishop, founder of Street Feast, as he takes us on a journey through the heart and soul of this extraordinary community gathering.

Find out more on StreetFeast.ie

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Welcome back to another episode of the NeighbourFood Podcast! Today we have a treat in store for all the whiskey aficionados out there. Our guest is Eric Ryan, a true expert in the world of whiskey, a historian with an unrivaled knowledge of Irish whiskey's captivating past. He is going to take us on a deep dive into the treasures of our national spirit.  

Today Eric works with as the Powers Distiller, Maturation & Innovation Specialist at Midleton Distillery. He studied an Msc in Brewing and Distiling in Heriot-Watt University and then went head first into Irish whiskey distilling working a distillery operator since 2010 with Midleton and been working in the world famous distillery ever since. He is regular contributor to Irish Whiskey Magazine and was secretary of of Cork Whiskey Society for some time and also curated and ran the Cork Whiskey Walk before taking up his current role as the Powers Distiller.

Get ready for a fascinating synopsis of the timeline of Irish whiskey, starting from the 6th century Irish monks who first distilled the "water of life."  We are going to learn how this spirit has evolved over the centuries, from its humble beginnings to the thriving distilling scene we know and love today.

We'll also tackle the question of whether whiskey was indeed invented in Ireland or if its origins lie elsewhere. ….and learn about key events and figures that shaped the industry, with captivating anecdotes and stories from the past.

But it doesn't stop there! Because Eric also guides us through the evolution of Irish whiskey production techniques, highlighting the innovations and changes that have occurred over time. 

We'll also explore the impact of prohibition and other historical events on the Irish whiskey industry, understanding how these challenges shaped its trajectory and what it took to overcome them. And of course, this whole time we have some delightful and intriguing fun facts guaranteed to capture your attention and leave you thirsty for more knowledge about this beloved spirit.

Lastly, we unravel what truly sets Irish whiskey apart from other renowned whiskies around the world. Is it a matter of historic roots, provenance, and ingredients? Or is it the result of techniques, methods, and good marketing? Eric will provide us with his expert insights on this.

So stay tuned, as we embark on this incredible journey into the heart and soul of Irish whiskey, guided by the expertise of Eric Ryan.

Find out more about Eric on

Instagram @ericwilliamryan

Twitter @ericwilliamryan

Powers Whiskey

Instagram @Powers_Whiskey

www.powerswhiskey.com

Irish Whiskey Magazine

www.irishwhiskeymagazine.com

Cork Whiskey Society

https://corkwhiskeysociety.wildapricot.org/

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Today we have a shining star joining us to chat on the NeighbourFood podcast. 

Dr. Tara Shine is an Irish environmental scientist, policy advisor and science communicator. She spent 20 years as an international climate change negotiator and adviser to governments and world leaders on environmental policy. She was Special Adviser to the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice and The Elders before setting up “Change by Degrees” with co-founder Madeline Murray who partner with businesses and organisations to empower and educate people to deliver sustainable solutions.

She is also the author of How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time, a book written to help everyone how to change their daily habits and live more environmentally friendly in home and at work. Her book is all about starting small, making incremental changes in behavior to build momentum and foster discussions around sustainable actions. Tara emphasises the crucial role of personal action in combating climate change and reducing food waste. While systemic changes are necessary, she believes in the power of grassroots change to drive transformative shifts and throughout our chat offers practical guidance for us all to decrease our environmental footprints without overwhelm.

We hope you enjoy these valuable insights from Tara , who has dedicated her career to catalyzing change at both the global and individual levels, and discover how we can all contribute to a more sustainable living and future.

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Our guest today on the NeighbourFood podcast is Mary Reynolds, one of Ireland's leading advocates for nature. She describes herself as a reformed landscape gardener who won the Chelsea Flower Show in 2002. Mary is also an author and public environmental activist, and in this conversation today, we focus on her present campaign of healing the earth and the natural world.

Mary explains the importance of connecting with nature and learning from it, allowing it to teach us valuable life lessons. She talks about building an "ARK" (Act of Restorative Kindness) by donating part of your land or garden, creating sanctuary corridors, and restoring natural ecosystems and habitats.

Throughout the conversation, Mary emphasises the crucial role of biodiversity and the need to take personal responsibility for our impact on the environment, encouraging us to listen and work with our natural world, making conscious choices in our daily lives to become true guardians of the earth and all life it carries.

To learn more about Mary's work, visit her website at marymary.ie or find her on Instagram @wildmarymary. You can also visit wearetheark.org to learn more about building ARKs and the movement that Mary has started. And don't forget to pick up one of Mary's beautiful books, "The Garden Awakening" (2016), or "We are the Ark" (2022).

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Artist Kari Cahill joins us in this edition of the NeighbourFood podcast. Kari is a site-responsive visual artist, natural paint smith, and an all-around great person. During our chat, she shares her unique methods of creating site-specific artwork using nature and how food can be used to make paint. Kari talks about her relationship with art and food and provides insights into her toolbox and current projects. Don’t miss Jack’s challenge to create an artwork inspired by his favourite meal! Not a mean feat. 

Kari's expertise, experiences and passion are a beautiful insight into her world, methods of working and the intersection of art, nature, and food. We hope you enjoy listening. 

Links:

https://www.karicahill.com/

https://www.instagram.com/karicahill.studio/

https://www.layoftheland.ie/

https://www.instagram.com/layofthelandproject/

#NeighbourFoodPodcast #KariCahill #SiteSpecificArtwork #NaturalPaintSmith #ArtAndFood #FoodArt #NatureInspired #PodcastRecommendation #NewEpisodeAlert #ArtistInterview #CreativeProcess #ArtInspiration #ArtChallenge #FoodInspired #PaintMaking #ArtMaterials #ArtInNature #CreativeCommunity

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As spring arrives, the blooming flowers bring joy and colour to our surroundings, evoking emotions that words cannot express. Beyond their beauty, flowers have healing properties used in medicine and play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. 

In this episode of the NeighbourFood Podcast, we have a conversation with Anna Hogan, a flower farmer from Seekings Flower Farm in Ballymacoda, East Cork.  Anna cultivates Irish cut flowers from bulbs or seeds, creating nature-inspired bouquets that include fragrant herbs like fennel, dill, and mint. Anna is also a member of the Flower Farmers of Ireland, a network of sustainable flower growers who redefine the global cut-flower industry by producing locally-grown, seasonal, and scented blooms. During our conversation, we explore the significance of flowers, the state of the Irish flower industry, and the growing sector's impact on education, public awareness, social farming, pollination, and green matters. Additionally, Anna shares tips for hobby gardeners looking to grow their garden of paradise.

https://www.fromseekingsflowerfarm.com/

https://www.instagram.com/fromseekings/

https://flowerfarmersofireland.ie/

https://www.instagram.com/flowerfarmersireland/

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“You could eat your dinner out of the ditch” that’s what Fiona Falconer of Wild About tells us in this

week’s podcast which is all about Wild Food.

It’s abundant, free, full of adventure, resourceful and sustainable and celebrates the beauty and bounty of our landscape. So we discuss why it’s important to eat from our natural surroundings and what are the benefits of eating wild foods for our health. 

Fiona also tells us about the value of running a small business, as she and her husband Malcolm upped sticks from London, moved to a 5-acre farm in Co. Wexford and now run an environmentally sustainable food business, appropriate called Wild About, which along with countless awards has presented them with many creative opportunities.  

In December 2021, we first chatted to her, and this here podcast is a re-play of that conversation. So we touched based with Fiona this wee to get an update on things on the farm. And as it turns it out they are getting on great! They are still living their mantra of “small is beautiful”, they are developing a food tourism side to the business and along with VisitWexford are hosting farm tours for visitors. Dreams and plans are afoot for a custard apple farm in Maderia with a tourism offering. Sounds exciting. And if you want to meet this vivacious woman in person, you will be able to catch them at Bloom in the Park this coming June 2023.

Further more, we decided to re-play this episode as Spring is a particularly great time to get out and about in search of wild goodies and Fiona gives us a delicious and tempting recipe and now is the perfect time to give it a shot. 

And what’s more, that song you hear at the start of the podcast, well that’s an original piece of music - made specifically for the NeighbourFood podcast. From blackberries to mushrooms, wild food is also a huge passion for musician Peter Broderick. 

Peter, a Maine man, now living in Galway loves to forage for wild, edible plants. Though we may be so bold as to suggest writing the theme music for our NeighbourFood podcast was one of his greatest musical feats, what may interest you more is his song “Wild Food” from his album Blackberry, which is all about gathering, foraging, hunting, and munching! It's catchy (see what we did there?). So later you will hear from Peter and what he finds inspiring about “Wild Food”. 

*******

Wild About’s Nettle Beer Recipe

Ideal for brewing around St Patrick's Day (17 March) when the nettles are young

2 carrier bags of nettles (approx 500grams)

12 liters of water

1.5 kg sugar

60 grams cream of tartar

Yeast

Optional - 2 oranges, 2 lemons, Ginger

Boil the water. Once it comes to the boil, take off the heat. Add the nettles. Cover and leave it to infuse for a minimum one hour, but preferably overnight. 

Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth. Heat this mixture only enough to dissolve the sugar and the cream of tartar.

Add the juice of the orange, lemon, and ginger spice (these are optional)

Leave cool at room temperature and then add yeast. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a dark, warm place for four to five days.

After this time, remove the scum from the brew bucket and siphon it into plastic bottles. Leave to settle in a cool place such as a fridge.

Ready to drink after seven days and we are told it tastes like a Breton cider!.

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This week we are chatting to three different microbakers from different parts of Ireland, who bake real bread using only flour, water and salt, for local customers within their local communities.  

Our guests are Angela Nöthlings, Ryes & Shine, Cork; Laura O’Donovan So-Doh, Renvyle, Connemara and Gráinne McGough of Grá Arán, Wicklow 

These are three stories of three different solopreneurs who join us to talk about their experiences with starting and growing their individual business from their kitchen counter tops to repurposed studios and garden sheds. We also talk about about the network of microbakers both in Ireland and around the world who support, encourage, mentor and inspire each other, and of course we hear about the importance of real bread from a health perspective, with the simplicity of the most basic of ingredients ingredients in making a wholesome and nutritious loaf. 

We found it inspiring listening to their can-do attitudes, an insight into their microbaking world and perhaps even motivation for anyone who is thinking of going down the microbakery route themselves.

*****

List of links mentioned in the show:

Real Bread Ireland

Riot Rye Bake House and Bread School

Our previous NeighbourFood podcast with Joe Fitzmaurice of RiotRye on “The Parable of the Local Bakery”

The Sourdough Podcast - https://www.thesourdoughpodcast.com/

Plötzlich Bäcker, Lutz Geissler - https://www.ploetzblog.de/podcast/

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Pádraic Fogarty  is an ecologist and environmental scientist, chairman of the Irish Wildlife Trust from 2009-2013, editor of 'Irish Wildlife' magazine from 2009 to 2017 and currently acts as their campaign officer. He is author of 'Whittled Away - Ireland's Vanishing Nature', published in 2017. 

In this episode of the NeighbourFood podcast, we chat with him about the ecological state of Ireland today; the EU’s new “Nature Restoration Law”; marine protected zones; what’s exciting about some new policies and movements and take a look at COP15, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 

And while Ireland and the world may be in a catastrophic state biodiversity wise, we talk about the vision for bringing nature in all it’s glory back into our lives, by changing mindsets and actions.

Padraic’s knowledge and passion for nature is a pleasure to listen to. A massive thanks to him for his time in joining us to chat and if you are motivated by any of these topics today and would like to find out more, check out the Irish Wildlife Trust website iwt.ie or for some nice listening after you finish this, why not check out Irish their podcast series “Shaping New Mountains”. 

https://twitter.com/whittledaway

https://twitter.com/Irishwildlife

https://www.facebook.com/IrishWildlifeTrust/

https://www.youtube.com/user/irishwildlifetrust

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