Food, glorious food from the Banner

Further developing Clare’s gastronomic potential will see more money coming into and staying in the county, according to one of Ireland’s top food writers.
The Irish Food Guide was published this week and more than 50 Clare businesses feature in the 2012 publication compiled by John and Sally McKenna.
Clare is “right up there with the best” and is the “template” for other counties to follow, John McKenna told The Clare Champion.
“Clare is right up there with the best. It is as simple as that. This is the 10th edition of the book. When you look back and see the development of Clare, it is very interesting. It is the perfect example of what you need for a good food jigsaw. It has strength and depth. What you have in Connemara, for example, is lots of excellent destinations but no infrastructure. It has a few salmon smokers and a few people doing seaweed but it has no growers, no cheese makers, no strong artisan brands. It is a busy tourist destination but it is ultimately, as a tourist destination, a failure. What happens in Connemara is that the money comes in and goes right out again. The money is not spent on Connemara food, because it doesn’t exist.
“In Clare that money going into the county is being successfully held there. Someone going to the Burren Smokehouse, or to the Burren Perfumerie or to Gregans Castle, all of these places are using local foods and therefore holding money in the economy.
“Clare is one of the best examples of a sustainable, high-end artisan tourist economy. It is a model for everywhere else. People say ‘isn’t West Cork the best in that regard?’ but it wouldn’t have the core of high-end restaurants that you get in Clare.
“We have some outstanding ones here in West Cork but not as many as you have in Clare. If you want to know the template for success, go and look at Clare, it is the perfect example,” he said.
“There is no recession in Irish quality food,” says Mr McKenna. “In fact, the best food producers, restaurateurs, markets and counties are enjoying unprecedented success. It may seem difficult to believe that things have never been better, but things have never been so good in Irish speciality food.
“Conditions are tougher than ever in the marketplace; food producers who have the right product at the right price now have a devoted audience, who are more conscious than ever before about buying Irish foods.”
Villages and towns across the county are represented in the guide including Ennis with 10 entries, Ballyvaughan with seven, Kilkee with six and four each for Doolin and Lisdoonvarna.
“If you look at the area geographically, the East of the county is less dynamic than the coast, but that is to be expected because the coast is an attraction for people. The Irish Times last Saturday featured a surfer off the Clare coast and one thing I would like to see is greater co-operation between food producers and other tourism products.”
Mr McKenna says this strategy has been adopted in Mayo and is leading to a thriving tourism product. He particularly highlighted the Western Greenway that, according to one hotelier on the route has added 1,200 bed nights to his business.
“I would like to see more interplay between the coastline operators who offer sailing, kayaking, surfing and so on and the food people. This is done well with the Gourmet Greenway in Mayo and the Adventure Greenway. I would like to see someone pulling the strands of that together in Clare, so that if people are here sailing or kayaking or surfing or swimming with dolphins, that these people go and spend money with the high quality small producers.”
Mr McKenna pointed out that the average salary of a European triathlete is in the region of €160,000 and that these people should be Clare’s “target audience”.
“Of course you want the people earning €50,000 and €80,000 but you really want the guy earning €160,000 to come to Clare and stay for a week. There are great waves, great hiking and you need to integrate everything. That guy is going to spend money on serious food and wine every day.”
“No one is in a better position to get that tourist and to keep them and to get them back again than Clare. It is kind of the Riviera of Ireland. Mayo has made a lot of strides in this area but the climate is more benign in Clare. Seeing people working together for a shared interest is great. Kilkenny and Mayo have been doing it for years and I would like to see more of it in Clare,” he added.
Mr McKenna singled out Gregans Castle in Ballyvaughan as a particular success story in the county, describing it as the “benchmark” for other businesses, particularly second generation ones.
“Everything in Simon and Freddy’s extraordinary Gregans Castle seems to float with the ease and grace of a note of music moving through the air,” the entry for Gregans Castle reads.
“The Clare Jam Company (Doolin) is an archetypal artisan company, its distinctiveness due to the diligence and vivid creativity of David and Vera,” according to the guide.
Siobhán Ni Ghairbhith’s St Tola’s Cheese is described as “superlative” while the guide states that The Wild Honey Inn in Lisdoonvarna “confounds your expectations”.
“There are three significant drivers in the Irish artisan food industry” according to John McKenna. 
“People are more interested than ever in craft beers, in speciality pork and bacon and in sourdough breads. Whilst there is expansion in every direction with speciality food, these three areas have shown the most significant growth. Clearly, we are all hankering after a good bacon sandwich with a nice glass of Irish beer.”
“The significant aspect of this success story,” Mr McKenna continues, “is the fact that the artisans have triumphed largely on their own. Stubborn, creative and imaginative, they display all the merits of individually-produced and locally-made food.”