The Flavour Files #3
A monthly round up of really good things - April 2026
I’m getting better folks - this post is only a few days late!
I’ve been enjoying my rather spontaneous decision to take a week off. The decision coincided with a glorious week of weather, which has meant joyously long days down at The Haggart planting, sowing, and picking the never ending arrival of weeds, all at a much slower pace than usual.
Last month, I wrote about a book, Four Thousand Weeks, that aims to reframes our idea of time: how to spend it, how much we think we have, consternation over where to put it, etc. The sudden arrival of “spare time” has always usually elicited a mix of pleasure and panic that more often than not paralyses rather than motivates me. Not this week though! I got on top of an impressive amount of Life Admin (although, admittedly not all of it!), the house sparkled, The Haggart has never been more organised, I met with friends for long languid catch ups, took myself off for a lovely massage in a tres-posh hotel in Cork city where I happened to have the entire place to myself (the wonders of a mid-week spa session!), and even arose from my pit at 5am one morning to do a most fun and magical sunrise photoshoot in preparation of some very VERY exciting news being announced next week!
If that sounds busy rather than relaxing, you’d be wrong. There are varying levels of busyness from slog to ease, and this week was one of pure ease. It was needed because the month of May is going to be full on requiring all of my A-Game! So, just before I jump into the usual roundup format, may I be so bold as to give you some dates for your May diary..?
Wednesday 6th May: Launch of 2026 Cork on a Fork Food Festival
This year’s festival is going to be the best ever with even more events on the programme which runs for five days in August 12th-16th! I’ll be running the festival marquee on the Saturday with great guests and chefs, plus lots of other talks and demos across multiple venues across the city Thurs-Sun. Keep your eyes peeled!
I’m delighted to bring back my unique event that tells the story of Cork’s Black Pudding traditions along with a delicious tasting plate showcasing many of the best puddings from makers around the city and county. Tickets are a steal at €10 (+fee) for this talk, tasting and a craft beer sponsored by Original 7, and if you want to get a head start, you can get your ticket here: https://www.flavour.ie/product/blood-guts-black-pudding/
Festival site for full info: https://www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-on-a-fork-fest/
BIG NEWS INCOMING… Thursday 7th May
In fear of sounding totally irritating and attention seeking, I’ll be sharing some epic news later this week, but for now, I must keep shtum! Keep your eyes peeled!
Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, TU Dublin, Grangegorman Campus, 26-27 May
This biennial food symposium showcases scholarly work by academics and non-academics alike on truly engaging food topics. This year’s theme is Food in Crisis/Hope, and includes papers on everything from hospitality to agriculture to cookbooks and heritage foods - and much, much more besides. Anyone can attend as a Symposiast and tickets are on sale now - which includes meals served throughout the two days and access to all the plenary and parallel sessions.
I’ll be there presenting my paper: A Crisis of Blood which looks as the demise of Ireland’s small abattoir sector and the impact on one of Ireland’s oldest heritage foods, fresh blood black pudding. Tickets for the Symposium (€250), and full information about the two-day festival of words and ideas can be found here: https://tudublin.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173675179
Food Writing Retreat, Castle Townshend, 6-9th October
There are just 3 full residential places still available to book for my first ever Food Writing Retreat taking place in the beautiful surrounds of 17th Century Castle Townshend! This fully inclusive and immersive retreat is designed to gift you time to focus on your writing, to explore styles and topics in food writing, and to experiment with trying something new. If you’ve ever been tempted to try food writing or have had an idea burning inside you but weren’t sure where to begin, this is your signal that now is the time!
As a small group of food writers from all backgrounds and different stages of your writing life, you will be fully immersed in this four-day retreat. Our days will combine guided writing sessions led by me with visits to West Cork’s most inspiring and storied artisans and chefs. The tastes, sights and stories of the food we will connect with, the landscape surrounding us, and tales from the people we meet will be channeled into our writing. The goal is to discover or develop your writing voice through food, as storytellers. As well as writing sessions, there will be excursions, lunches and dinners each day, and free time to enjoy the Castle demesne or simply to write using what you have learned and experienced.
All inclusive means all writing sessions across four days; 3 nights’ accommodation in the historic castle with breakfast each morning; 2 lunches and 2 dinners in the Castle designed and cooked for us by phenom chef, Caitlin Ruth; an excursion to Woodcock Smokery with talk, workshop and lunch by West Cork food icon, Sally Barnes; and a grand finale dinner in Michelin-starred restaurant, The Chestnut, in Ballydehob.
Book your spot today at www.flavour.ie/retreat
Now, back to business as usual!
WORDS
It has not been the most productive of months for reading, but what I lack in quantity I more than make up for in quality!
SAMBA, Giselle Makinde
The second book in the 2026 season of Blasta Books, and #18 overall, is a magnificent book celebrating Brazilian food, SAMBA, written by chef, entrepreneur, and now author, Giselle Makinde. For many years, Ireland has welcomed a growing Brazilian community across the island who bring with them their wonderfully vibrant, colourful and delicious culture of food, family and music. Samba is as much a book that strives to educate us about the deep rootedness of Brazil’s food culture as it is a recipe book. This is because, as Makinde alludes to, to understand Brazilian food, you have to understand they key ingredients that underpin the whole culinary experience. To this end, the books chapters are centred around 7 pillar foods: Cassava, Corn, Beans, Banana, Coconut, Carne seca (Brazilian dried beef), and Sugarcane.
Through these ingredients, Makinde beautifully tells the story of the Brazilian people and their food which is “a dance between three nations”; those nations being Portuguese, African and Indigenous. And what ties all these disperse flavours together is the dance itself - the Samba - the literal beating heart of Brazilian life. It’s a wonderful little book that is one heck of a primer into a cuisine that few outside of Brazil understand or even may have tasted. Watch out for cassava flour suddenly popping up on supermarket shelves around the country!
Congratulations Giselle. This book is a treasure!
Published by Blasta Books, €17. Buy it HERE.
WATCHING
The Pitt, HBO
April has mostly been about watching my seeds grow (phnar…), but in the downtime we absolutely binge-watched the entire two seasons of The Pitt! What a show! I mean, neither of us are any good at all with the bits featuring graphic injury/surgery/irreverent needle use (which is, admittedly, quite a bit of each episode), but that all aside it’s the fast paced medical drama with overwhelming emotional baggage you never knew you needed in your life. If you aren’t already watching it, put it on your watchlist immediately!
LISTENING
Another disaster of a month for listening to anything that isn’t news analysis to try and keep up / understand what the flip is going on in the world. <sigh> Moving on…
WHAT’S GOOD
It has been a blessedly great month, howver, for delicious things to eat - all with a distinctly maritime theme and flavour!
West Cork Sea Salt https://www.westcorkseasalt.ie/
Brother and Sister, Geoff and Jen Wycherly, make their small batch artisan sea salt from sea water collected two miles off Galley Head in deep, cool, pristine Atlantic Waters. They harvest seasonally and use different evaporation methods depending on the time of year. The salt has a unique flavour based on its merroir - a distinctly sweet citric edge, mellow and melting. Also, don’t you just love it when your order arrives with a handwritten note?
Halva Bites from The Hungry Crow
Rich with tahini and honey, crunch from pistachio and peanut, these little doty bites from The Hungry Crow have me absolutely obsessed! The roasty-toasty notes from sesame are what draws you in speaking to your tastebuds on a fundamental level, the honey lingers on your palate, and the sweet burst of nuttiness seals the deal. Love at first bite! https://www.instagram.com/hungry_crow_chocolates/
Alaria, Schull, West Cork https://www.instagram.com/alariawestcork/
A deliciously marina-inspired meal at Alaria restaurant housed inside Schull Harbour Hotel in one of my favourite West Cork towns! The restaurant overlooks the ocean inlet that is home to many a sailing boat and takes its name from a variety of seaweed. Although not exclusively a fish restaurant, this is where you should expect to get most of your flavours from. One of the stand out dishes on the night was a stunning piece of John Dory cooked perfectly and served with a light, fragrant lobster bisque and seasonal veggies. Ciaran Tedford is the head chef here with an impressive back catalogue of former venues he has cooked at; clearly he is reveling in the abundant larder from the sea and land of our gastronimic region. Great fish cookery throughout, and a must-eat place to list for a summer roadtrip to this part of Ireland.
WHAT’S COOKING?
What’s cooking is my home cooking inspired by what’s growing in The Haggart. But, as April is very much the heart of the hungry gap, this month instead I am celebrating the humble sausage - these free range pork and garlic chunky bangers from Glenbrook Farm just outside of Cork city, to be precise!
Sausage, Fennel & Orzo Tray Bake
First of all, I slowly sizzled the sausages until golden all over. These leached out a gorgeously rich and aromatic pork fat into the pan which, after the bangers were seared and set aside, I then seared a quartered fennel bulb in this flavoursome fat. Set aside the caramelised fennel, and then into the remaining pork fat cook down slowly one red onion (halved and sliced thinly on the half moon), a clove of garlic finely chopped, one carrot grated (use a box grater), and a long sweet red pepper cut into chunks. Cook down a little with half a tsp of dried chili, 1 tsp of ground cumin and the same of sweet paprika, lemon zest and juice of half a lemon. Add 250g of orzo pasta, a veg stock cube thing, and a tin of tomatoes. Refill the empty tin half with water to get all the tomatoey goodness in from the tin. Stir all together, season gently with sea salt, and slide into a baking dish. Add in the sausages and fennel quarters, cover with foil, and bake in the oven at 200 C for about 20 mins until the orzo is cooked through and soaked up most of the liquid. Taste for seasoning and adjust if required with salt and pepper. I garnished mine with some left over Macroom Buffalo Greek salad cheese (or feta), fennel fronds reserved from the bulb, Greek basil, and a sliced scallion. Serve to the table as is with some excellent sourdough and Irish butter.
WRITING
Links to articles published in April…
The Echo - The Best of Cork’s Coastal Experiences & Eats for Spring
The Echo - WoW! Bites (April) - Anna’s Darling Dinners
The Echo - Meet The Fish-Fluencers Changing Attitudes to Irish Fish & Seafood
The Echo - Inside UCC’s Food Pantry Redistributing 700kg of Food Each Week
The Echo - Meet Cork’s Trio of Sea Salt Makers
That’s it for this edition of The Flavour Files. See you at the end of May for some more tasty tidbits!