A garden full of food
During the June Bank Holiday the sun really came out here in Dublin, so naturally we were going out – to the Bloom Garden Festival in Phoenix Park, Dublin. I say Garden Festival, but what really much more visible is the food. 🙂
Launched by the Irish Food Board in 2007, the idea of Bloom is to promote irish horticulture, food and drink. Needless to say that we found ourselves in the middle of paradise. Hopping from food booth to food booth, everyone was handing out tasters. Hence, our strategy was to taste pretty much all of them, check out the garden part afterwards and to come back before the event closes and buy a selection of the things we really liked.
Obviously the typical irish products like chips / crisps, ham and craft beer were on the list. But then, I was positively surprised when I saw all the other delicious aliments, like fruits (especially strawberries), duck confit, pasta sauce, soft cheese, pesto and other varieties of seasoning. Why import it from France and Italy when you can produce it yourself?! 🙂
Of course, no real meal is complete without something sweet: Scones and muffins or simply a bit of dark chocolate and some irish shortbread? As you wish!
Don’t forget to check out our video tour of the event!
Last but not least, here’s a list of the stuff we really enjoyed:
- Keogh’s – Wespalstown, Oldtown, County Dublin – Crisps / Chips
- Brady Family – Timahoe, County Kildare – Ham
- Kilmore Quay Seefood – Kilmore Quay, Unit F1, Strandfield Business Park, Rosslare Road, Wexford, County Wexford – Seafood
- Insanely Good – Enterprise Units, 1, 2 & 3, The Square, Dunmanway, County Cork – Pasta Sauce
- Ballymaloe – Courtstown Park, Little Island, County Cork – Relish
- East Coast Bakehouse –Â Donore Road, Drogheda, County Louth – Biscuits
- Gourmet Preserves – Abbeyleix, County Laois – Jams
- Cooleeney Farm –Â Cooleeney, Moyne, Thurles, County Tipperary – Cheese
- Joey’s Farm Crisps – Ballycurraginny, Cork, County Cork – Crisps / Chips
- Wild About – County Wexford – Artisan foods
- Olvi Oils – Unit B12, K.C.R. Industrial Est., Kimmage, Dublin 6W, County Dublin – Oils
- Naomi’s Muffins – West Street, Drogheda, County Louth – Muffins
- Bean and Goose – Last Tree Farm, Wexford, County Wexford – Chocolate
- The Lismore Food Company – Lismore, County Waterford – Biscuits
- OHCo / Organic Herb Company – Unit C9 The Exchange, Calmount Business Park, Ballymount, Dublin 12, County Dublin – Herbs
- Boyne Brewhouse –Â Platin Road, Drogheda, County Meath – Beer
- Dingle Whiskey Distillery –Â Dingle, County Kerry – Whiskey
- Teeling Distillery – 13-17 Newmarket, Dublin 8, County Dublin – Whiskey
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