As so it begins.....

Why?? Why would I leave a great job in IT, move to Waterford where I know hardly anyone, go back to college and take a job which pays me nothing???

 
Food.

 
Plain and simple.

 

My love of food has always been there. My Mam loves to tell stories of me as a little girl sitting at the table, knife and folk in hand, waiting for dinner to be ready almost taking her arm off as she puts down the plate!

 
I remember it…sitting at the table waiting. The smell making my mouth-water, the heat from the pots simmering, the meat sizzling under the grill or in the pan, the anticipation of the meal that we were about to enjoy. The happiness felt sitting around the table with my family eating fresh, home-cooked food, chattering about the day, fighting over the leftovers, trying to eat as many spuds as my Dad, licking the plate!! Delicious.

 
The kitchen was a safe place, a place of pure pleasure where anything was possible....

 
And so the cooking began. Pastry for the Sunday apple pies, helping with the roast, gravy-taster extraordinaire, peeling the spuds, discovering new flavours....Italian, Indian and Chinese. So much to eat, so much to learn.

 
But for various reasons the decision to follow my passion into the food industry didn't happen. I chose a different path. But a path that got me here. Now. At the right time.

 
And so it begins…. A journey into an industry with so much passion, blood, sweat and tears and of course great (and not so great) food.

 
What I want to do I have no idea, where I want it to take me I don’t know but I do know I want to learn as much as possible – in the kitchens of our busy restaurants, in the farmers markets of our towns and cities, with the small and not-so-small artisan producers, the farmers of our great land and the fishermen of our struggling seas. I want to submerge myself in this industry and at some stage learn how to make a living out of it.

 
I believe we, the Irish, live somewhere very special and spiritual. Our land is pure, fresh, and practically organic, with animals which roam on rolling pastures and fish crystal clean waters. We need to utilize what we have, while respecting the land and seas, and market it to the rest of the world for what it is.

The best.