‘Sea salt on chocolate and collars of bacon,
Purple potatoes and Irish cheese making,
Beef dripping packages tied up in strings,
These are the GastroGays’ favourite things.’
When it comes to introducing the GastroGays, a little bit of fun is required. Because that’s what Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford do as the GastroGays duo, they have fun and celebrate Irish food every day on their Instagram account and website. Really, their online stories should come with a warning, do not watch if you are hungry.
We jest, but you have to love what the guys are doing. In fact, as you scroll through their online podcast list where they “Chew the Fat” with food producers, there is a sense of deja vú, with many of their interviewees also making it to the front cover of Irish Country Living over the years. We are not implying plagiarism, we would never suggest such a thing, but we are all certainly singing from a similar hymn sheet in our appreciation of Irish food.
For the love of food
Russell explains a little more about what himself and his partner Patrick do. “We are food writers and recipe developers, we are photographers and radio contributors and, most of all, avid food lovers. All the content we create is around food and travel, and we have 
also developed content for clients such as Bord Bia, Clonakilty Black Pudding, Schweppes and Taste of Dublin.”
However, it’s the aforementioned podcasts that they both love most, getting out on the road, interviewing the people cooking and producing our food.
“We have to mention our Nigella moment,” laughs Russell. When they got the beautiful, chocolate finger licking chef to talk about becoming a food writer as well as their mutual love of chips, the lads say it was a pinch-yourself kind of moment.
Boyle Valley
However, there is still a special place in their hearts for their very first episode focused on food of the Boyne Valley. Patrick says: “We’re living just outside Drogheda in this gate lodge, a little cottage that is oozing character and we’re so lucky to have such great producers on our doorstep.”
“On that very first episode, we interviewed Marita Collier from Drummond House who we like to refer to as the ‘Queen of Garlic’ as well as Maria Flynn from Ballymakenny Farm whose purple potatoes are being used by top chefs. We also spoke to Blánaid O’Hare, one of the founders of Listoke 1777 gin. These are three fantastic enterprising women and it wasn’t long after that we became ambassadors of Boyne Valley food.”
In fact, for our interview and photoshoot with the GastroGays we met in the Headfort Arms in Kells, run by Olivia Duff (another previous Irish Country Living cover star).
The hotel hosted their first Samhain festival at the start of November. Russell said: “It was such a great celebration of food in the area with people like Kevin Sheridan of Sheridan Cheesemongers, Michael Finegan who produces Boyne Valley Blue and Bán cheeses and Sally Ann Cooney of Boyne Brewhouse.
“We love travelling around the country to festivals and food events but we think the food scene in the Boyne Valley is raising the bar.”
Being the GastroGays
Although the Boyne Valley is now home for the GastroGays, their journey started in Dublin when they first met in DCU before they moved to London where they lived for four years. They are back home working as the GastroGays full time for the past two years, but the brand has been in existence since 2013.
“You’d wouldn’t believe it but the brand name ‘GastroGays’ came about after a few glasses of wine,” they both explain laughing. Patrick says: “We love eating out and tasting new things so we would be having a meal in a restaurant, posting pictures on social media and we thought it would be hilarious to use the hashtag #gastrogays.
“So essentially, our entire existence came through a few glasses of wine and a hashtag. It started as a hobby and I don’t think either of us ever thought it would lead to 36,000 followers across Instagram and Twitter. But here we are.”
As much as they laugh though, they do say in seriousness that a brand name like the GastroGays has its limitations.
“We haven’t had any issues per sé, but there is a perception about the gay part of our brand. You see it around June, when Pride is coming up. Suddenly we start getting requests from people or companies that have ignored us for years, it’s so transparent, that token gay connection. We absolutely advocate for LGBT issues, but it’s not everything we are about. We are about the food,” they proclaim.
Overcoming obstacles
The brand has made their identity very public but it is something they say is so much more accepted now compared to if they were in business 10 years ago.
“The difference in a decade has been transformative, and it’s so positive,” says Russell. “I’m 28 and I came out to my parents nine years ago. My family have always been accepting and inclusive, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still petrified. I was so worried that this one thing would change everything.
“Thankfully, it didn’t and obviously, there was a period of us all getting used to me coming out. But now I think my parents prefer Patrick to me,” he says in jest.
“But that was still a very hard time for me, it was lonely, I felt like an outsider. I definitely think over the past 10 years – and especially with the referendum – we are living in a much more accepting society where a brand like the GastroGays can prosper and be accepted like we intended. That yes, we are gay and a couple, and we work together but the ‘gastro’ element of the brand is our real focus, exploring the Irish food scene.”
Dealing with a stammer
Having that public profile can have its challenges though, especially for Patrick who has had a stammer his whole life.
“Interviewing chefs or being interviewed myself on radio can be a challenging element of the job but I refuse to let my stammer stop me doing the job I love.” Patrick does admit however, that it has been a long road to building that confidence. “Growing up, I was in a small primary school outside of Drogheda where I prospered, but then I went to a big secondary school where it was all about fitting in with the crowd rather than standing out and it was a huge shock to the system. As each year went past in school, I became more and more introverted and shy. I would dread being asked a question in school.
“My stammer has hugely affected my confidence, it has impacted everything I have ever done, but the one thing I refused to let it affect was my determination to go to college to study journalism. Not the easiest course to take on with a stammer. There were radio modules, TV presentations and lots of group projects.”
However, when he was 21 Patrick joined the McGuire Programme, which he said was transformative.
“It is an intense course that teaches you a combination of tools and techniques to control your speech. For example, when we speak we use the costal part of our diaphragm but in order to get extra breath, opera singers and top performing athletes learn to breathe from the crural part of the diaphragm.
“This part of the diaphragm isn’t trained to react to fear in the same way the costal part is so breathing from deep within your diaphragm can really help people with a stammer.
“It’s not just that though,” Patrick continues. “The course is taught by people who stammer themselves so they understand the anxiety, the fear and the triggers and that also helps people work through the psychological aspects of the stammer. The course had such a positive impact on me, I now teach it across the country.
“I still stammer every day and some situations are more challenging than others but I sitting here being interviewed for the Irish Farmers Journal and it has given me that confidence.”
Christmas Treats
Before leaving the GastroGays, Irish Country Living has to ask what is going to be on the table at Christmas, in an effort to prepare us for the mouth-watering teasing that will be on their social media over the festive season. “We’ll have a big free-range turkey reared by Olivia Duff and her husband Eoin on their farm, we adore Hugh Maguire collar of bacon and then some traditional Christmas cake for dessert. We’re hosting and we can’t wait.”
‘Sea salt on chocolate and collars of bacon,
Purple potatoes and Irish cheese making,
Beef dripping packages tied up in strings,
These are the GastroGays’ favourite things.’
When it comes to introducing the GastroGays, a little bit of fun is required. Because that’s what Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford do as the GastroGays duo, they have fun and celebrate Irish food every day on their Instagram account and website. Really, their online stories should come with a warning, do not watch if you are hungry.
We jest, but you have to love what the guys are doing. In fact, as you scroll through their online podcast list where they “Chew the Fat” with food producers, there is a sense of deja vú, with many of their interviewees also making it to the front cover of Irish Country Living over the years. We are not implying plagiarism, we would never suggest such a thing, but we are all certainly singing from a similar hymn sheet in our appreciation of Irish food.
For the love of food
Russell explains a little more about what himself and his partner Patrick do. “We are food writers and recipe developers, we are photographers and radio contributors and, most of all, avid food lovers. All the content we create is around food and travel, and we have
also developed content for clients such as Bord Bia, Clonakilty Black Pudding, Schweppes and Taste of Dublin.”
However, it’s the aforementioned podcasts that they both love most, getting out on the road, interviewing the people cooking and producing our food.
“We have to mention our Nigella moment,” laughs Russell. When they got the beautiful, chocolate finger licking chef to talk about becoming a food writer as well as their mutual love of chips, the lads say it was a pinch-yourself kind of moment.
Boyle Valley
However, there is still a special place in their hearts for their very first episode focused on food of the Boyne Valley. Patrick says: “We’re living just outside Drogheda in this gate lodge, a little cottage that is oozing character and we’re so lucky to have such great producers on our doorstep.”
“On that very first episode, we interviewed Marita Collier from Drummond House who we like to refer to as the ‘Queen of Garlic’ as well as Maria Flynn from Ballymakenny Farm whose purple potatoes are being used by top chefs. We also spoke to Blánaid O’Hare, one of the founders of Listoke 1777 gin. These are three fantastic enterprising women and it wasn’t long after that we became ambassadors of Boyne Valley food.”
In fact, for our interview and photoshoot with the GastroGays we met in the Headfort Arms in Kells, run by Olivia Duff (another previous Irish Country Living cover star).
The hotel hosted their first Samhain festival at the start of November. Russell said: “It was such a great celebration of food in the area with people like Kevin Sheridan of Sheridan Cheesemongers, Michael Finegan who produces Boyne Valley Blue and Bán cheeses and Sally Ann Cooney of Boyne Brewhouse.
“We love travelling around the country to festivals and food events but we think the food scene in the Boyne Valley is raising the bar.”
Being the GastroGays
Although the Boyne Valley is now home for the GastroGays, their journey started in Dublin when they first met in DCU before they moved to London where they lived for four years. They are back home working as the GastroGays full time for the past two years, but the brand has been in existence since 2013.
“You’d wouldn’t believe it but the brand name ‘GastroGays’ came about after a few glasses of wine,” they both explain laughing. Patrick says: “We love eating out and tasting new things so we would be having a meal in a restaurant, posting pictures on social media and we thought it would be hilarious to use the hashtag #gastrogays.
“So essentially, our entire existence came through a few glasses of wine and a hashtag. It started as a hobby and I don’t think either of us ever thought it would lead to 36,000 followers across Instagram and Twitter. But here we are.”
As much as they laugh though, they do say in seriousness that a brand name like the GastroGays has its limitations.
“We haven’t had any issues per sé, but there is a perception about the gay part of our brand. You see it around June, when Pride is coming up. Suddenly we start getting requests from people or companies that have ignored us for years, it’s so transparent, that token gay connection. We absolutely advocate for LGBT issues, but it’s not everything we are about. We are about the food,” they proclaim.
Overcoming obstacles
The brand has made their identity very public but it is something they say is so much more accepted now compared to if they were in business 10 years ago.
“The difference in a decade has been transformative, and it’s so positive,” says Russell. “I’m 28 and I came out to my parents nine years ago. My family have always been accepting and inclusive, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still petrified. I was so worried that this one thing would change everything.
“Thankfully, it didn’t and obviously, there was a period of us all getting used to me coming out. But now I think my parents prefer Patrick to me,” he says in jest.
“But that was still a very hard time for me, it was lonely, I felt like an outsider. I definitely think over the past 10 years – and especially with the referendum – we are living in a much more accepting society where a brand like the GastroGays can prosper and be accepted like we intended. That yes, we are gay and a couple, and we work together but the ‘gastro’ element of the brand is our real focus, exploring the Irish food scene.”
Dealing with a stammer
Having that public profile can have its challenges though, especially for Patrick who has had a stammer his whole life.
“Interviewing chefs or being interviewed myself on radio can be a challenging element of the job but I refuse to let my stammer stop me doing the job I love.” Patrick does admit however, that it has been a long road to building that confidence. “Growing up, I was in a small primary school outside of Drogheda where I prospered, but then I went to a big secondary school where it was all about fitting in with the crowd rather than standing out and it was a huge shock to the system. As each year went past in school, I became more and more introverted and shy. I would dread being asked a question in school.
“My stammer has hugely affected my confidence, it has impacted everything I have ever done, but the one thing I refused to let it affect was my determination to go to college to study journalism. Not the easiest course to take on with a stammer. There were radio modules, TV presentations and lots of group projects.”
However, when he was 21 Patrick joined the McGuire Programme, which he said was transformative.
“It is an intense course that teaches you a combination of tools and techniques to control your speech. For example, when we speak we use the costal part of our diaphragm but in order to get extra breath, opera singers and top performing athletes learn to breathe from the crural part of the diaphragm.
“This part of the diaphragm isn’t trained to react to fear in the same way the costal part is so breathing from deep within your diaphragm can really help people with a stammer.
“It’s not just that though,” Patrick continues. “The course is taught by people who stammer themselves so they understand the anxiety, the fear and the triggers and that also helps people work through the psychological aspects of the stammer. The course had such a positive impact on me, I now teach it across the country.
“I still stammer every day and some situations are more challenging than others but I sitting here being interviewed for the Irish Farmers Journal and it has given me that confidence.”
Christmas Treats
Before leaving the GastroGays, Irish Country Living has to ask what is going to be on the table at Christmas, in an effort to prepare us for the mouth-watering teasing that will be on their social media over the festive season. “We’ll have a big free-range turkey reared by Olivia Duff and her husband Eoin on their farm, we adore Hugh Maguire collar of bacon and then some traditional Christmas cake for dessert. We’re hosting and we can’t wait.”
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