In honour of International Women’s Day 2026, Irish Country Living wants to applaud every rural woman working in food, bravely starting a new business, or leading the way in restaurant kitchens.
These three trailblazing women in Irish food prove: it doesn’t matter what age you are, where in the country you are living or how ‘wacky’ you think your business idea might sound to others – if you have the drive, passion and belief in what you’re doing, you can succeed.
Emily O’Callaghan,
Aquila Apothecary and Kitchen
Emily O’Callaghan took a chance and purchased property on Achill Island in 2021. In several weeks’ time, her dream of opening a small apothecary shop, specialising in products made with native ingredients, will become a reality. Her location along the Co Mayo Greenway will be an ideal pit-spot for cyclists and visitors looking for a true taste of the island. Emily has ancestral roots on Achill but spent her formative years in Dublin. Like many during the pandemic, she began to yearn for life in a rural setting.
“I fell out of love with Dublin, and I started to crave the countryside,” she explains. “When I moved, it felt surreal – but it didn’t feel like a moment too soon – it was what I needed. My whole heart is in cultivating this practise.”
Everything Emily has done has been working toward the opening of Aquila Apothecary and Kitchen. Aquila is the Latin name for Achill, and it will symbolise Emily’s apothecary and also her future endeavour: creating Ireland’s first-ever agave spirit. She has been quietly cultivating agave plants on her land, which she aims to make into a tequila-esque spirit. The end goal? To open a micro-distillery specialising in the Achill grown-and-made spirit, as well as a visitor’s centre.
“Like champagne, tequila is a DOC [a protected designation of origin],” Emily says. “So tequila-like drinks made elsewhere are usually known as agave spirits, or mescal. For an Achill-made agave spirit, Aquila makes perfect sense. It’s the word for golden eagles, which Achill used to be covered in.”
With a mixed background in film, journalism, photography and hospitality, this business is a culmination of something Emily has been preparing for her whole life.
“When I first moved to Achill I was working remotely for a tech company, and I could feel my soul leaving my body,” she says. “I want to put 100% of myself into this.
“I would like a purpose-built building, so I’m currently looking at all the grants and putting together an investor proposal.
“There has been a real surge in tequila consumption around the world. It’s become so much more than a shot in Copper’s on a Friday night. It’s respected and sipped, like whiskey. It’s terroir driven, too. On Achill, the land and sea contribute to the flavour of all its mineral products.”
@achillapothecary on Instagram
Marie Holden is co-owner of West of Dingle Sea Salt, a multi-award winning food company on the Dingle Peninsula. \ Aidan Fitzgerald
Marie Holden,
West of Dingle Sea Salt
In 2021, Marie Holden was working as a potter on the Dingle peninsula when she and her husband, Brian, first made sea salt.
“It was boredom more than anything,” she says, laughing.
“It was during the pandemic and we couldn’t go anywhere. Brian is a chef and he and I always wanted to operate a food business, we just weren’t sure what. He saw a documentary about sea salt and said, ‘I’m going to collect some sea water.’ And that was that.
“Our area is affectionately known as ‘West of Dingle’, so that is what we called our business. The spot where we collect the sea water is visible from our window.”
From their first test batches, Marie could sense they had something special. There is a salt-making tradition on the Dingle Peninsula stemming back generations, but as food industrialised, the practice died out. She and Brian began to make salt through the traditional evaporation process, first by heating the sea water and then filtering the resulting brine. Once the brine is placed in evaporation pans, salt crystallisation naturally occurs.
This salt is a true taste of their local ‘merroir’ – a simple way to savour the Atlantic. West of Dingle offers it in its original form, or with natural flavours like Lemon & Rosemary and Smokehouse Rub, both Blas na h’Éireann award winners.
“Learning how to run a food business has been great, but also difficult,” Marie reflects. “You learn as you go; there’s no book on making sea salt; no shop for the equipment. It’s a constant learning curve, but we love it.”
Marie is now full-time in the business and West of Dingle Sea Salt can be found in shops like Avoca, Fallon & Byrne, Ardkeen in Waterford and Kate’s Kitchen in Sligo. Their next steps will be to stay small batch but streamline production and offer a tailored visitor experience to share the history of sea salt within their locality.
“There’s an appetite for a visitor experience, and we’ve had people contacting us because they want to see what we do,” she says. “That’s the dream!”
westofdingle.ie
Shauna Murphy has already achieved so much in her chef's career, but really, she is just getting started.
Shauna Murphy,
Young Chef of the Year winner
Shauna Murphy is already a high achiever – winning Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year in 2023, being named in The Irish Times 50 People to Watch in 2024, and then, in 2025, winning Food & Wine Ireland’s Young Chef of the Year. But even with all of these accolades, she is only at the beginning of what we know will be a long, rich career in food (and we can’t wait to see where she goes).
From Cappamore, Co Limerick, Shauna’s roots are planted in rural Irish food. Her first culinary heroes were her grandmother, who grew her own vegetables, and her cousin, a talented baker. As she studied culinary arts and moved into restaurant kitchens, Shauna gleaned inspiration from other trailblazing Irish chefs like Anna Haugh, Clare Smyth, Danni Barry and Gráinne O’Keefe.
Now, as senior sous chef at two Michelin-starred restaurant Terre (at the Castlemartyr Resort in Co Cork), Shauna strives for greatness in the kitchen and equality within the industry.
“I love where I work, but I think there’s still a long way to go for women in professional kitchens,” she says. “It’s gotten better, but there’s still work to do and representation to be had. Even just doing the Euro-Toques Young Chef competition, there have been girls who said they saw me go through it and thought, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’”
Terre welcomed their new executive chef, Lewis Barker in 2025 and Shauna says the kitchen environment in Terre is exciting and dynamic. On her off days, she has been collaborating on pop-up dining events, most recently, the HOME GROUND event with The Gathering Table in Dublin, which took place on 1 March.
“I love how great the food is [at Terre] and working with this team,” she says. “We have great local ingredients here in east Cork, fantastic suppliers. There is something special about fine dining – I love the tableside service and being interactive with the guests.
“I would have big goals for myself,” she adds, “but I’m always aware not to let my ego eat me up. The moment you let it in, you stop learning.”
@shaunasmurphy on Instagram
In honour of International Women’s Day 2026, Irish Country Living wants to applaud every rural woman working in food, bravely starting a new business, or leading the way in restaurant kitchens.
These three trailblazing women in Irish food prove: it doesn’t matter what age you are, where in the country you are living or how ‘wacky’ you think your business idea might sound to others – if you have the drive, passion and belief in what you’re doing, you can succeed.
Emily O’Callaghan,
Aquila Apothecary and Kitchen
Emily O’Callaghan took a chance and purchased property on Achill Island in 2021. In several weeks’ time, her dream of opening a small apothecary shop, specialising in products made with native ingredients, will become a reality. Her location along the Co Mayo Greenway will be an ideal pit-spot for cyclists and visitors looking for a true taste of the island. Emily has ancestral roots on Achill but spent her formative years in Dublin. Like many during the pandemic, she began to yearn for life in a rural setting.
“I fell out of love with Dublin, and I started to crave the countryside,” she explains. “When I moved, it felt surreal – but it didn’t feel like a moment too soon – it was what I needed. My whole heart is in cultivating this practise.”
Everything Emily has done has been working toward the opening of Aquila Apothecary and Kitchen. Aquila is the Latin name for Achill, and it will symbolise Emily’s apothecary and also her future endeavour: creating Ireland’s first-ever agave spirit. She has been quietly cultivating agave plants on her land, which she aims to make into a tequila-esque spirit. The end goal? To open a micro-distillery specialising in the Achill grown-and-made spirit, as well as a visitor’s centre.
“Like champagne, tequila is a DOC [a protected designation of origin],” Emily says. “So tequila-like drinks made elsewhere are usually known as agave spirits, or mescal. For an Achill-made agave spirit, Aquila makes perfect sense. It’s the word for golden eagles, which Achill used to be covered in.”
With a mixed background in film, journalism, photography and hospitality, this business is a culmination of something Emily has been preparing for her whole life.
“When I first moved to Achill I was working remotely for a tech company, and I could feel my soul leaving my body,” she says. “I want to put 100% of myself into this.
“I would like a purpose-built building, so I’m currently looking at all the grants and putting together an investor proposal.
“There has been a real surge in tequila consumption around the world. It’s become so much more than a shot in Copper’s on a Friday night. It’s respected and sipped, like whiskey. It’s terroir driven, too. On Achill, the land and sea contribute to the flavour of all its mineral products.”
@achillapothecary on Instagram
Marie Holden is co-owner of West of Dingle Sea Salt, a multi-award winning food company on the Dingle Peninsula. \ Aidan Fitzgerald
Marie Holden,
West of Dingle Sea Salt
In 2021, Marie Holden was working as a potter on the Dingle peninsula when she and her husband, Brian, first made sea salt.
“It was boredom more than anything,” she says, laughing.
“It was during the pandemic and we couldn’t go anywhere. Brian is a chef and he and I always wanted to operate a food business, we just weren’t sure what. He saw a documentary about sea salt and said, ‘I’m going to collect some sea water.’ And that was that.
“Our area is affectionately known as ‘West of Dingle’, so that is what we called our business. The spot where we collect the sea water is visible from our window.”
From their first test batches, Marie could sense they had something special. There is a salt-making tradition on the Dingle Peninsula stemming back generations, but as food industrialised, the practice died out. She and Brian began to make salt through the traditional evaporation process, first by heating the sea water and then filtering the resulting brine. Once the brine is placed in evaporation pans, salt crystallisation naturally occurs.
This salt is a true taste of their local ‘merroir’ – a simple way to savour the Atlantic. West of Dingle offers it in its original form, or with natural flavours like Lemon & Rosemary and Smokehouse Rub, both Blas na h’Éireann award winners.
“Learning how to run a food business has been great, but also difficult,” Marie reflects. “You learn as you go; there’s no book on making sea salt; no shop for the equipment. It’s a constant learning curve, but we love it.”
Marie is now full-time in the business and West of Dingle Sea Salt can be found in shops like Avoca, Fallon & Byrne, Ardkeen in Waterford and Kate’s Kitchen in Sligo. Their next steps will be to stay small batch but streamline production and offer a tailored visitor experience to share the history of sea salt within their locality.
“There’s an appetite for a visitor experience, and we’ve had people contacting us because they want to see what we do,” she says. “That’s the dream!”
westofdingle.ie
Shauna Murphy has already achieved so much in her chef's career, but really, she is just getting started.
Shauna Murphy,
Young Chef of the Year winner
Shauna Murphy is already a high achiever – winning Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year in 2023, being named in The Irish Times 50 People to Watch in 2024, and then, in 2025, winning Food & Wine Ireland’s Young Chef of the Year. But even with all of these accolades, she is only at the beginning of what we know will be a long, rich career in food (and we can’t wait to see where she goes).
From Cappamore, Co Limerick, Shauna’s roots are planted in rural Irish food. Her first culinary heroes were her grandmother, who grew her own vegetables, and her cousin, a talented baker. As she studied culinary arts and moved into restaurant kitchens, Shauna gleaned inspiration from other trailblazing Irish chefs like Anna Haugh, Clare Smyth, Danni Barry and Gráinne O’Keefe.
Now, as senior sous chef at two Michelin-starred restaurant Terre (at the Castlemartyr Resort in Co Cork), Shauna strives for greatness in the kitchen and equality within the industry.
“I love where I work, but I think there’s still a long way to go for women in professional kitchens,” she says. “It’s gotten better, but there’s still work to do and representation to be had. Even just doing the Euro-Toques Young Chef competition, there have been girls who said they saw me go through it and thought, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’”
Terre welcomed their new executive chef, Lewis Barker in 2025 and Shauna says the kitchen environment in Terre is exciting and dynamic. On her off days, she has been collaborating on pop-up dining events, most recently, the HOME GROUND event with The Gathering Table in Dublin, which took place on 1 March.
“I love how great the food is [at Terre] and working with this team,” she says. “We have great local ingredients here in east Cork, fantastic suppliers. There is something special about fine dining – I love the tableside service and being interactive with the guests.
“I would have big goals for myself,” she adds, “but I’m always aware not to let my ego eat me up. The moment you let it in, you stop learning.”
@shaunasmurphy on Instagram
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