Failing to recognise the importance of the food sector to this country

I like to think of myself as a good, plain cook. I enjoy making a decent family dinner, be it with a roast of beef, a chicken or a leg of lamb with all the trimmings. I’m good, too, with mince and stewing beef. The same goes for fish. I’m a dab hand with sauces made from scratch and, dare I say it, I’m a prize-winning baker. I’ve always tried to keep a good table and I deliberately seek out Irish produce.

So, I got a bit of a land recently when most of my food choices were rubbished and I was almost accused of poisoning my family. It all started when I took issue with a restaurant menu. We were out for a family meal to celebrate our daughter Hazel’s wedding to Charlie. One look at the menu and I began to feel the same way vegetarians do when there really isn’t any choice.

Call me conservative, but I’m not into eating rabbit, guinea fowl, pigeon or a risotto. A big steak was my only option until a piece of turbot was organised so I at least had a main course. But it wasn’t the treat I had looked forward to.

A few days later I was in conversation with what you’d describe as a foodie and, instead of being a bit understanding about what I perceived as a lack of balance in the menu, he wanted to know what I’d expected to find on it.

Well, that was easy. A bit of duck wouldn’t have gone astray, or chicken or pork for that matter. A nice piece of lamb would have been welcome or a bit of salmon or cod. And that’s when the tirade started.

In no uncertain terms, I was told that next to no pork produced here was fit to be eaten. Bar for some small exceptions it was the same with chicken. As for salmon, well, what’s farmed here isn’t fit for any table.

These are the kind of blanket assertions that make my blood boil. They totally fail to recognise the importance of the food sector to this country and the huge work that has gone into creating quality standards that are complied with by the vast majority of farmers.

It’s also a form of food snobbery that wouldn’t have you put a morsel in your mouth unless it was organic, produced by vestal virgins with a bit of unicorn hair thrown in for good measure. Cost wasn’t a consideration and if families couldn’t afford these niche and very expensive forms of protein, well tough – they could find their protein sources elsewhere. It really was a case of let them eat beans.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a sign of a food snob among the winners of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild Awards 2015 (page 6). What a bunch of hard working and creative women who, starting from their kitchen tables, have developed food products that have become national brands and are now pushing into export markets. What I found really interesting is that, in some cases, what started as a way of supporting farm income has now become the main source of income on the farm. Well done to one and all.

Finally, thanks to everyone who supported our Irish Country Sound Entertainment Awards on Monday night. We had a packed house at the Hodson Bay Hotel and a little bird tells me that the sun was coming up before the last stragglers made it to bed.