Neighbour Food among Cork award winners

The Irish Food Writer Guild Food Awards (IFWG) are now in their 27th year and Cork has always had a strong presence among the winners

This year’s awards is slightly different as we can’t celebrate the winners at the usual dinner (always a highlight in my diary) but the restrictions didn’t stop the team selecting some worthy winners.

Why do I prefer the IFWG awards over any other? Because the winners don’t enter a competition – they are selected by the members of the guild who buy the products (no donations). Each winner wins simply on the quality of his or her product.

This year’s winners were selected with the ethos of ‘back to basics’ (regular readers of this column will know that this ethos is close to my heart) – I can only imagine how difficult the selection must have been.

One positive aspect of this pandemic (I almost cursed here), is the back to basics approach many people celebrated.

Let’s start with the Cork winners: Kinsale Red Mead for the drink category – so well deserved. I have a bottle still in the shelf and need to restock soon. Most people might think of mead as sweet but Kate and Denis Dempsey manage to give the drink a dry touch that makes it refreshing in summer and nourishing in winter.

For the food category, you won’t be surprised that Tom Durcan scooped up the top prize with his delicious spiced beef. Using a recipe that dates back to his teenage years, Tom has managed to bring spiced beef across the borders of the county with chefs raving about it.

The Outstanding Organisation Award went to Neighbour Food – most food producers would have been in trouble during lockdown if it hadn’t been for Neighbour Food and the teams across the country. The virtual farmer’s market was started by Jack Crotty and Martin Poucher – most food lovers in Cork will know Jack from the Rocket Man.

Customers can order from their local market online, pay and collect the wares at the assigned pickup time. No lingering around the shop, customers had everything ordered in advance, producers delivered to the venue and the box of produce is brought to the car of the customer – the safest way of shopping for food.

It’s a godsend for producers who would normally rely heavily on the hospitality business. The award is for every Neighbour Food venue in the country – but we have to thank Jack, his mum Simone and Martin for the hindsight they already had in 2018.

The other winners were: Ballymore Organics in Co Kildare bagged the Environmental Award for their organic flours and oats. The Community Food Award went to The Green-Schools Food & Biodiversity Theme for getting food education back to schools (well needed).

The other two food awards went to Abernethy Butter from Co. Down – I haven’t tried the handmade and hand-rolled butter yet but winning the award means it is worth trying to source and Ballymakenny Farm Irish Heritage and Specialty Potatoes, Co. Louth. Irish heritage potatoes are delicious yet supermarkets are still using a lot of imported spuds.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Marion Roeleveld of Killeen Farmhouse Cheese. Marion won the Supreme Champion Irish Cheese Awards in 2019 - not for the first time. The Galway-based cheesemaker creates beautiful semi-hard goats cheese adored by cheese lovers nationwide. Marion is the second cheesemaker to win the lifetime achievement award after Jeffa Gill of Durrus Farmhouse Cheese.

Congratulations to all winners – it comes well deserved.