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Displaying items by tag: Dr Prannie Rhatigan

#maritimefestival – Food critic Sally McKenna, TV chef Darina Allen and food writer Dr. Prannie Rhatigan are among the participants in the 2014 Burren Slow Food Festival, which takes place tomorrow and Sunday.

Supported by the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark and also featuring members of the Burren Food Trail and the Burren Adventure, the 8th annual festival is being held at various venues throughout Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare.

As Afloat.ie reported recently, Seaweed is a common theme across the Festival Programme this year.

Author of "Irish Seaweed Kitchen", Prannie Rhatigan GP is hosting a demonstration and talk on how the thousands of tonnes of seaweed washed up on Irish coastline each day can be exploited for their potential as a foodstuff.

Meanwhile, Sally McKenna of John and Sally McKennas' Guides (formerly The Bridgestone Guide) and Stefan Kraan, author of "The Science and Gastronomy of Umami", will be discussing the benefits for Ireland's seafood industry in harvesting seaweed.

The festival also features food sampling of local artisan foods, a chance to meet local producers and growers, engage with fellow foodies, and enjoy cookery demonstrations from well-known chefs including Jess Murphy, Kai Restaurant, Galway; John Sheedy, Sheedy's, Lisdoonvarna; and Aidan McGrath, Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna.

Other highlights of the weekend include a talk by Slow Food Ireland President and chef Darina Allen; a Wild Food Foraging Walk hosted by Oonagh O'Dwyer from Wild Kitchen in Lahinch; and a demonstration of the essential skills of making handcrafted fine chocolates by Burren Chocolatier and Burren Food Trail Kasha Connolly.

The main festival banquet on Saturday night will be prepared by Vivian Kelly of Kierans Kitchen at the Roadside Tavern who will serve Gleninagh Lamb, Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon, desserts from Fabiola's Pâtisserie and wines from Burren Fine Wine & Food.

Published in Maritime Festivals

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).