Long Table Dinner

Cahir Castle 27 August 2008

A Magical Night of Long Table Castle Cuisine

Medieval ramparts, epicurean delights and a heady mix of the past and present meant guests of the Cahir Castle Long Table Dinner were treated to an exhilarating feast of the five senses on Wednesday night last, August 27th. Dining al fresco within the walls of Ireland’s national monument Cahir Castle and entertained by a traditional piper and harpist, ministers, local government representatives, food producers and journalists gathered to celebrate and savour Tipperary food. In such a wonderful, evocative setting the menu read like a journey around Tipperary, combining exclusively the very best artisan foods from throughout the county. Even the tableware for the evening was provided by Tipperary ceramicist Mandy Parslow.

Over twenty suppliers and producers were involved in creating the delectable menu. A cluster of Tipperary cheeses, Tipperary artisan sausages, locally prepared relishes, chutneys, breads and biscuits, native herbs, fruits and vegetables and indigenous pasture fed premium quality lamb roasted over a large barbeque in full view of the seated guests, was sampled by all. Generous jugs of Bulmers Cider, Juice from The Apple Farm and Tipperary Water were the beverages of choice.

The event was the brainchild of Pat Whelan of the award winning James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel, who wanted to showcase the very best in Tipperary food by creating an entire meal using only food produced and created within the county. Supported by Tipperary SR Enterprise Board, it was the first time a complete banquet was prepared in this way. With such a unique and inspiring food platform the vision was achieved with outstanding success. A new website to promote Tipperary food. was also launched on the night. www.tipperaryfood.ie

The driving force behind the event, Pat Whelan, said, “There are fantastic, quality, natural foods being produced in this county but we tend to view them as individual specialties. Rarely do you get a chance to enjoy them collectively, and that was the basic premise of this evening; bringing everything together to show just how great Tipperary food is and the future potential of doing things together. Of course when it is played out against a backdrop like Cahir Castle, the atmosphere just adds to the experience. It was also a great opportunity to break bread with each other and literally taste the complementary synergies we all bring to the one table. Hopefully tonight is just the spark and the website we’ve created will carry the torch into the future”.

The newly launched website, Tipperaryfood.ie, celebrates the core values of Tipperary artisan food producers. It supports a philosophy that the way we produce food impacts our health and our environment. The ideals proposed ensure a future of sustainability and a thriving food industry that is natural, organic, and free range with the obvious benefits for people and the great natural resource that is Tipperary. Pat Whelan created the website and brings to it a considerable amount of knowledge and expertise. In 2004 James Whelan Butchers launched the first on line butchers service in Ireland. The innovation has been a resounding success with customers all over Ireland and the UK now receiving overnight deliveries of the very best of Tipperary meat and poultry. Awarded an Enterprise of the Year Award and receiving many other accolades since it started, Pat Whelan attributes the success to the natural and traditional processes employed at James Whelan Butchers.

Other producers in the county have the same core values but don’t have that national and international platform. This new website is the start of an initiative to change this situation.”

The event was covered by RTE’s Nationwide team and will be featured in an upcoming programme. The organisers hope that www.tipperaryfood.ie will, over the coming months and years, become a tremendous resource for food lovers all over the world.


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Photography by Peter O'Donnell - thewidereye.com