Samhain celebration of Boyne Valley Flavours in weekend foodie symposium

Guest speakers and celebrity chefs at 5,000 years of Irish Food and Culture

Hinterland Festival Kells, the now well-established festival of arts and literature has teamed up with the thriving Boyne Valley Flavours food movement in the region to bring a hybrid weekend of discussion, cooking, culture, poetry, drama, and food. The weekend will reflect the seasonal choice of date and is titled ‘Samhain – 5,000 years of Irish Food and Culture'.

The weekend will commence with the Samhain Symposium on Friday 5th November, focusing on food education and will feature an afternoon of conversation, inspiration and deliberation around the subject of food education and a path for its future in Ireland. Guest speakers will include Darina Allen, Paolo Ferrerani of the University of Gastronomic Science, Pollenzo, Italy and Asier Alea- Director of Global Development at Basque Culinary Center, San Sebastian, Spain.

Devenish Nutrition will present their strategy ‘From Soil to Society’ with Dr John Gilliland and Jane Skackleton and this will be followed by an expert panel to discuss ‘Food Education- a pathway for Ireland’, chaired by Kevin Sheridan with Jacinta Dalton (GMIT), chef Pauric White, and Michelle Darmody.

Following on from the Samhain Symposium there is a host of experiences and events to enjoy, with outdoor, indoor and virtual events featured in the programme. On the Friday evening guests can enjoy Aoife Carrigy performing 'Gifts for the Gab' before embarking on a self-guided Kells Food Fringe tour to some of the finest venues around the town. Saturday and Sunday’s programme offers oodles of events for visitors to choose from with foraging walks, book readings on the farm, immersive producer visits, farmer’s markets, cocktail making classes, musical brunches, whiskey tastings, interactive children's workshops and many more.

Throughout the weekend Samhain will welcome a plethora of well known chefs, food writers and culinary experts including John and Sally McKenna, Darina Allen, Aoife Carrigy, Kristin Jensen, Lily Rameriz-Foran, Gaz Smith, Rick Higgins, Nicola Brady, Dee Laffan, Kevin Sheridan, Russell Alford and Patrick Hanlon AKA GastroGays, Philip Boucher Hayes, Darragh McCullough and Tara Walker to mention just a few, who will host events including cookery demos, panel discussions, farm walks among others.

The Saturday night will see a very special ‘Samhain Supper’ with student chefs from various culinary colleges creating a stunning feast using the very best of Boyne Valley ingredients for an event that involves celebrating the subliminal time that is Samhain with toasts, tales and special performances.

The success of the Boyne Valley food movement has been largely based around the principles of collaboration and this further enhances that movement. Geraldine Gaughran, chairperson of Hinterland, said: “Food events are always hugely popular in our June festival programme, particularly ones that showcase the excellent Boyne Valley produce and we believe that discussions on the environmental considerations of food and food sustainability is of vital importance. So having an entire weekend of food and food culture will undoubtedly be enormously interesting and appealing. And our bookshop partner, Antonia's Bookstore, will be with us over the weekend, so it will be a great opportunity to pick up a book - always a great Christmas gift idea!"

The programme is directed by Olivia Duff of the Headfort Arms Hotel, alongside an enthusiastic committee from the Boyne Valley and will take place in various locations.

“Ireland's food culture is in a wonderful state of revolution and is a result of millennia of agriculture, rich fertile landscape and coastline and in more recent times, passionate food producers, collaboration and a belief in food provenance and sustainability, the weekend sets out to celebrate Ireland's food culture, past, present and future," Ms Duff says.

Tickets are now on sale at www.hinterland.ie