Local firms take original foods to Boyne festival

Handmade cheeses, olives and mezze foods, granola, fruit infused vinegars, cured meats and meringues from artisan producers in Northern Ireland were showcased at a major food festival in the Irish Republic last Sunday.

The local companies were represented at the Irish Food Festival hosted by Sheridan’s Cheesemongers, one of Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale businesses, at its headquarters at Virginia in Co Meath.

The event, revived after being paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is an integral part of the successful Boyne Valley Food Festival.

Among local products showcased on over 100 stalls were those from Burren Balsamics of Richhill; Green Finger’s Family Granola of Larne; Irish Black Butter, Portrush; Ispini Charcuterie, Moira; Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Newtownards; and Tom and Ollie, Belfast, a supplier of olives, mezze foods and cheese.

Tom and Ollie director Shay Mullan says: “Sheridan’s is a valued customer for a range of our products. We are delighted to support the food festival which has been very successful for many local companies especially in the years before the outbreak of the pandemic. This year’s festival was amazing, extremely busy and successful for us. Our business is continuing to grow with Sheridan’s and we look forward to developing our relationship with the company in both short and long terms.”

It was a really busy weekend for Tom and Ollie, which is based in west Belfast, as the company also had stalls at a range of local food markets including Dungannon and Ballycastle.

In addition, the company was among the first to sign up for St George’s Market in Belfast when it was reopened in 1999. It now operates one of the largest stalls each weekend at the market, selling cheeses, artisan breads, roasted tomatoes, pesto and peppers.

And Mike Thomson of Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Newtownards, the producer of the multi award-winning Young Buck blue cheese, also appreciates the support from Sheridan’s.

“Sheridan’s is making an important contribution to the growth of our sales in the Republic, a vitally important marketplace for us,” he says.

Andrea Bohar, the joint founder of Larne’s Green Fingers Family, an award winning producer of granolas and energy balls, adds the small company was delighted to have been invited to take part in such a colourful event that “enabled us to introduce our handmade products to thousands of potential customers in the Republic, a target market for us”.

Sheridan’s food festival began in 2009 as a gathering of the company’s suppliers and has grown into one of the biggest food events of the year in the Republic. The company has been a longstanding supporter of Northern Ireland producers and has assisted many in gaining sales throughout the Republic of Ireland. The family business has successful shops in many parts of Dublin as well as in Cork, Galway, Virginia, Naas, Wicklow, Limerick, Tralee and Waterford.

There were more than 100 of Ireland’s leading food producers as well as workshops and family entertainment for the over 7,000 visitors to the event.

In addition to a group of Northern Ireland suppliers, the event featured producers from across Connacht, Leinster, and Munster that make up the diverse food culture of the island of Ireland.

The ethos of the festival is simple: “Only Irish food on the tables, and only producers behind the tables”.

Sheridan’s implements strict Irish origin only guidelines and insists the producers themselves run their stalls. By doing this and keeping the cost of the stalls to a minimum, it attracts many small Irish food producers which wouldn’t normally be seen at markets and fairs around the country.

The festival offered visitors, both trade and public, opportunities to buy and sample products and meet the producers. Everything from farmhouse cheeses to home- baked desserts, wild food preserves to locally milled flour, to butchers, meat curers, bee keepers, and cider-makers featured at the popular festival.

The popular festival forms part of the Boyne Valley Food Series, a calendar of 45 events and festivals spanning May to September arranged by 50 food businesses in the historic region.

This part of Ireland has also long been synonymous with food production and trade dating as far back as 10,000 years ago. Named the bounty of Ireland for its lush green landscapes and rich pasture the tradition of food production is still very important to the region. Home to a bounty of passionate farmers, food and drink producers, chefs, eateries and accommodation providers whose passion is to bring all the flavours of this unique landscape to the table.

Boyne Valley Flavours initially began when a group of passionate food producers and hospitality providers came together to support and promote the local food offering across the region.