Well the Terra Madre has been and gone, an incredible amount of work by Donal Lehane and Darina Allen and scores of people (myself not included, as I escaped to the Languedoc, but thanks to Eamon Barrett for adopting that particular mantle)

Anyway, now that the dust has settle it appears to me to have been a terrific success.

The core of the whole event was the workshops when various experts were put into a room together for several hours and asked to answer the question
“If I were the minister what would I do?…
The results of these discussions were fascinating, and read out to Ministers Trevor Sergeant and Michelle Gildernew in a full and open forum.

The social events were also terrific, from the Lord Mayors reception with some brilliant , and previously unheard Balfe songs beautifully sung, to the Feast in the Manor Street Campus where Michael Quinn from the Castle fed 750 of us on spit roast pig and lamb.

The huge farmers market was a treat, I kept bumping into Waterfordians hoping it could happen again. The highlight of that day for us certainly as the results of the match don’t bear thinking about.
Two nice moments.

Eileen O Callaghan from the ICA told me this one;

At the Organics meeting, where there were some preserves for the tasting a man approached her, having tasted a particularly delicious jam, and asked her;
“Is the woman who made that taken?”

While we were all being addressed by Trevor Sergeant the sudden swirl of bagpipes started in the background, knowing that our president Mary McAlise was due, Sergeant started and said “Is that the President?, then quickly recovered and said “She is a multi talented woman !”

I find it hard to credit that the whole event hasn’t been covered by any of the national papers, Shame on them!
However watch Nationwide over the next few days, you may even be able to spot yours truly battling with the elements on a culinary walk around Waterford .