Good food – it’s all about authenticity

Jean-Michel Petit, founder of Viz-Eat.com, the "social dining platform" that matches travellers online with local hosts for a variety dining experiences, is among the speakers at touRRoir, a forum aimed at the food, tourism and culture sectors which takes place in Croke Park, Dublin, on Tuesday, November 1st.

The event is part of Good Food Ireland's 10th anniversary activities, and event director Margaret Jeffares, says the aim is to expand it over the next three years, including attracting international delegates.

Authenticity is the theme of the inaugural forum, which Jeffares says “brings together experts from the food, tourism and culture fields to discuss and debate where this quest for authenticity is taking us and how practitioners in the three sectors can harness it for business success”.

Other speakers include Hillary Smith, Insights Director at Condé Nast's Food Innovation Group, which includes the Bon Appétit and Epicurious media businesses, and Patrick Whyte, UK editor of Skift, a travel industry intelligence platform.

Smith will address the topic of Food Travel and the Search for Authenticity. Whyte's talk, What's the Story, is inthe forum's Communicating Authenticity – Storytelling, Communications and Design Technology strand. Disrupting Dining – The VizEat Story, will be presented by Jean-Michel Petit.

There will also be contributions from homegrown food, tourism and culture experts including restaurateurs JP McMahon, organiser of this week's Food on the Edge symposium in Galway, Kay Harte of Farmgate, Cork and Aran McMahon of Rua, Castlebar.

Good Food Ireland members will collaborate on a gala dinner to conclude the forum and the organisation's Best of the Decade awards will be presented.

Tickets are still available for the event – €150 for Good Food Ireland members, €225 for non-members – to include the forum, lunch and coffee breaks, a networking reception and the gala dinner. See tourroir.com.