FOOD FILE:Growing your own is the way to go. The Obamas have planted a kitchen garden on the South Lawn of the White House – a 1,100sq ft plot sewn with 55 types of vegetables selected from a wish list compiled by their chefs – and Paul Flynn has cultivated a formerly neglected corner of Dungarvan, Co Waterford, setting up a kitchen garden for his Tannery restaurant and cookery school.
The land, on to which the new cookery school looks, was formerly abandoned, awaiting redevelopment, but Flynn (pictured below) persuaded the owners, Glanbia, to sponsor its transformation into a market garden, with the help of organic grower and farmers’ market stallholder Tim Yorke.
When fully mature, the garden is expected to produce 90 per cent of the fruit and veg required for the restaurant and cookery school, and it will also be used for courses in market gardening, and to introduce school children to the pleasures of growing . . . and eating their five-a-day.
Next month, there will be a chance to spend a full five days in the company of the chef as he launches the second of his “Paul Flynn’s Kitchen” intensive practical courses. Each day, from 9.30am to 4pm you’ll be immersed in the world of good food – sourcing it, tasting it, cooking with it, and talking about it. The €1,150 fee includes accommodation. See www.tannery.ie. mcdigby@irishtimes.com