French foodies bowled over by Irish soup

SOUP-BLENDING AND pie-making foodie favourite Cully Sully is hoping to crack the UK with its range of Ballymaloe-inspired recipes after it became the first Irish food company to win the overall Sial d'Or award in Paris - a "food Oscar".

E-mails and phone calls from Spain, France, the Netherlands, Greece, India and Australia have poured in since Cully Sully took home the prestigious award last Sunday, according to Colum O'Sullivan - aka "Sully".

"We're responding to all the enquiries, but what we really want to do is get into the UK market," said Mr O'Sullivan.

However, he said he was mindful that the Cork-based company, which employs six people, should "crawl before we walk".

The prize was awarded for Cully Sully soups, which are produced in Galway and made using recipes from Ballymaloe House in Co Cork. (The "Cully" half of the duo, Cullen Allen, grew up there.)

Cully Sully, whose soups are packaged in a bowl that allows consumers to eat straight from the container, fended off competition from 248 food brands - including giants such as Kraft and Coca-Cola - from more than 30 countries to take home the overall award, which is aimed at products that have been launched in the past two years.

"The guy from Coca-Cola had a look on his face to say, 'Who the hell are Cully Sully?'. It was like the Eurovision Song Contest," said Mr O'Sullivan.

The company has recently expanded its range of pies and soups, which are marketed as gourmet-quality, artificial preservative-free convenience food. Its chefs use only "kitchen cupboard" Irish ingredients from Bord Bia-approved sources, according to Mr O'Sullivan.

"When you're not using weird things, you have to use good-quality ingredients to make it taste good," he said.