UDDER GRAND TOURS
I recall hearing about food tours for the first time when I read about rich Americans who would traipse around the best restaurants, vineyards and markets in seventies France gorging themselves on foie gras, truffles and fine wine. This was the privilege of the well to do while the ordinary visitors were happy to be brought on bus tours around a city and heritage sites or just sit by a pool or a beach. The idea of being carted around or driving yourself to visit out of the way olive groves or expensive country house restaurants was just not on the radar for the regular tourist. Food festivals also were really for the locals and if you happened upon one on your travels then you were expected to join in.
I then did a few private gastro visits myself in the eighties and nineties ending up in all sorts of places like yabby fishing in Australia and maple syrup tasting in a Canadian forest. It was only when I was travelling around on some cheffy group trips in the noughties to the likes of Parma in Italy seeing the famous ham, parmesan cheese, salami sausages and balsamic vinegar being made up close that I really appreciated the concept of food tours, markets and festivals.
The of saturation TV cooking, travel shows and social media was to really kick-start the trend in the last twenty years and it can be a nice extra earner for the food producers too once they have good people skills and the time to host a group of enthusiastic visitors on their site. I have been on some trips where the producer or grower was simply in no mood to have a gang of intruders rock up to their gate even though it was pre organized and paid for and you really felt like just turning around and getting back in the bus.
For the foodie members of the public food tours are now a serious option when visiting any country and Ireland has been quick to get in on the act. You can eat and drink your way around most of our cities now being shown how things are done, meeting the owners and even partaking in the preparation yourself be it making bread or creating your very own gin. The rural economy is just as enticing whether you want to make cheese or hunt for wild mushrooms. My own region of the Boyne valley has to be one of the best food tour destinations anywhere now with a superb array of places to see.
The few dozen varieties of food and drink producers that can be visited and explored in Louth and Meath as tours and experiences range from an oyster farm in Carlingford, seeing sea salt in Clogherhead and a garlic farm in Baltray to a working flour mill in Kells, a whiskey tour in Slane and a Beekeeper in Kilmessan. One Boyne valley food tour guide is an award winning veteran chef from the locality who has been a pioneer of Irish food tours and even published a book on the gourmet journey he can bring you on through his FoodEducators company.
A strong and trusting relationship has been established with his hosting artisans and they are very proud to show off their products. My latest outing was being invited to spend a morning at the newish but brilliant Bread with Benefits concept in Skryne which is a workshop and eating experience all about making sour dough and healthy diets which I thoroughly recommend. There is certainly something for everyone in the Boyne valley food tour audience no matter what your interest is with plenty of events throughout the year to get your taste buds into. I am lucky to have worked with some of my local ones in various capacities and the passion for their craft is tangible. It is no easy job being a food producer, a real labour of love it is, so even if you never see how they actually produce their wares the least we can do is buy them when we see them on the shelf in shops or online.
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