Page 164 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Food Festivals – Yum!

Our next trip to Ireland – sooner than later, I hope –
will be timed to visit one or more of the island’s food
festivals, more vibrant than ever given the country’s
renewed culinary pride. Yes there are celebrations
of BBQ, Italian and other not-so-Irish cuisines along
with true locavore events like the capital city’s Taste
of Dublin, a four-day foodie extravaganza every June
in scenic Iveagh Gardens, and the six-decades-old
International Oyster and Seafood Festival in Galway in
September.
Harvest months are especially popular for celebra-
tions, with events stretching across the country, from
Dingle to Sligo and Kinsale. One I’d like to sample is
the Waterford Harvest Festival, a long weekend of
tours and tastings with the area’s artisan food pro-
ducers – the popular rasher of bacon originated here
- and popular restaurateurs. Music and markets fill
the center city, visiting chefs serve up specialty meals,
and craft beers, whiskeys, cocktails and more keep the
party going well into the evening.
One star among many at the festival is Kamila
O’Neill, the talented Polish-born creator of Waterford’s
award-winning MOMO, open only four years and
lauded among the country’s top 100 restaurants. Café-
casual and welcoming, MOMO features local fresh
foodstuffs on eclectic, healthy menus that satisfy
omnivores to vegans, all prepared under Kamila’s dis-
cerning eye. Our lunch there, squeezed in during a port
stop on our Celebrity cruise, ranged from a seafood
stew, to a salad of apples and turnips (delivered that
morning by a local grower), and customer-favorite
grilled cauliflower pilaf. When my husband ordered
a soft-drink, Kamila served delicious “botanically
brewed” strawberry lemonade.
After three days of food overload, Waterford fortu-
nately offers a calorie-burning respite on its recently
opened Greenway. This 28 mile biking and hiking trail
along an old railway line wends seaside and inland
past farms, castles, gardens, small towns, aged via-
ducts and modern bridges. Beautiful – and mostly flat
with moderate climbs and declines – it travels from
Waterford to the port town of Dungarvan, where, if
you’ve worked up an appetite, plenty of seaside dining
awaits.
Visit the Waterford Tourist Office for maps of the
greenway and a brochure of foodie destination in the
city and surrounding countryside.

164 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018