For over a decade, Northern Ireland’s premiere gardening event, Allianz Garden Show Ireland has been championing local food producers from all over the country. Recently, organisers revealed a game menu featuring lobster burgers and wild game as the Show teams up with Food NI for this year’s event, which runs 8-10 May in Antrim Castle Gardens. Helping launch the partnership were Broughgammon Farm in County Antrim, who will offer visitors treats such as wild game, goat burgers and seaweed and Long Meadow Farm in Portadown, who will be pouring their own cider from the farm’s orchards.
This promises to be no ordinary food experience as throughout the weekend the Food Garden at the Show will be filled to the brim with exceptional and unusual local producers creating tasty dishes for visitors to enjoy. The menu will include; delicious steak sandwiches from Armagh based Forthill Farm’s Longhorn and Belted Galloway cattle and handmade sausages from the Farm’s own Saddleback pigs; seasonal wild game, Cabrito (kid goat meat) and hand harvested seaweeds from forward thinking Broughgammon Farm in County Antrim and lobster burgers, Dexter beef shin and Fivemiletown goats cheese fritters from Snack Shack Street Food. In addition, visitors can indulge in traditional breed pork with homemade apple sauce from the Fabulous Food Factory followed by handmade ice cream from the Vintage Ice Cream Bicycle.
In addition, throughout the weekend, local chef Paula McIntyre will be demonstrating how to bring the variety of local produce and flavours together in the Food Pavilion which this year is supported by Food NI – the voice for Northern Ireland’s food and drink industry. Featuring a range of local produce for sale, the Food Pavilion will be home to producers such as Long Meadow Cider – a recently launched brand that is created from 100% natural apples grown on the family farm in Portadown and Broighter Gold – a rape seed oil created by Richard and Leona Kane from Broglasco Farm on the outskirts of Limavady.
Michele Shirlow, Chief Executive Officer at Food NI is excited to be involved in this year’s event, “We at FoodNI/Taste of Ulster are all about showcasing the finest food and drink from Northern Ireland, we promote the people who produce it and distribute it to shops and catering outlets. Our producer members represent everyone from the small artisan to the large scale distributors. The sheer quality of our food and drink has been a secret for far too long. We create showcases for Northern Ireland food at key food events throughout the year and we are delighted to be working with Garden Show Ireland to create a high quality food market. It is shaping up to be a great event – we can’t wait.”
Claire Faulkner, Director of Allianz Garden Show Ireland, “We are always keen to bring new experiences to our visitors and this year the variety of food on offer is staggering. It is fantastic to support these exciting local companies whose passion for their produce is palpable and at the same time to provide new experiences for our visitors. We are extremely grateful to Food NI for their support and look forward to tasting some exceptional local produce.”
Promising a ‘Festival of flowers, food and fun’, the 2015 Allianz Garden Show Ireland programme will focus on bringing the fun of ‘all things garden’ to as many people as possible. Sitting alongside the traditional array of specialist plants, artisan food stalls, local craft and show gardens will be fun filled activities appealing to all age groups – live music, a dedicated kids’ zone, a garden cinema and much more. Plus, the appearance of numerous gardening and food experts, including BBC’s Monty Don who will be appearing at the Show on Saturday 9th May.
The 2015 Allianz Garden Show Ireland will run from 8th – 10th May at Antrim Castle Gardens and is open daily from 10am-6pm with parking adjacent. Adults are £10 (concession £8) and the event is FREE for children under 16. There is a reduced rate for online booking and for more information visit www.gardenshowireland.com.
