...eating alfresco, says Seamus O'Connell, chef-patron of the Ivory Tower in Cork and presenter of RTE's Soul Food.

"It wouldn't be summer without flowers, eating alfresco, easy smiles, ice creams every day, big game fish like bluefin, marlin and shark, wild salmon, summer berries like raspberries and strawberries, mackerel, crabs - I wish we had soft-shell crabs like we have in New York - cycling, watermelon sorbet and scantily clad females."

(In conversation with Catherine Foley)

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When in Eastern Europe...

. . . don't expect to have an easy time eating out in restaurants and cafes if you are vegetarian. Pork comes with everything, all the time, everywhere.

(Rosita Boland)