We love a festival in Ireland: music, arts, comedy, horses, ploughing, matchmaking – you name it, we’ve got a festival for it. And it is nothing new. Our festival culture can be traced to pre-Christian times when our ancestors’ calendar year revolved around Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa, Samhain and the festivities that came with them. Food and feasting were always a key component, so it is no surprise that, as our modern-day festivals have grown and become the markers of the year, a unique food culture has developed within them.
Someone who has been a key part of this is Vanessa Clarke. Clarke was running The Good Food Store, an artisan food shop and catering business in Dublin when she was asked to work on ReJoyce 2004, a centenary celebration of Bloomsday, and she organised a Joyce-inspired market on O’Connell Street selling only items featured in Ulysses.
It is no wonder she caught the attention of the late John Reynolds, who was planning his first boutique music festival at Electric Picnic in Stradbally.
“I had a bit of a reputation for doing these things,” says Clarke. “John Reynolds came and found me and said ‘I want to do a festival with no fast food – can you put that together?’ And that was the beginning.”
What Clarke put together for Electric Picnic was in stark contrast to what festivalgoers were used to. No chip vans, no fast-frying food from frozen.
“We wanted home-made food. We brought in falafels, a chai tea tent, Pieminister from the UK, funky stuff like that,” she recalls. “It was really the start of doing food at a festival that was different.”
The offering grew each year and in 2008 Clarke invited food writers John and Sally McKenna to the festival to judge the food stalls with their Bridgestone Guide hats on. Sally remembers those early years well. “It wasn’t like Oxygen or the others,” she says. “They wanted us to put a critical element on to it, to show that this was really serious food; it was a brilliant idea.”
The food was becoming a headline act in its own right and Clarke suggested to the festival organiser, Reynolds, that they dedicate a tent and stage to it. “He said, ‘Absolutely – knock yourself out,’ and we went and made the Theatre of Food.”
They developed a dedicated food tent and stage, with the McKennas on hosting duties. It was the first year, when they had chefs Derry Clarke, Ross Lewis and Paul Flynn on stage, that Sally McKenna knew they were on to something.
“I thought, this is a pivotal moment because these are really serious people and they are on the stage at a music festival and this has never really happened before,” says McKenna. “The whole restaurant scene, everybody wanted to be part of it. It was just a movement of food at festivals and it just made so much sense”.
The whole food set-up made good business sense too, says Clarke, reasoning: “If people have good food in their bellies they have a good experience.”
Then, having the big food names showing up each year helped them book better food. It was a win-win and this Electric Picnic blueprint of only booking good food vendors and adding a stage to go along with it has become the go-to set-up for most Irish festivals, not just the big music ones.
Annette O’Kelly is production director of the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, a boutique festival that happens every June in Co Carlow. They go out of their way to source unusual food vendors and set up an on-site restaurant. They “consider the food to be an integral part of the festival’s success”, and as much a part of the line-up as the talks and events they host.
Fantastic food is something that Cork-based Virginia O’Gara has been bringing to festivals for years and her My Goodness stall is like a beacon of hope in a muddy field.
“Our tagline is ‘Food To Make You Feel Good’, so we’re there to offer delicious food at a festival that is ethical and delicious and actually nourishes you, to help you maximise your enjoyment at festivals,” says O’Gara.
She loves it, but admits it is not easy. “We spend weeks prepping and then you never quite know what’s going to happen; it’s definitely an adventure,” she says.
The pay-off, though, is the sheer breadth of connections they make. “We reach so many different people, we have people coming to see us in Cork afterwards specifically because they met us in a muddy field at some festival. Festivals for us are incredibly good for business. Yes, they are incredibly expensive and taxing, but are they good for business.”
A newcomer to the scene is Alex O’Neill, who runs the Irish-Filipino food business Bahay with her partner and chef Richie Castillo. They are heading into their third summer of trading from fields and, as avid festivalgoers themselves, they love to see how the scene has developed in Ireland.
“Tastes are changing; people are more interested in what they are eating and festival organisers are really taking this on board and thinking about it within the curation of the festival,” she says.
Rathmullan House did crab linguine and it was a game changer in terms of food at a festival. It was so unusual for a posh country house to come to a festival
— Sally McKenna
The couple are working with Clarke this year to set up a sit-down restaurant at Beyond The Pale in June, a first for Bahay but something Clarke is well versed in. She first brought restaurant dining to the fields in her early days of Electric Picnic, when in 2009 she convinced Rathmullan House in Donegal to come to Stradbally. Sally McKenna remembers it well.
“Rathmullan House really changed things,” she says. “They did crab linguine and it was a game changer in terms of food at a festival. I mean it was so unusual for a posh country house to come to a festival.”
She may have done it all before, but working with new businesses such as Bahay and getting new chefs and restaurants into fields is still one of Clarke’s favourite things about working on festivals.
“I still absolutely love it,” she says. “People taking a punt, coming out of their restaurants to work on-site and it working for them, and them loving it. I love to see that. I love helping them to get to the stage where they can trade at a festival.”
And it is this enthusiasm that organisers such as Clarke and the hardworking vendors have for good food, good times and festivals that means, once again, there is a tasty summer ahead.
Wellies at the ready: Where to get a great festival feed this summer
Festival of Writing and Ideas (June 7th- June 9th)
Borris House, Co Carlow
A laid-back literary and ideas festival with excellent local food.
Taste of Dublin (June 13th - June 16th)
Merrion Square, Dublin 2
The original Dublin food festival is always fun – this year look out for Crudo’s The Bear pop-up restaurant.
Beyond The Pale (June 21st - June 23rd)
Glendalough Estate, Co Wicklow
Find Bahay’s restaurant and Beyond The Plate stage among a brilliant music and arts line-up.
All Together Now (August 4th - August 6th)
Curraghmore Estate, Co Waterford
A weekend of music, arts, wellness and great food, including foodie favourite the Grub Circus tent.
Electric Picnic (August 16th - August 18th)
Stradbally Hall, Co Laois
Ireland’s largest music festival where you’ll find the always-buzzing Theatre of Food and a plethora of food trucks across the busy site.
Another Love Story (August 23rd - August 25th)
Killyon Manor, Co Meath
This small-scale, big-heart festival of music, art and conversation is always fuelled by good food.
The Big Grill (August 22nd - August 25th)
Herbert Park, Dublin 4
A big and bold barbecue and food festival with great drinks, demos, talks and music.
Mountain View Markets (every Sunday)
Ballyhale, Co Kilkenny
A weekly market with festival vibes and excellent street food.
