He's famous for his bacon and egg ice-cream, served at The Fat Duck restaurant in London, but Heston Blumenthal is also partial to a bowl of plain vanilla, provided it's Haagen-Dazs.
The molecular gastronomy exponent endorses the brand with the comment: "With my understanding of ice-cream, I have continuously been astonished at the quality, taste and texture that Haagen-Dazs has achieved." Put his opinion to the test by entering a competition to win vouchers for tubs of all 11 flavours in the Haagen-Dazs range currently available in Ireland, plus copies of Blumental's books, In Search of Perfection, and Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking. To enter, e-mail your name, address and telephone number to info@presence.ie. Two winners will be selected at random. Marie-Claire Digby
Farmers to market
Darina Allen and Clodagh McKenna, TV chefs and champions of the farmers' market movement, will address Ireland's first national Farmers' Markets Conference, "Food Fad and Food Future", in Athlone on Monday, July 2nd. The conference, which is being held in the Radisson SAS hotel from 9am to 6pm, is pitched at farmers, food producers and market organisers. There will be workshops, discussions, and plenty of advice on setting up a stall at any one of Ireland's 120 farmers' markets. Securing a future for the markets and developing their full potential is the theme, and Darina Allen will open the conference at 10am with "Farmers' Markets: Where do we go from here?". If you've ever bemoaned the lack of real farmers at the markets, or been disappointed by the selection of products on sale, this is your chance to have your say. The conference is being organised by the Rural Food Company Training Network, and tickets are €120 (incl lunch), with a concession rate of €60 for food producers and stall holders. Book at 071-9640688. Marie-Claire Digby