Adam Richman, presenter of Man vs Food will be sharing the inside track on how he survives the epic feeding sessions he endures for his tv show. Chefs Rowley Leigh of Le Café Anglais in London and Ross Lewis of Chapter One in Dublin will be talking about food as an artform. Bryan Meehan (Bluebottle Coffee) and Colin Harmon (3FE) will update David McWilliams on how coffee culture is taking over the world.
But the major players in technology innovation worldwide who will be attending next month’s Dublin Web Summit will have only one thing on their mind: what’s for lunch. The food provided by members of Good Food Ireland at last year’s summit was so good that it became a talking point among delegates, and epic queues formed to taste what Ireland had to offer.
As a result, a Food Summit has been added to the programme of events taking place on November 4th-6th, and chefs, innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs will take to the food stage for a series of talks.
But they’ll still want lunch, and Good Food Ireland has prepared a plan of action that will see 65 of its members involved in serving three meals a day to in excess of 20,000 delegates from more than 100 countries. The catering hub will based in marquees in Herbert Park, Dublin 4.
More than 50,000 hot dishes will be served over the three days, and special menus are being planned for the 4,000 vegetarians and 1,000 vegans. Wholefood restaurant Cornucopia will be providing 3,000 vegan meals each day – with its kitchen making 50 per cent more food on each of the three days than it does over the course of a normal week. Foods of Athenry has been working on an expanded range of gluten-free and vegan breads, crackers and scones.
Cheesemakers have been scaling up production to cope with demand. Jane Murphy of Ardsallagh goat's cheese is working on 1,750 hand-shaped cheeses that will join Knockanore Cheddar, Cooleeney, Bluebell Falls and Knockdrinna on the cheeseboards. Toby Simmonds of Toonsbridge will be producing 275kg of Irish buffalo mozzarella, and Sharon Greene of Wild Irish Foragers is making 150 pots of crab apple and chilli condiment – in batches of 12.
It’s a world apart from faceless corporate mass catering – most of the food producers involved will be serving the delegates and talking to them about their work. The cost of attending Web Summit, which ranges from €500 up to €1,455 for last minute bookings, includes three meals a day in the food hub.
See websummit.net
