“This is the best food event that I have attended in the last 10 years!” These were the opening words of John McKenna, editor of The Bridgestone Guide, as he addressed the participants and guests at the Kilkenny County Enterprise Board’s ‘Create a Taste’ launch of new food products in Castlecomer last Saturday.
The event, which was part of the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival, represented the culmination of 9 months of hard work for the 12 dedicated food producers from Kilkenny and neighbouring counties, who participated in the ‘Create a Taste Programme,’ and who were supported to each develop at least one new food product during the Programme. The support included advice on everything from product testing, product development, sensory analysis, packaging, marketing and branding through to product costing and pricing.

On Saturday last in the beautiful setting of the Castlecomer Discovery Park, the invited guests were treated to the fruits of their labour. The menu began with an Apple Juice Aperitif, followed by 6 savoury taste bites, 9 dessert taste bites, and finished off with an after lunch digestiv. Each of the taste bites was accompanied by a short presentation from its producer, providing a background to their business, details of their product and also their ambitions for their business going forward. 

John McKenna said he was truly overwhelmed by the standard of products on display and the passion of the food producers involved in what they do. He said “If this event was in Paris, Frankfurt or San Francisco, we would expect to see the glorious array of new products being presented in such excellent fashion, but the fact that it is here in Kilkenny makes the achievements of the participants all the more fantastic.” He went on to say that “every county in the country should now copy the model developed by the Kilkenny County Enterprise Board as best practice in nurturing and developing indigenous food produce.”

Fiona Deegan, Kilkenny County Enterprise Board, explained that “Food producers, particularly smaller producers, are faced with competition from imports, cheaper substitutes available through multiples and the emergence of very specific groups of food consumers.  The identification of new products with tangible and unique differentiating characteristics is therefore of primary importance, as many smaller food producers cannot compete on price. Innovative thinking processes can often uncover new products or services that have previously been overlooked. And we aimed to assist local food producers meet these challenges on the Create a Taste Programme.”

The Programme began last February, and participants met every second Tuesday morning and were provided with intensive, focused new product development strategies.  They were challenged to think about product development processes in an innovative, creative and customer focused manner and they all had access to specialist advice and mentoring.  It also provided the participants with access to a network where they could learn from one another as well as raise issues of common concern.

The Programme certainly proved successful as evidenced by the wonderful array of new products that were developed by the participants and displayed in Castlecomer at the weekend. There were two Awards presented to participants on Saturday. John McKenna presented the Most Innovative Food Product Award to Christine Jordan of Tasteworks, Carlow for her savoury and sweet pastry line; and John Hickey, of Enterprise Ireland First Sale Programme, presented Nigel Harper, Cramers Grove Ice-Cream, Kilkenny with the Most Commercial New Product Award. John Hickey said that Cramers Grove ice cream was simply the best he has tasted in years.

The other participants on the Programme were: Tina Mosse from Denedin Apple Farm, Bennettsbridge; Mags Kirwan, Goatsbridge Trout Farm in Thomastown; Trevor Cunningham, Bia Suir Meats, Ferrybank; Olivia Goodwillie, Lavistown House, Kilkenny;  Helen Finnegan, Knockdrinna Cheese and Finnegan’s Farm Shop, Stoneyford, Kilkenny; Roseanne O’ Brien  & Eadaoin Walsh, The Two Little Cooks, based in Thomastown; Mary Mc Evoy from A Slice of Heaven based in Piltown; Don Browne, Sowan’s Organic Chocolate Brownies, Stradbally, Co. Laois; Jackie Hoyne, from The Blackberry Café in Thomastown; and Anne Neary of Ryeland House Cookery School.