A banquet showcasing Irish smoked and cured foods was held at the 29th. Oxford Food Symposium, an annual gathering of food writers, historians, chefs, scholars, anthropologists and foodies from all over the world. Preparations for the Irish feast, the first to be presented there, started last March on St Patrick’s Day when white Duke of York potatoes were planted in the walled gardens of Lissadell House in Sligo for harvesting in July.

This year’s event whose theme was 'Cured, Fermented and Smoked Foods' was held in St Catherine’s College and  drew some 200 people from 28 countries. Founded by the late Alan Davidson, author of 'The Oxford Companion to Food',  the symposium has always attracted Irish interest which has picked up in recent years through the encouragement of organiser Carolin Young, a US food historian and those involved in the culinary arts degree at DIT. .

In charge of the Irish dinner were Padraic Og Gallagher of Gallagher’s Boxty House in Dublin and the award-winning PhD chef from DIT Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire.

Sponsored by Tourism Ireland, the event was preceded by a short film featuring interviews with the farmers and artisan food producers from whom the ingredients for the dinner were sourced.

The menu, which included a map of Ireland showing the various locations of the producers, consisted of cold and warm starters of smoked salmon, eel and mackerel with boxty and treacle bread accompanied by red and white wines. Main course was bacon and corned beef served with York cabbage, new potatoes and champ, along with a mustard and a parsley sauce, and followed by farmhouse cheeses, oatcakes, porter cake and Irish coffee.