The Good Friday Food Revolution
Joris Minne, Northern Ireland's most respected food critic, takes Jaega Wise on a culinary expedition to show how the politics of peace have helped revolutionise the local food scene.
He remembers how the Troubles destroyed the night time economy and forced the majority of the region's restaruants to pull down the shutters during the 1970's and 80's.
He describes how the Good Friday Agreement, signed twenty five years ago this month, persuaded a group of pioneering chefs to open new restaurants, which encouraged people to start eating out again and to appreciate the value of home grown produce.
Today, Belfast boasts three Michelin starred restaurants; there's a proliferation of cafes and coffee shops; many pubs pride themselves on fresh seasonal menus and there are food trucks everywhere, serving a huge variety of dishes.
Joris introduces Jaega to one of those pioneering chefs, Nick Price, who opened a wine bar in a derelict part of Belfast in the early 1990s. The area has developed into the Cathedral Quarter – the centre of the city's nightlife.
Jaega meets Michele Shirlow, who founded Food NI, an association which promotes local food and helps producers expand their markets.
In Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city, she visits the Walled City Brewery, with its own restaurant and tap room, established on the site of a former British Army base. The brewery was opened by James Huey, who moved to Dublin at the height of the Troubles but was encouraged, by the peace process, to return to his home city to open his own business.
Back in Belfast, Jaega gets the opportunity to taste some artisan dishes at one of Belfast's newest food ventures, Trademarket - a pop up food and retail market, housed in shipping containers in the city centre. Joris says it's a trend driven by a new generation of young chefs and the power of social media - a sign of how much Belfast has caught up with the food culture in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Finally, Jaega calls at the home of Zehara Hundito who runs a small takeway business, A Taste of Ethiopia, from her kitchen. Zehara mixes her own spices and has found a way to make injera flatbread without the traditional Ethiopian teff flour. She's planning to open her own shop and cafe - a reflection of how the peace process has led many different nationalities to choose to live and work in Northern Ireland.....and bring their food customs.
Joris acknowledges that Northern Ireland shares the same economic and social problems as other regions of the United Kingdom and he accepts that the peace process is not yet complete but he's confident that the worst of times are over and that the food revolution is here to stay.
