CELEBRITY CHEF Neven Maguire has said that raising VAT to 23 per cent is “shooting ourselves in the foot” and will lead to more shoppers going across the Border into Northern Ireland.
He said the Government “wants us to stay here and shop here, but where is the enticement if the VAT goes up?”
“I don’t think it will help anybody – not the consumers who will have to pay more, not the shops that are struggling, and it’s the last thing we need with incomes already being affected.”
He said his restaurant, MacNean House in Blacklion, Co Cavan, has had its “best year yet” because it offered “quality and value for money”.
He concurred with the findings of a new survey that found more people were cooking from scratch at home and that 45 per cent hosted dinner parties at least once a month, with most spending more than €50 on ingredients.
Maguire favours cooking at home, saying: “A love of food starts at home and with things like home economics.”
He was speaking at the Taste of Louth food festival and said he had been “blown away” by the great produce and producers from the county that he met there.
His advice to home chefs was to “cook food that is in season, it tastes better, it is better value and is better all round”.
He also said it encouraged people to shop at home.
The survey, by Consumer Intelligence and carried out by Empathy Research, found Leinster people spent an average of €76-€100 on food for their parties, more than their counterparts from the other regions in Ireland.
Angela Healy, research director for online research at Empathy, said: “Our love of cooking is on the rise and almost three-fifths [59 per cent] of participants in our recent survey entertain at home more due to the current recession.”
Ms Healy said 64 per cent of participants aged between 35 and 44 said their local supermarkets did not stock all they needed for hosting their dinner parties.
The survey appeared to reflect that the love of cooking in Ireland is on the rise, with almost 59 per cent of respondents having friends around for an evening meal.
The survey was based on a sample of 1,000 people living here and aged between 18 and 44.
Meanwhile, a new recipe video channel website from Avonmore, the dairy division of Glanbia, coincides with the recent findings on eating habits of Irish people.
Eithne O’Hara, Avonmore brand manager, said many people were influenced by the amount of cookery programmes on TV.
“People want to be more adventurous but are also conscious that they have a lot to learn,” she said.
“That’s what the Cookwithavonmore.ie site is about.
“It shows you how to prepare creative dishes that are easy to produce.”