Japan and Saudi Arabia would not, at first glance, seem like markets for Irish farmhouse cheese, but these are two new markets which have opened up to Ardrahan cheese, produced on a dairy farm near Kanturk in Co Cork.
The cheese, made by Mrs Mary Burns, won the best Irish cheese award at the British Cheese Awards in London last year and next month, she is due in New York for a major promotion of the semi-soft cheese in the United States.
Ardrahan is only one of a number of farmhouse cheeses on show at the IFEX fair at the RDS. Others include the St Tola soft and hard goat's cheeses from Inagh Farmhouse Cheese in Co Clare, made by Mr John McDonald with milk from his herd of 150 milking goats; Boilie soft cheese from Ryefield Farms in Co Cavan; Yeats Country cheeses, including mascarpone, creme fraiche, soft and cottage cheeses, produced in Convoy in Co Donegal and other farmhouse cheeses, distributed by Horgans Delicatessen Supplies.
Just over 300 food and drinks companies are showing some 5,000 products at the IFEX show. Ms Sonia O'Sullivan, who officially opened the show, was the first of 10,000 visitors from the retail, delicatessen, hotel, restaurant and catering sectors expected to attend the show before it ends tomorrow evening
Food and drink, catering equipment, refrigeration units, electrical goods and services from Ireland, Britain, France and other European countries are on display. Some 26 new products are being launched at the show. Bord Bia, the Irish food and drinks board, has a major stand, showcasing the products of small Irish producers. The Northern Ireland group stand, led by the Local Enterprise Development Unit, is a major participant and a number of Leader groups, including Carlow, Waterford, Wicklow, Leitrim and Louth Enterprise Boards, the Donegal-Tyrone Partnership and the West Cork Leader Group, are promoting the wares of their small, and not-so-small, food producers.
From Baghdad to Belfast seems like an "out-of-the-fryingpan-into-the-fire" move, but that is what Mr Ala Al-Janabi did after marrying an Irishwoman. Now, his company, Legend International, produces a range of fruit fillings for the bakery trade from Moy in Co Tyrone.
Mr John Horgan, managing director of Shannonside Mushroom Marketing, based in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, says his company was the first to produce mushrooms commercially west of the Shannon. Its mushrooms, from tiny white and brown buttons to five-inch diameter flats, leave Roscommon at six in the evening and are in London by ten o'clock the next day - some of the 40 per cent Irish mushrooms that now make up mushroom sales in British supermarkets.
The strength of sterling is one of the problems Mr Dan Carlin of Castlewood Farm Products in Belfast has to consider daily as he supplies his cooked and uncooked meats to customers in the Republic. "They now account for 15 per cent of turnover but we haven't lost any of them yet," he reports.
Among the new products on show are ready-mixed Kir Royale, made in Dijon in France but marketed in Ireland by Newgrange Aperitifs in Co Meath; a range of waffles made by a Dutch couple in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow; organic herbs and spices, imported, blended and beautifully presented by the Organic Storehouse in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow; also from Co Wicklow a range of wild game in season from Wild Irish Game Ltd, and a new wholefoood for working and sporting dogs from Favour Pet Foods in Randalstown, Co Antrim.
