Food File: Tasty tomato festival, back to school with a MA in gastronomy and a mushroom hunt

The salad lover’s favourite fruit goes centre stage at the relaunch of the Totally Terrific Tomato Festival which is back, after a two-year gap, and has found a new home at Airfield Estate Urban Farm and Gardens in Dundrum, Dublin 14. On the weekend of August 27th-28th, there will be more than 100 varieties of tomato on display, grown by 60 gardeners countrywide, with prizes in several categories, including the ugliest tomato. There will also be talks and discussions, seed saving demos, garden tours, and tomato taste testing, including a competition to find the tastiest tomato which will be grown at Airfield next year. See airfield.ie.

Masters in gastronomy and food studies

If you were interested in doing the MA gastronomy and food studies in TU Dublin at Grangegorman, but the two-year part-time programme didn’t suit, there is now a full-time one-year option. This also opens up the programme to non-EU students, and the college has had interest from beyond Ireland. This will be the sixth cohort of students to explore the syllabus, which includes the history, politics and culture of food, as well as modules in food writing and media, food education, tourism, consumer culture and branding, current issues and debates around food, the culture of drinks, and reading historic cookbooks. “Applicants typically come from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences and occupations, strengthening the multidisciplinary character of the programme and the ethos of open exchange and reciprocal learning. Graduates are currently working in such diverse roles as food historian for Powerscourt distillery, food writers and presenters in national print and media, food and sustainability consultant, as food educators, and in the broader food, tourism and hospitality industries,” says course director Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire. For more information: tudublin.ie/study/postgraduate/courses/gastronomy-and-food-studies

Mushroom hunt and wild food feast

Mushroom expert Bill O’Dea is recruiting local expertise from Bartosz Surman of Dizzy Goat Farms in Kilkenny for a summer mushroom hunt and wild food dinner at Highbank Orchards on Friday, August 12th. There will be an introductory talk and presentation on the Wonderful World of Mushrooms from O’Dea, and coffee and pastries from Arán Bakery in Kilkenny, followed by a forage and an identification workshop. During the lunch break foragers can fuel up on wild mushroom soup and Arán sourdough. A tour of Highbank Orchards organic farm will be followed by a three-course wild food dinner, including roasted meats — venison, wild boar, goat sausages — cooked over fire, seasonal vegetables and mushrooms, along with wild truffles and forest herbs. Tickets €150 at mushroomstuff.myshopify.com.