The Irish Food Writing Awards

Irish Food Writing Awards Image 1_Paul Sherwood RDS Photography

Irish Food Writing Awards Image 2_Paul Sherwood RDS Photography

Irish Foor Wiriting Awards Image 6_Paul Sherwood RDS Photography

Irish Food Writing Awards Image 1_Paul Sherwood RDS Photography

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Celebrating excellence in writing, broadcasting and content on Irish food.

About

The

Awards

Ireland has a strong writing culture and an emerging food culture. Our countryside grows some of the best fresh ingredients produced worldwide. Our chefs craft these ingredients into modern Irish cuisine; from seaweed to rhubarb, our traditional foods are the stars of exciting restaurant dishes.

Our food producers create products made with love and a passion for quality. Our journalists and writers describe and photograph our food in newspapers, magazines, online and in cookbooks.

We are delighted to bring you the fourth Irish Food Writing Awards which will be held in October this year. Following on from the huge success of our previous awards we have great new judges and award features.

Entries for our 2024 awards open on the 1st of April. For updates on our competition dates and categories please sign up for our email updates.

Award Categories

About Us

Our Judges

Our

Judges

Our judges are gleaned from the best food writers, chef and journalists worldwide.

Our final line-up will be announced later but some of our lead category judges are as follows-

René Redzepi

is a Danish chef and co-owner of Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. Noma is a two Michelin star restaurant that has won many accolades including World’s Best Restaurant four times as chosen by Restaurant magazine. René is acclaimed for reinventing Nordic cuisine with a focus on foraging, fermentation and sustainability. Together with Claus Meyer Noma’s co-founder, their New Nordic movement works to change food policy and practices around the world towards a sustainable food system.

Anjula Devi

is best known for her extensive knowledge of spices and for creating delicious
authentic Indian cuisine. A respected food writer and author, Anjula started cooking with her father at the age of eight. She has created a range of authentic recipes for Manchester United. Anjula is a Brand Ambassador for TRS Foods, the world's largest Indian food company. She also has her own brand, Route 207, inspired by the bus route she used to take. She regularly showcases her skills at Food Festivals and schools.

Joann Pai

is a food and travel photographer based in Paris and originally from Vancouver Canada. She has worked all over the world photographing editorial and lifestyle brand shoots. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Saveur magazine and Conde Nast Traveler.

Tom Parker Bowles

is a British food writer and critic. A champion of traditional ingredients and meats, Tom is the author of seven cookbooks and in 2010 won the Guild of Food Writers award for his writing on British food. He has hosted and appeared in many radio and television cookery programmes and writes in the Mail on Sunday.

Colman Andrews

is an American author and an authority on food and wine. He co-founded Saveur magazine and was the restaurant columnist for Gourmet. An authority on Catalan food, he has written an acclaimed book on Ferran Adria and also publications on Italian and Mediterranean food. In 2009 Andrews published important work on Irish cookery and food traditions: The Country Cooking of Ireland.

Adrian Miller

is a recipient of multiple James Beard Foundation awards for his writing.

A former assistant to President Clinton and policy advisor, he is active in the domain of Southern Foodways, African American food and has written three books; Soul Food, The President's Kitchen Cabinet and Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue which will be published in late April 2021.

Charlotte Pike

is an award-winning cookery writer and teacher. She has published five books on cookery and writes for many publications including The Guardian and The Telegraph. She is a Slow Food UK Chef Alliance member and is the current chairperson of the UK Guild of Food Writers.

Nigel Barden

Well known broadcaster Nigel Barden has been writing and broadcasting on food and drink for over 30 years. He is a champion of provenance and craftmanship, seasonality and quality ingredients. He can currently be heard on BBC London and Scala Radio.

Richard Croasdale

Award-winning feature writer, author and editor, Richard has been in journalism for over twenty years. He is currently the editor of Ferment, the UK's biggest-selling beer magazine. He is also the author of The Craft Beer Dictionary published in 2018.

Irish Food Wiritng Award Judge Cathrine Mack

Catherine Mack

Sustainability is Catherine’s passion and she has been writing about sustainable travel and food for many titles such as The Irish Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian and National Geographic for over ten years. She is the author of Ecoescape; Ireland; Slow travel, places to stay, food and drink and is a regular speaker on sustainability issues

Andy Clarke

is a UK based food and wine writer and TV producer. Andy has appeared on many television and radio broadcasts and developed and produced the longstanding BBC series Saturday Kitchen with James Martin. He currently appears on BBC’s This Morning programme and presents a drinks item on the Alan Titchmarsh show.

Rachel McCormack

Glaswegian food and drink writer and broadcaster Rachel McCormack is a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet. Rachel is an expert on Catalan food and also writes extensively on whiskey. Rachel’s journey to explore the traditions of whiskey and the lack of cooking with whiskey is documented in her 2017 book; Chasing The Dram: Finding the Spirit of Whiskey.

Xanthe Clay

Writer and cook Xanthe Clay has been the food columnist for The Saturday Telegraph for over twenty years and has a particular interest in ethical farming and sustainability. She is also a cookbook author; her books include Recipes to Know by Heart, The Contented Cook and Ten Minutes to Table - Real Food in Ten Minutes - No Cheating.

Robb Walsh

is an American-born food writer and cookbook author.

Robb is a three times James Beard Journalism Award winner, now based in The Burren, Ireland having been food critic at The Houston Press for ten years. Robb founded Foodways Texas, a non-profit organisation to preserve and promote Texas food culture. Robb has a wide knowledge of beer and Texan food which you can find on his blog robbwalsh.com.

Fiona Beckett

is The Guardian’s wine critic. She also writes extensively on food and is a contributing editor to Decanter magazine. She judges on several wine awards including the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers Awards.

Her website www.matchingfoodandwine.com is dedicated to food and wine pairings.

Award

Our

Team

SUZANNE

CAMPBELL

Author, journalist and broadcaster Suzanne Campbell writes on food and farming issues for Irish newspapers as well as reporting for RTÉ radio and television. Suzanne is a former series producer of the RTE television series Ear To The Ground and has won the International Farming Journalist of the Year broadcast award.

She is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book “Basketcase – What’s Happening to Ireland’s Food?” which assesses Ireland’s relationship with food and farming, and has written two documentaries on food for RTE television. She’s passionate about Irish ingredients, particularly cheese, but is yet to make a passable French onion soup

PAUL

O'CONNOR

Paul works in many areas across the hospitality industry; particularly in marketing and social media for Irish food producers, restaurants and food festivals.

He has travelled widely and is a hotel critic and a judge for the Hotel and Catering Gold Medal Awards.

Paul has worked with the Nepalese Government on the development of their food and hospitality sector and was the head judge for awards to celebrate the best Asian food in Ireland.