Beyond The Potato - New Irish Food

Once upon a time, Ireland was a land where a meal was endured, rather than enjoyed, and dinner was a loveless marriage of meat and potato. Thankfully those days are long gone: visitors are now coming to Ireland for the food, rather than in spite of it.

Ireland has always been blessed with a wealth of staples, its meat, seafood and dairy produce the envy of the world. 'New' Irish cuisine is a confident return to the traditional practice of combining simple cooking with fine local ingredients. The Féile Bia certification programme is matching hotels and restaurants with local producers, emphasising Ireland's tradition of low food miles with the slogan 'From farm to fork'.

The renaissance of traditional cooking, or slow food, makes it a great time to visit. Michelin-starred restaurants are on the rise. Cooks and artisan producers are encouraging visitors to watch them at work or work with them. Ballyknocken Cookery School in Glenealy, County Wicklow, received the prestigious Culinary Academy International Cookery School of the Year award in 2007. Farmers' markets are rife. The venerable English Market in Cork City, one of Ireland's best, is not to be missed. Jaunts away from the main tourist centres will also be rewarded, with treats such as silky smoked salmon from Belvelly Smoke House, just outside Cork, and subtle pasteurised goats cheese from Corleggy Cheese at Belturbet, County Cavan.

Delicacies aside, potatoes are still the key Irish staple - and you'll see lots of them. The mashed potato dishes colcannon and champ (with cabbage and spring onion respectively) are two of the tastiest recipes in the country.

Of all Ireland's drinks, stout - namely Guinness - is the most celebrated. It's assumed that any self respecting visitor to Ireland will enjoy a pint or two of the black stuff. It also goes well with food. If you're passing through Galway in September, be sure to slurp down a few dozen of the local oysters with your pint at the lively Galway Oyster Festival. For the uninitiated, oysters and stout is a combination to rival wine and cheese in the epicurean stakes.