Page 26 - COBH EDITION 17TH MAY DIGITAL VERSION

New All-Island Initiative to Enhance Cork’s Reputation for Food and
Drink

Taste the Island – a celebration of Ireland’s food and drink
“We are creating some of the most exciting food and drink stories ever experienced
on this Island and our ambition is to bring Ireland’s food story to the world.”
Over fifty businesses and individuals from Cork, today attended the first of Fáilte
Ireland’s Taste the Island workshops for Cork in The Celtic Ross Hotel, with the
second workshop scheduled for next Monday 20th May in The River Lee Hotel. This
is part of a series of workshops taking place across Ireland over the next number of
weeks to develop a strong programme of food and drink experiences that can be in-
cluded in the Taste the Island initiative. The workshops have been organised for the
industry to learn more and provide them with the opportunity to shape the develop-
ment of a programme and Fáilte Ireland have produced a number of promotional
videos for the workshops and can be viewed HERE.

Globally, Ireland is known as a nation with a vibrant culture with green fields and
pristine waters together with a mild wet climate which gives us bountiful, sustain-
able and high-quality food produce. To enhance this reputation and to secure a
greater reputation for Ireland in 2020 and beyond, a new all-island initiative – ‘Taste
the Island – a celebration of Ireland’s food and drink’ has been developed by Fáilte
Ireland, in collaboration with Tourism Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and a range
of stakeholders.

The new initiative, Taste the Island, will showcase Ireland’s world-class food and
drink culture across the island of Ireland from September to November by provid-
ing visitors with access to authentic food and drink experiences, high quality local
ingredients and world class Irish food and drink produce. In 2018 food and drink
consumption accounted for around €2.6bn, or 35% of visitor spend and this expen-
sive programme will seek to create an awareness and renewed appreciation at home
and abroad of the strength and richness of Ireland’s food culture today.

Commenting at the workshop in Cork’s Celtic Ross Hotel, Tracey Coughlan, Fáilte
Ireland’s Food Tourism - Strategy and Programmes Manager, commented:

“The range and quality of food and drink experiences that we met at the work-
shop here in the Celtic Ross Hotel in Cork today are really world class and have the
potential to drive a lot more tourists to this area. We know that there is scope for
growth around food and drink for tourists and aligned with our world-famous sea-
scapes and landscapes, we have an incredibly strong offering to motivate tourists to
visit here.

Taste the Island is designed to showcase Ireland’s fantastic food and drink across
September, October and November and I look forward to seeing some really strong
ideas coming out of today’s workshop. What’s really important now is that people
submit their proposals outlining what they are going to do for Taste the Island for
what’s shaping up to be chock full season of food festivals and events all showcasing
our world class produce.