The Irish Food Writing Awards are delighted to announce a new award for journalists writing about Irish Seafood. This award aims to champion food writers who produce work featuring Irish fish and shellfish.
It’s a sector that is often overlooked but one which is integral to Ireland’s food story, and provides employment for more than 16,000 people in coastal and rural areas.
We are also delighted to announce that this award is sponsored by Glenmar Seafood, based at the very heart of the fishing industry in Union Hall, Cork.
Glenmar Seafood provide outstanding fish and shellfish served by many of Ireland’s top chefs such as Niall Davidson at Allta, Mike Tweedy at the Oak Room, Adare Manor, Ahmet Dede of Dede, JP McMahon, Luca de Marzio, Kevin Burke and many more.
Their produce is also served by chefs such as Agustin Balbi in the incredible Ando in Hong Kong. In March Aitor Arregui of Elkano in Getaria, San Sabastian will visit Glenmar.
For thirty years Glenmar have been working the seas around Ireland, harvesting the full range of native shellfish and fish through their fleet of 150 fishing vessels.
They also sell exclusive fish from further afield such as Bluefin Tuna from Ricardo Fuentes, Royal Belgian Caviar, Dutch Hamachi and Arctic hand-dived scallops.
Irish Food Writing Awards founder, journalist Suzanne Campbell, said
“For so many decades seafood was overlooked in Ireland. It is wonderful now to see it take centre stage in so many restaurants both here and throughout the world. The quality of Irish seafood is incredible and if you eat shellfish particularly in good restaurants in France and Spain it is very likely to be Irish.
But we’d also like to see more seafood cooked in an everyday sense and to popularise it as a food for everyone. The average European fish consumption is in the region of 24 kilograms per person yearly. But here in Ireland we consume just 16 kilograms of seafood each year. This award aims to encourage writers to feature seafood on the plate and its origins more frequently. Fishing in Ireland has a wonderful culture and vibrancy to it, so we want to award exceptional stories about this exceptional food.”
Juan Blanes, Sales and Marketing Director of Glenmar Seafood said “we are delighted to support these awards and in particular writers and journalists who are passionate about Irish fish and shellfish. We are recognized around the world for our amazing produce and we love to see how Irish fish and shellfish are taking more importance on Irish menus restaurants and food service”
The Irish Food Writing Awards were established in 2021 by Suzanne Campbell with Paul O’Connor to award excellence in journalism, photography, podcasts and original online content on Irish food and drink.
The twenty two judges who choose the winners in each category include chefs and food writers such as Rene Redzepi, Tom Parker Bowles, Fiona Beckett and Dan Saladino. The awards are non-profit and funded by industry partners in Irish food and drink.
The 2023 awards will take place in October of this year and entries open on the 1st April.