Kerry CEB announces 2009 Kerry Food Hero Awards and winners of Inaugural Emerging Food Categories at Listowel Food Fair on Friday, 6th November, 2009.
Kieran Murphy of Murphy's Ice Cream, based in Killarney and Dingle has been awarded the 2009 "Food Hero Award", which is one of two exciting new awards offered by Kerry County Enterprise Board (CEB) for this year's Listowel Food Fair. The "Food Hero Award" and the "Emerging Food Award" were launched on Friday 6th November at the Listowel Arms Hotel as part of this year's Listowel Food Fair.
Kieran Murphy of Murphy's Ice Cream, based in Killarney and Dingle has been awarded the 2009 "Food Hero Award", which is one of two exciting new awards offered by Kerry County Enterprise Board (CEB) for this year's Listowel Food Fair. The "Food Hero Award" and the "Emerging Food Award" were launched on Friday 6th November at the Listowel Arms Hotel as part of this year's Listowel Food Fair.
The "Food Hero Award" recognises individuals within Kerry County at restaurant, market and producer levels who promote quality Kerry Foods. Kerry County Enterprise Board CEO Tomás Hayes hopes that these two awards will stimulate and further contribute to Kerry's growing food industry.
"The Food Hero Award recognises individuals who promote the goodness and quality of local foods. These individuals have a valuable and recognised role as advocates of local foods. I congratulate the Listowel Food Fair on their foresight to explore new ideas and suggestions and the CEB looks forward to an ongoing relationship with the food fair" said Tomás Hayes, CEO of Kerry County Enterprise Board.
"Small and artisan food producers, and larger suppliers who maintain excellent quality standards, are truly our food heroes. They face many obstacles and difficulties in terms of the high level of regulation and bureaucracy in the industry today and yet remain determined to produce food which resists homogenisation and puts taste at the forefront." he continued.
Séan and Kieran Murphy started Murphys Ice Cream in 2000, in Dingle, Co.Kerry, with the goal of making the best ice cream in the world. They operate shops in Dingle and Killarney, have scooping cabinets in Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and Kinsale, and sell their blue tubs of ice cream across the country in Irish fine food stores.
A belief in the exceptional quality of Irish produce is core to Murphys Ice Cream, as is a deep commitment to providing their customers with a delightful shop experience. They use milk from the rare Kerry cow, fresh cream, local free-range eggs, and a variety of other top quality ingredients to create their award-winning ice creams, which they serve along with coffees, chocolates, and pastries in their shops.
Three national food companies were recognised for their new and emerging food products when they were awarded the best “Emerging Food Award” by Kerry County Enterprise Board. The “Emerging Food Award” is one of two exciting new awards, The “Food Hero Award” and the “Emerging Food Award” that were launched on Friday 6th November at the Listowel Arms Hotel as part of this year’s Listowel Food Fair.
The winners of this exciting new competition were first prize winner Ciara Morris, from Birr, Co. Offaly with the Slievebloom range which includes Irish cranberry chutney, lavender marmalade and vegetable pickle. The second place winner was Siobhan Ní Ghairbhit from Inagh, Co. Clare with the St. Tola Cream Cheese. The third place winner was Yvette Fidgeon from Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow with the Bombay pantry range which includes chicken korma, chicken tikka masala, beef roganjosh, Bombay chicken curry and Bombay curry sauce.
Kerry County Enterprise Board in association with the Listowel Food Fair sought to encourage food producers to experiment and present new food products through the “Emerging Food Awards” at the Listowel Food Fair. This competition was open to all those with new food products and was not just confined to those with existing businesses in the food sector.
“The Kerry Enterprise Board is delighted to support these awards which have a practical benefit to food production in the County. Over 120 product samples have been received to date. This is hugely encouraging. I believe that artisan food production will continue to grow, it is one of the great natural resources of this county and we need to exploit this resource” said Tomás.
“Quality food producers are the backbone of what we do and central to the entire ethos of local food. We believe it is not possible to cook good food without good ingredients to start out with, we believe it is not possible to promote local foods with local advocates. The success of our food sector depends on conscientious, passionate and hard-working food producers to supply us with outstanding food.” continued Tomás.
The Kerry County Enterprise Board believes that this initiative will encourage experimentation and new food business development; it will identify a range of potential new businesses that can avail of ongoing support from the Enterprise Board movement nationally and other agencies.
The Kerry CEB funded a prize fund of €3,000 and had commissioned specially presentation pieces from Kerry Crafted Glass. Three prizes were awarded based on selection by an esteemed panel of judges.
Full details of the 2009 Listowel Food Fair are available on www.listowelfoodfair.com