About this item
When Ballymaloe’s doors opened to students in 1983 there were 15 courses available. Now there are over 100, reflected in the recipes collected here, including curing meat, making gluten-free meals and sushi as well as learning forgotten skills like producing butter and cheese and beekeeping. The book chronicles how the school has been at the forefront of cooking and food trends since its inception, from Darina’s championing of the Slow Food movement and her highlighting the importance of using local, seasonal and fresh produce to installing a wood-burning oven and expanding its gardens so students can learn the importance of eating less meat and more vegetables and preserving heirloom varieties of produce. A fascinating insight into Ballymaloe, this is also a history of food over the past thirty years—from a time when Darina couldn’t get anything other than pre-packaged, grated Parmesan cheese to one where a local producer makes his own mozzarella.
About the Author
Called "The Julia Child of Ireland" by the San Francisco Chornicle, Darina Allen runs the world-renowned cookery school at Ballymaloe in County Cork, Ireland, which she founded with her husband in 1983. She runs the highly regarded three-month diploma course as well as various short courses, including the Forgotten Skills series, upon which her book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking, was based. That book has been shortlisted for the 2009 Andre Simon Food and Drink Book Awards.Darina is the award-winning author of Irish Traditional Cooking, Ballymaloe Cookery Course, A Year at Ballymaloe, Healthy Gluten-free Eating (with Rosemary Kearney) , and Easy Entertaining, which won the 2006 Chefs and Restaurants Award from the IACP. She is Ireland's most famous TV cook, having presented nine series of her cooking program, "Simply Delicious," on television around the world.Darina founded the first Farmers' Markets in Ireland and is a tireless campaigner for local produce. She was awarded the Cooking for Solutions Conservation Leadership Award - Chef of the Year 2008 by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. She is also a natural teacher and was awarded the IACP's 2005 Cooking Teacher of the Year Award.
