Seventh Heaven for Cavan producers at Blas Awards
All roads finally led to Dingle from 29 September to 1 October for the start of Blas na hÉireann, with seven Cavan producers winning medals at the country’s largest food awards.
Award winners
The bronze, silver and gold winners from County Cavan are Carleton Cakes, Drummully Boxty, Ice Cream Treats, Lakeland Dairies, Manor Farm, Vanilla Bean Patisserie and Liffey Meats, who were also awarded Best in County.
“County Cavan is recognised nationally and internationally as a home of quality food and drink. Cavan has a strong, diverse and vibrant food business community.” said Marianne McDonald, Food Strategy Co-ordinator at Cavan County Council. “It is fantastic to see Liffey Meats receiving the Best in Cavan Award amidst tough competition.”
This year’s finalists and winners got to experience the Blas Village for the first time. Located in the heart of Dingle, this pop-up village was built for producers across the country to come together and celebrate the very best of Irish food and drink for Blas’s first in-person event in three years. As well as the awards being held here, finalists and winners have had the opportunity to showcase their products, engage with customers and meet key industry buyers.
Now in their 15th year, Blas na hÉireann saw a huge increase in entries with almost 3000 products and many new producers entering the awards for the first time. Products from every county in Ireland were entered to win bronze, silver or gold awards in over 150 food and drink categories, as well as key awards like Supreme Champion and Best Artisan Producer, with 7 producers winning from Cavan.
“Making it as a finalist is a huge achievement and one to be very proud of,” says Artie Clifford, Chairperson and founder of Blas na hÉireann. “The competition ramps up year on year, meaning those producers who are short-listed as finalists really are the crème de la crème of Irish food and drink. This year it was not just the excellent food and drink that has been celebrated but the people themselves, our passionate and resilient producers. It has been quite a homecoming for our Blas family and we are looking forward already to doing it all over again next year.”
