What you need to know
Interest in artisan food continues to grow in Ireland as consumers increasingly turn to higher-quality local food and drinks. Irish consumers are most likely to buy these products for a special occasion, such as a dinner party or Christmas, with butchers, bakeries and greengrocers the most popular types of specialist retailers.
Irish consumers also think that it is important to know where the ingredients within artisan foods come from. Highlighting their traceability procedures will help producers of specialist food show that they have nothing to hide about their ingredients or where they are sourced, something that will help to build trust among increasingly sceptical consumers and reinforce their quality credentials.
Issues covered in this Report
This Report examines the sale and consumption of specialist food (artisan food) sold in both NI and RoI.
The word ‘artisan’ is descriptive of a food that is unique, usually handmade with a distinctive taste and flavour and with its own ‘persona’, which can cover a range of products such as breads, meats, cheeses, preserves and produce (Teagasc 2012).
The Irish food writer, John McKenna (author of the Bridgestone Guides), measures artisan food by the test of the four Ps: the Personality of the producer, the Place it comes from, the Product provided and the Passion that goes into it.
Artisan food is defined by its commitment to superior food making, which is claimed to result in better flavour or taste. Artisan food is also defined by the skills and beliefs of those who make the food. Typically, the artisan producers seek out the best available ingredients and make their food using non-industrial and artisan techniques (according to the TASTE Council).
Bord Bia has classified artisan food producers within the category of speciality food businesses. Speciality food businesses, as defined by Bord Bia, are micro and small firms with individual turnover levels of between €100,000 and €3.5 million per annum.
Two key bodies for artisan foods in Ireland are the TASTE Council and Slow Food International:
The TASTE Council was established in 2003 and is a voluntary representative group of the smaller food business sector, made up of largely local, artisan and speciality food producers. It engages with relevant government departments and agencies, non-governmental organisations and education establishments to promote the interests of the traditional, artisan and speciality food-producing and farming sector and to assist in its strategic development to maximise its current and potential contribution to Ireland’s food and agricultural economy, society, culture and environment.
Slow Food International was founded in 1989 and is a non-profit organisation. It is an international organisation that has a presence in both RoI and NI. It is a global organisation that has supporters in 150 countries around the world who share an interest in good food and are committed to their community and the environment. Every Slow Food group in each country is called a convivium. A convivium is what Slow Food calls a local group. Each convivium has a leader and a committee and these people make up the membership of Slow Food.
Slow Food also has an ‘Arc of Taste’ that involves projects that rediscover, catalogue, describe and publicise forgotten foods. Today the Arc of Taste includes 1,000 products from more than 50 countries that are endangered by industrial agriculture, environmental degradation and standardisation. The projects aim to support the continuation of the few remaining producers and build a sustainable future for these foods.
