Darina Allen

So what hap- So, like, to put it, so I was working in Blue House at the time, and, um, on the Saturday, we had just found out we won a bib.

Um, on the Sunday, Darina Allen had been in, uh, Comber on, like, a food trip or something.

She'd called into the kitchen.

We'd all a big photograph with the team and all.

And I suppose as I got older, I learned more about it.

I think, you know, I wouldn't have known about Myrtle like Mrs. Allen at that age until I kind of got there and she was still there, like she was living in the house and she was pottering around and to kind of be around her while she was there is kind of surreal and what she's done for Irish food, like really, you know, starting the revolution of a country that now has a very proud cuisine and we have people traveling from all over the world to come and experience what Irish food is.

I feel like it's probably more people are aware of what Ballymalu is now in Ireland, but everything is so accessible now.

For the modern chef, if you want to check out what a restaurant's doing in Copenhagen or San Francisco or Japan, it's so easy for us to see that now.

But yeah, certainly I think they're like the most important thing that's happened to food in Ireland for sure.

One thing that's really interesting to me is that there are like a number of women that played a really big role in building a foundation for the current modern food scene in Ireland.

Like you mentioned Myrtle and of course Darina Allen.

And I think it was that three women cheesemakers who really started the cheesemaking business.