Slow Food at Baltimore, A Report

You might reckon that, given all they have to put up with, that the artisans of Ireland would stop inventing new products, would cease innovating, and would look for a simple, unstressed, life. You would be wrong.

Take Anthony Cresswell, for example. Mr Creswell is famed for his splendiferous Ummera smoked salmon and eels, some of the great West Cork foods.

But there, just last week, was Mr Cresswell at the Slow Food convivium in Baltimore, displaying his wares, handing out tastings, and showing his new stuff, which is a humdinger of a smoked bacon (Would our bacon-searching correspondent on the Letters Page please note: Anthony Cresswell has a good website at www.ummera.com.) And the same exceptional quality is found in the nifty Ummera smoked and cooked chicken drumsticks, which come in a pack of four, shrink-wrapped, in a delicious marinade.

At this moment there are two Slow convivia in Ireland, Dublin and Cork. There should be more. Where are you all? To start a convivium email and speak with Antonella Mancuso, and while you're at it, check out the new slowfood website at www.slowfood.com. If you want to join the Dublin or Cork convivia, mail gubbeen@eircom.net (Cork) or cheese@eircom.net (Dublin).