ABOUT IRELAND EATS
Ireland Eats presents an independent look at the Irish food scene from a fresh perspective. The site is edited by James Beard award-winning food journalist Robb Walsh. In 2018, after 30 years of writing about food in Texas, Walsh moved to the shores of Galway Bay, Ireland.
Robb currently spends his time traveling around the country learning about Irish foodways. Food-loving tourists will find recommendations for charming restaurants, ancient pubs and modern cafes and the remarkable Irish dishes they serve. We’ll also shine a light on some top chefs and food producers.
Food lovers who seek a deeper dive into Irish folk foodways will want to follow along while we forage for seaweed on the coast, buy fresh vegetables at farmers markets, stop into butcher shops famous for Irish lamb and Angus beef, learn about local seafood at fishmongers stalls, and sample Irish whiskey at little-known distilleries.
WHO WE ARE
Three-time James Beard Award winner Robb Walsh is a food journalist and cookbook author who recently moved to Western Ireland. Walsh is a frequent speaker on the subject of folk foodways in the United States. He has given the introductory talk on barbecue history and culture at the popular “Barbecue Summer Camp” and “Camp Brisket” barbecue seminars at the Texas A&M Meat Science Center.
Walsh served as the restaurant critic at the Houston Press from 2000 until 2010, as editor in chief of Chile Pepper Magazine and as the food columnist for Natural History magazine. He has also written for Gourmet, Saveur and Fine Cooking. He currently writes for Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Eating Well and Houstonia. He also worked as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, Sunday.
Walsh is the author of more than a dozen food books including Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook (Chronicle, June 2002), which was nominated for the James Beard Award in the Americana category. His book, The Tex-Mex Cookbook (Broadway 2004), was nominated for the IACP Cookbook Award in the American Category. His book, Sex, Death & Oysters (Counterpoint Press 2009) was voted one of the best food books of 2009 by Amazon.com. He is also the author of The Hot Sauce Cookbook (2012), Barbecue Crossroads (2012) and The Chili Cookbook (2015). Walsh’s writings appear in several anthologies including Best Food Writing 2001 through 2009.
In July of 2010, Walsh founded a non-profit organization called Foodways Texas to preserve and promote Texas food culture. Foodways Texas is headquartered in Austin and affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin. Walsh currently writes produces and hosts a film series called Galveston Eats in cooperation with Foodways Texas and the Gulf Coast Food Project at the University of Houston.
Kelly Klaasmeyer is an artist writer and Irish whiskey enthusiast. She is currently working on a PhD in studio art at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughn which is affiliated with the National University of Ireland at Galway. She received her MFA in painting from the University of Houston in 1992. She wrote art criticism for the Houston Press for more than a decade and edited Glasstire, the award-winning and Texas-centric online art journal. In 2009, she received a grant from Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation for Short-Form Writing. In the same year, she received a USC/Annenberg Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship.
Julia is a freelance social media manager, web designer, and food writer. Growing up with Robb as a father gave her a unique perspective on food and food culture from around the world (and developed her appetite for adventure!). While living in Manchester, England, she began her reporting on the influence of Tex-Mex on the the cuisine of the UK in the series called Manx-Mex Chronicles.
Caitríona Devery is a writer from Offaly currently based in Dublin, with interests in food, culture and the environment. From 2018-2021 she was the food editor for Dublin’s District Magazine and has contributed regular features for its food offshoot, CHAR. From 2012-2019 she wrote and later acted as contributing editor for UK-based art and food publication Feast Journal. Caitríona spent ten years living in the UK and worked periodically in the food and drink industry, including time at the city’s Food and Drink Festival, cooking sausages at Manchester’s Piccadilly market and in the specialist wine and spirits trade. Outside of food, she has a strong interest in art, heritage and the natural environment and has curated projects such as the Carbon Flux sculpture installation in Turraun Wetlands and oral history project Memories of Turraun, both of which focus on the history of Irish bogs. In 2019 she wrote a local history book with Pollagh Heritage on Brickmaking in County Offaly. Her website is caitrionadevery.ie.