Lessons from Ballymaloe Cookery

🖨️ Print post

Ballymaloe Cookery School is the world-renown, multi-award-winning cooking school situated in lovely East Cork, Ireland. It is known for its unique approach, helping students reconnect with their food from start to finish–from planting seeds to cooking in the kitchen. Ballymaloe’s guiding principles include sustainability, and using locally-sourced and high-quality ingredients–many of which are grown and harvested directly from the 100-acre organic farm on which the school is situated.

Darina Allen established the Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1983 with her brother. An author of over 10 books, Darina shares her passion for cooking on today’s episode. She discusses how Ballymaloe came to be, why she persisted when many insisted she choose a different line of work, and why she believes cooking is so often looked down upon. She also shares secrets she has learned over the years about the importance of preparing nourishing meals and how to rediscover the lost art of cooking.

Notes:

Highlights from the conversation include:

• how Darina is known as the “Julia Child of Ireland”
• her connection with Julia Child
• where her passion for organic farming came from
• our growing disconnect with our food, world-wide
• underestimating the value of cooking in our lives
• the importance of cooking as the ultimate life skill
• how the Ballymaloe Cookery School came to be
• the tiny thing that changed the course of Darina’s life
• how the school was born out of desperate times
• the ethos of Ballymaloe
• why Ballymaloe appeals to culinary students from around the world
• the courses available at the school
• why the farm is central to the cooking school
• how failures on the farm are an opportunity to learn
• how they handled the recession in the 1970s
• the most important lesson taught at Ballymaloe
• what Darina’s most important lesson has been over the years

Resources:

– Ballymaloe Cookery School – cookingisfun.ie

– Ballymaloe restaurant and hotel – Ballymaloe.ie

– Forgotten Skills of Cooking Book by Darina Allen

– Grow, Cook, Nourish by Darina Allen

🖨️ Print post