Why Ireland?

Every January, I find myself reflecting on the experience that is the reason I started this business. It's been eight years since the adventure that wasn't meant to be a steppingstone in my career, rather just an adventure. That adventure set me off on this wild ride that is owning a small business. Two questions I get asked often are, “did you always want to work in food?” and when I start the story of how I “fell into” food, it's followed by, “WHY Ireland?”.

For those of you who are new here, I (Kaelin), went to culinary school in Ireland in a small village called Shanagarry in Co. Cork. The school is called Ballymaloe Cookery School and although not that well known in Canada, the Ballymaloe brand is responsible for putting Irish food on the map and for training so many chefs around the world. The school is set on a farm - 100 acres of glass houses, pasture, fertile soil - there are happy chickens running about, stunning edible and ornamental gardens, happy foraging pigs, a small heard of jersey cattle that are connected to the micro dairy and the most incredible compost pile. There is of course, the school with four kitchens and two dining rooms, a farm shop, and a classroom. Since I did the course there are now new bits too, sea cans that house a fermentation shed, a bread shed and a library. The original outbuildings on the farm have all been converted to housing for students - it's a fully immersive experience. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Ireland was an adventure. I heard about the school while I was in university, and kept it tucked in the back of my head - never thinking I'd ever actually make it happen. After a few years of dreaming and reading every detail I could about the school my mum and I headed to Ireland for a few days while on a trip to the UK in July of 2014. It wasn't long after seeing the school in person that I signed up to do their 12-week course. I talk about this often - Ballymaloe changed my life - which sounds ever so cliché and kind of makes me cringe as I type this, but it really did. Perhaps it was that I didn't set out for this experience to change my life, it just happened, perhaps it was what I was always meant to do… Either way - I am so grateful for the time at the school. Although the memories are fading, the values and the lessons run deep in me but also in Awn.

The course was incredible - and was so much more than a culinary course. There were lessons in business, wine, and soil health, there were communal meals with friends, there were kitchen take overs with good farmhouse cheese and warm bread, there was wind, there was rain, and a bit of sunshine. There was an immersive culture in all things food - we saw what we were cooking being grown and raised, we milked the cows that produced the beautiful cream and milk we used for buttermilk, butter and yoghurt. There was connection - to the food system, to the soil, to culture, to one another and to ourselves. We lived on the farm, we cooked on the farm, and we rarely left the farm… Other than to head into the village down the road for a pint of course or to blow the cobwebs at the end of the village walking along the rocky sea edge. Local food had value that was beyond what the statement makes it seem. It jaded me to some extent - because it made me see food from a different perspective. It's the perspective I started this small business on.

So WHY Ireland? Whether I did or didn't know what it would do for me, I went as a way to follow something that excited me and I was passionate about - cooking and learning. What drew me to Ballymaloe, was the value of the course - it is as much about technique as it is about ingredients and understanding how ingredients make their way into our kitchens - their story, but also their place in the bigger picture. A well-oiled machine - the course that is, was three months - which for me, not wanting a career change, made it seem doable, I wasn't taking two years out of my life to invest in something I was passionate about (not to say there's anything wrong with that), but it fit into my life. It was three intense months - the days were long, it was full on starting often before 7am and ending at 5:30 or 6pm, we lived and breathed good food.

As I said - for me the course was so much more than just learning to cook or to be a chef,- it instilled lessons and value in me that I have built a successful business of off. A decade ago, I would have never imagined owning a business - I wouldn't have thought I'd have the attributes or strengths to build something from the ground up - but when you have passion, a strong foundation (thanks Ballymaloe!) and drive - anything is possible. And here we are, seven and a half years into this small business!

So that's a bit about the story of Ballymaloe and why I chose it. I'm always sad when memories start to vanish and are remembered through photos or stories rather an actual memory - maybe that's just me, and maybe that's what a memory is. But for me, one of the things in my life I am most proud of is the experience of Ballymaloe - and how it changed me and how it lives on in me, but also in so much of what we do at Awn. From our pottery in the workshop, to recipes we use, to our philosophy, to the steadfastness in the value that we are better together, to the community feel, to the importance of knowing and valuing simple good food. To knowing, trusting, and understanding that food is so much more than what is on our plate, or what is in our fridge and pantry - it's an experience that connects us, it's something we need, it's economic, it's cultural, it's environmental - it matters.

I am hoping to head across the pond in late March so haven't scheduled an actual class on St. Patrick's Day, but early that week I have a class on the schedule - “An Ode to Ballymaloe,” where we will cook up an Irish feast (and let me tell you, although the Irish have a reputation for bad food, this class will change your opinion of that), I will share stories from my experience, and from the wonderful world of Ballymaloe. If you see me around the café - I'm always happy to chat all things Ballymaloe, just give me a wave and say hi!