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A friend mails a simple query: how do you define artisan food?

Well, the Taste Council definition is:
Artisan Food is defined as a superior tasting food, which commands a higher price in its category. Superior taste is achieved through food making skill

I don't think that really gets to the heart of the matter, however.

My own old definition, now a rather old one is the Four P's:

Artisan food encompasses:
a Person
a Place
a Product
a Passion

It is impossible to underestimate the importance of what was said by the two Ministers for Food at last week's Terra Madre conference. Here is exactly what the Ministers said on the stage in Waterford:

Minister Trevor Sargent said:

For the seventh year, William and Aisling O'Callaghan of Longueville House in north Cork will be leading their mushrooms hunts in and around the estate. October 5th and 19th are the dates, and we know from experience that Mr O'Callaghan is one of the leading mushrooms masters, so get yourself to this lovely house, with your wellies and waterproofs and you have a day to remember. Full details here: http://www.longuevillehouse.ie/news/mushroom.htm.

The second Savour Kilkenny Festival will take place in the city between October 24th and 27th, and the official launch is this Friday at Workhouse Square, MacDonagh Junction at 5.30 pm, so head along to hear what is planned for food lovers in Ireland's most beautiful city...

And speaking of Kilkenny, that fabulous cook, Garret Byrne, has now opened Campagne in the city, on Gashouse Lane

We read in today's newspaper that Samak Sundaravej, prime minister of Thailand, faces prosecution because he continued with his popular television cookery programme, Cooking, Grumbling, after being elected prime minister.
The “beleagueared right-winger and gourmet spent an hour in the witness box, defending the television show, Cooking, Grumbling, a mix of tips on traditional Thai cooking” reports The Gurdian. Sorry, the Grauniad
Pah!

Ok, so it was a bad weekend for Waterford GAA fans.

Now, here is something interesting and new.
Bord Bia and the OPW are holding Septemberfest, a festival celebrating independent brewers, distillers and liqueur makers. It's at Farmleigh in the Phoenix park on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th, it kicks off at 11am each day until 6.30pm, and admission is free. Free! As well as all the booze and the hootch, there will also be hordes of artisan food producers, and a big farmers market on the Sunday. There will be street performers, and even lectures on Irish food.

Terra Madre – Mother Earth – comes to Ireland this Thursday, when four days of eventing, celebrating, eating and debating on the subject of food takes place in and around Waterford city.
The term “Mother Earth” seems a quite hippyish and holistic way to talk about food today, in an age dominated by FAO, WTO, GM and CAP, a global food world where men in suits meet interminably in large conference rooms, and where what is on the menu for lunch never seems to be a priority.

Caroline Byrne of the Bridgestone Dublin parish had the enviable task at last weekend's Electric Picnic, in Stradbally, of deciding which of the many funky food stallholders were worthy to receive the first Bridgestone Guide Picnic Awards.
Indeed, food became a major element of the EP this year, as some of Ireland's best known chefs also did demos at the cookery stage, amongst them luminaries such as Derry Clarke and Rachel Allen.
Meantime, Caroline was hunting down the winners of the four Bridgestone awards:

The Best Dressed Food Award for presentation and style

A wee note from our Waterford editor, Eamon Barrett, shows how to conclude the school holidays with a bang!:

We had a little village festival in Cheekpoint yesterday, the highlight of which was a crab fishing event for children - Julie made up fishing lines using those little nets from the washing machine, some sticks and some line, put out of date rashers in the bags and we give the kids 30 minutes of fishing time off the wall in Cheekpoint. Would you believe we had 92 entrants from a village of only 300 population. The winner caught 49 crabs in the 30 minutes. Great buzz.