The epicurean age begins…
The City Food & Garden Market

To take the pulse of the food culture of Northern Ireland, and to capture a snapshot of just how the people of Northern Ireland now consider their food culture, take a trip to the Saturday morning City Food & Garden Market in St. George’s food market.

We have seen the market ebb and flow since it first emerged in late 1999, when we were involved in organising and orchestrating the opening weekend. There have been periods when there were lots of producers, and lots of customers. And there have been other times: ‘At one point, we were down to just six producers’, recalls Trevor Barclay, a stalwart of the market since that first weekend, and a man whose pork and bacon business was given a lease of life by the chance to sell direct to his customers in St George’s.

But, this Saturday morning, as Mr Barclay sets up his stall with its coffee machine (!) and his grill (!) and his pork fillets and packets of sausages and bacon all made from his own landrace pigs, there is something else happening.

For one thing, even by 10am, the place is buzzing. It is obvious, if you are a student of how people behave in food environments, that a breed of early shopper exists for the Saturday market, the early-adapters and early-risers who are here to get exactly what they want before the crowds turn up, the folk who want to select the cream of the crop and get back to their kitchens to think about the weekend’s cooking.

And so, as the coffee stalls are setting up and the crêpes batters are being mixed, there are already queues at the Cheese Etc, Trevor Irvine’s exemplary cheese stall, and a place where you will find the rarest farmhouse cheeses in Ireland (Poulcoin from County Clare, Tullynascreena from County Leitrim, to name but two). At Mullan’s farm stall, there is a queue of folk for organic chickens and eggs, and egg boxes are being returned, and conversations about food and cooking are beginning – ‘That chicken takes less time to cook now because it’s organic, as there’s no water to cook off’.

At Ann Stone’s Millview Farm Organics, the food lovers grab gorgeous parsnips topped with healthy handfuls of leaves, and there are fresh strawberries in peak condition, and bags of mixed salad leaves, and blackcurrants to be made into cordial, and feathery scallions.

At the fish stalls, there are tourists (tourists!) taking pictures of one another, as fresh crabs try to crawl out of their boxes and as Asian customers weigh the dark-shelled lobsters. At Javaman, the queue of caffeine-deprived souls is growing. Dale Orr, at the Churchtown Farm stall, is saying to the vegetarian boyfriend of a carnivorous customer: ‘When you smell this cooking, you will want to eat it as well’, but it’s said without bravado, but with simple confidence.

Simple confidence. At then the moment of realisation comes: what you are seeing, in the behaviour of customers, in the animated babble of conversation and music, in the confident gait of the stallholders, is the beginning of Ulster’s epicurean Age.

There has always been great food in Northern Ireland, especially its breads and meats, its potatoes and fish. But there has never been great confidence about these foods. Of course, pioneering restaurateurs have realised for as long as 15 years that they have something special to work with – wonderful Bann silver eels; great beef; superb seasonal game, good vegetables.

But what impresses about the atmosphere in the St George’s Market is the confidence of the customers. These people know exactly what they want. ‘I’m the only meat eater, so it has to be right!’, says the girlfriend choosing her frying steak from Dale Orr. But she could as easily be selecting some superlative Moyallon meats, or great pork from Brian Wallace’s Culdrum Farm, or half a leg of burgundy-red lamb from Mullan’s farm stall. You meet a food-loving friend – a quintessential early-adapter and early-riser – and she shows you her organic chicken, and a large piece of mature Coolea cheese from County Cork, and delicate organic beetroots caked in dark soil amidst a basket of bounteous goodness.

There is a food culture going on here. You can hear it in the conversations – ‘I found the Cuban roast a wee bit dark’; ‘Our eggs are part of the organic breakfast in Soul Food on the Ormeau Road’ – and you can see it in the behaviour and body language; a group of young women going wide-eyed as the chilli bite of Sheila Keiro’s Oliesto Foods tapenade kicks into their throats; the banter in the queue at Moyallon Foods – ‘Pay no attention to her, I know what I want’ – the relaxed demeanour as children sit down with crêpess from La Creperie and Flour as their parents grab a Mossbrook Farm sausage butty and an Americano coffee.

What is happening is proof of the statement from Eric Schlosser, author of the seminal book, Fast Food Nation, which is quoted on the banner at Moyallon Foods: ‘People can be fed without being fattened or deceived’. But we can take Schlosser’s prescription one step further. The fattening bit and the deception bit are absent here, but what is present is even more vital: the pleasure bit. ‘People can be fed with pleasure and delight, for both customer and producer’ might be a good motto for the St George’s market, for pleasure and delight are its signatures. The Epicurean Age has arrived.

Aunt Sandra’s Candy Factory Vividly colourful sweeties of every hue and cry.

Barnhill Apple Juice Ken Redmond’s lovely apple juices come plain and flavoured with all manner of fresh fruits.

S.D. Bell’s. Come on, it is finally time to shell out thirty quid for 100 grammes of China White tea. Why? Because you’re worth it, of course! Superb freshly ground coffees and even a mug of java to go.

Cheese Etc Join the (very long) queue to get farmhouse cheeses in superb condition from Trevor Irvine, including some that are almost impossibly rare.

Churchtown Farm Dale Orr will be serving the fantastic meats from his organic farm in South Down.

Corry Land Smoked Fish The Westmeath smokery has a stall close by the entrance with loads of excellent smoked fish.

Country Harvest A huge stall right in the centre of the market with everything from baby squid to venison.

La Creperie Delightful sweet and savoury crêpes for kids of all ages.

Culdrum Farm Brian Wallace’s super organic foods are brought from his own farm.

Drumgooland Smokehouse County Down’s artisan smokehouse has lots of great smoked foods and lots of exciting dressings and relishes.

Flour The cult city-centre crêperie quickly builds up a long queue for imaginatively delicious crêpes.

Greenmount Meats Look out particularly for the ‘salmon’ cut of beef which is Dean Irwin’s speciality.

Javaman Superb brews from everyone’s favourite coffee cart.

Miller’s Traditional Bakery Find the traditional breads of Northern Ireland, and don’t miss the Belfast Baps sold at Mary Miller’s bakery.

Millview Farm Organics Ann Stone’s organic produce draws a mega-queue early on, as the early-adapters get their hands on some ace organic fruit and vegetables from County Down.

Moss Brook Farm Sausages and bacon to take home, and sausages and bacon in a big Miller’s bakery bap from Trevor Barclay, a man who can manage half a dozen tasks at once.

Moyallan Meats Jilly Dougan’s extra-busy stall is where you will find rare-breed beef, lamb, pork and venison from one of the province’s pioneering artisans.

Mullan’s Farm Superb eggs, organic chickens and lamb amidst other organic delights, all the way from Derry.

Offbeat Bottling Co. Bangor’s very own crafty condiment and preserve producer: the marmalades, in particular, have your Sunday morning toast calling out for them.

Olive Tree Company All the way from the Ormeau Road with great Mediterranean specialities.

Oliesto Food Brilliant pestos and tapenades from Sheila and Hugh.

P&P Produce Smashing fruit and veg from Philip McKee.

Pheasants Hill Farm Superlative rare breed meats from County Down.

Piece of Cake Darko Markovic is a stalwart of markets from Belfast to Dublin, with excellent sweet and savoury baking.

Silverfin Fish Merchants Excellent fish and shellfish from Ardglass, Kilkeel and Portavogie.

Souper Natural Fine fresh soups.

Windrush Foods Wendy McGuire’s Caribbean Cuisine food to go.

St. George’s, Saturday, 10am - 4pm, Live cookery demonstrations noon-2pm. Contact: Markets Section, Development Department, Belfast City Council, Cecil Ward Building, 4-10 Linenhall Street, Belfast
028-9032 0202, markets@belfastcity.gov.uk