Food consultant and children’s book author Dr Michelle Darmody on her life in food

Dr Michelle Darmody’s work brings together sustainability, food entrepreneurship and creativity. Her PhD focused on environmental food education for children. Her research projects have won RETHINK Ireland Social Innovation funding and she was named an Ashoka Changemaker.

Michelle writes an award-winning weekly column for the Irish Examiner and her extensive knowledge of sustainability and the food landscape stems from the creation of large-scale events tackling climate change, such as Eat the Streets for Dublin City Council and Summer Rising for IMMA.

Having just released her first children’s book, Seed to Supper: The Journey of Your Food from the Ground Up, the title takes you through every stage of food’s journey from its start as a seed in the soil to the table via the kitchen and everything in between. With cooking tips and easy recipes you can make yourself, DIY activities, interesting anecdotes and fascinating facts, follow your food from the ground up and see how food connects us all.

What are your earliest memories of food?

Helping my Dad make dinner for visiting friends or picking blackberries under the warm autumn sun in Currabinny Woods, eating as many as I was putting into the bowl. I was very lucky to grow up in a house where we ate around a table and where both of my parents enjoyed cooking. There were seven of us, but my mother managed to put a home-cooked meal on the table and there was usually something baking in the oven.

How would you describe your relationship with food?

I love immersing myself in the world of food. I am fascinated by where it comes from and by the people who dedicate their lives to making things that nourish and sustain us. I enjoy the adventure of new foods and tastes and I feel very lucky to have been taught the skills which make cooking at home enjoyable. Shopping for food and cooking are a switch-off for me. I like to experiment and develop new recipes and to make food that others can share.

What was the first meal you learned to cook?

I think the first thing I remember making is soda bread with my Mum. I remember adding fistfuls of flour and loving the feel of it between my fingers.

How did food become a part of your career?

I have always loved the allure of a restaurant, the sense of occasion that it brings. It was such a treat to be taken out to eat when we were young and rare enough in the ‘80s, but the times we did eat out I remember well. We grew up near Kinsale and some Sunday mornings I would hear of these magical dinners that my parents ate in restaurants the night before. I revelled in the ceremony and performance of it all.

I studied art in college but was always drawn to working in restaurants to pay the rent. I thrived on the fast pace and bonds that you form, and the close friendships that develop. Working in the food industry took me on many adventures and allowed me to travel and work in many different countries. When I returned to Ireland I wanted to create a place where the home cooking and baking of my childhood would be celebrated, and I wanted to work with local Irish producers.

In 2006 I opened The Cake Café and then SLICE in Stoneybatter a few years later. I sold both businesses and went on to study for a PhD in sustainable food education while always writing for the Irish Examiner. It was the learning for the PhD that informed the work that went into Seed to Supper.

I have also been involved in food advocacy over the years. I firmly believe that food is a human right and that everyone should have access to the food that nourishes them.