EXPLORING IRELAND’S FOOD SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE EMERGENCY(SUPPORT LOCAL)
FOOD MATTERS is a brand new RTÉ One series which uncovers Ireland’s food
sustainability, and explores how the food system is a major contributor to the climate change emergency.
Presented by GIY (Grow it Yourself) founder Michael Kelly, this brand new six-part series sees Michael travelling throughout the country, meeting farmers, food producers, food experts, climate experts and chefs.
He also talks to economists, ecologists and activists as he digs deep to uncover the complexity of the Irish food system and how it works, delivers and impacts the environment.
“The food system is a major contributor to the climate emergency, and the choices we make each day around food can be some of the most compelling pieces of climate action we can take in our lives”, says Michael.
“There are inspiring solutions to the problems in our food system happening right under our noses. In FOOD MATTERS I travel around Ireland exploring these issues and meeting the people and projects that can help change the food system, one meal at a time”.
FOOD MATTERS is filmed at GROW HQ in Waterford, the home of GIY, as well as on location in counties Cork, Kildare, Dublin, Westmeath, Kerry, Meath, Wicklow, Tipperary, Limerick, Kilkenny and Wexford.
Programme four: Support Local
In programme four, with a ‘Support Local’ message, Michael Kelly meets Meath cabbage grower Cathal Lenehan who over the last year has decided to give up his business because of rising costs.
He also chats with former IFA chair of the horticulture sector and broccoli producer Paul Brophyin Kildare,about the challenges for the commercial vegetable growers in the face of rising input costs, and ever stiffer competition from cheaper imports.
Michael then heads to Kerry where he meets independent vegetable retailer Dan Horan to discuss the difficulties faced by smaller, independent retailers, to stay viable at a time when vegetables are cheaper than ever.
In Wicklow, Michael discovers how Wicklow Wolf Brewery co-founders Quincey Fennelly and Simon Lynch have managed to put sustainability at the core of their drinks business with the support of their local community.
Heading to Tipperary, Michael learns how one entire community is all about supporting each other, at the Cloughjordan Community Farm.
Back at GROW HQ in Waterford, Michael meets Jack Crotty and Joleen Cronin from NeighbourFood and talks about how connecting small producers with a wider customer base makes it a win-win for all.FOOD MATTERS is produced by David Hare of InProductionTV and Scéal Creative for RTE, and supported by the EPA Stop Food Waste and ReThink Ireland campaign
Press enquiries:
TVPR
Pauline Cronin 087 2629967
Michael Kelly is founder and CEO of GIY, a social enterprise that aims to help 100 million people to grow some of their own food for a healthier, more sustainable world by 2030.
He co-presented three series of Grow, Cook, Eat on RTE and Amazon Prime. He presents and co-produces a new series, Food Matters, which airs on RTÉ in March 2023.
Founded in 2008, GIY’s mission is to inspire, educate and enable a global movement of food growers, whose collective actions will help to rebuild a sustainable food system. Each year GIY is supporting over 1 million people to grow, cook and eat some of their own food at home, school, work and in the community, via content, events, campaigns and products. GIY are passionate about the power of food growing experiences to give people a transformative understanding of food (‘food empathy’) that leads to pro-environmental behaviours. GIY works with some of the world’s leading brands, governments and foundations.
In 2016, GIY developed a home for the GIY movement, and a model of a sustainable food system called GROW HQ in Waterford, Ireland. GROW HQ’s cafe serves delicious and nutritious homegrown, seasonal food grown in living soil, with a zero food waste ethos and won national Cafe of the Year 2020 and is one of the Sunday Times’ Top 100 Restaurants in Ireland in 2020. www.growhq.org.
Michael co-produced and presented three series of ‘Grow, Cook, Eat’, GIY’s primetime TV series which had over 12 million viewers to date. All 3 series are now available on Amazon Prime globally. He has written 5 books about food – the latest of which, The GIY Diaries, was published by Gill and was nominated for Best Cookbook in the Irish Book Awards. He is an Ashoka Fellow, and a member of The Irish Food Writers Guild. He has written columns on food in The Journal.ie, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and Food & Wine Magazine. He is a board member of Commonland.
He is a passionate speaker on the role that food can play in improving our health and the health of this planet and has spoken at the Do Lectures in Wales, Web Summit in Ireland and Fifteen Seconds in Austria. Mick was the 2017 Local Food Hero in the Food & Wine Awards.
He lives in Dunmore East with his wife Eilish and two young GIYers.
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TVPR
Pauline Cronin
00 353 872629967