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PROUDLY SPONSORED BY BITESIZE WORDS Martina Murra
y BIGGIE SMALLS AT JUNO FLIP BURGER – GEORGE’S STREET ARCADE Northside hostelry Juno marked its first year in business during a busy summer that saw it feeding hordes of Blue Army supporters as the Dubs wrapped up another successful All Ireland campaign at Croker. It’s fair to say that the menu at the Dorset Street venue excels in showcasing the kind of comfort food that’s perfect accompanied by a round or two of cooling pints. Their selection of ‘Smalls’ includes Crispy Fried Smoked Gubbeen with hot honey and sesame, and Bacon and Cabbage Arancini with a fondue of Cashel Blue that we found pretty moreish. On the ‘Bigs’ side offerings include Hot Fish Sandwiches and stunning Bangers and Mash, made using roasted black pudding and thyme sausages, garlic and herb mash, marmite onion and ginger beer gravy. Those incredible sausages also make an appearance in the ‘Smalls’ section of the menu where they come battered and served with black garlic mayo. Filthy! junobar.ie Shout out to Flip Burger, the Blazing Salads offshoot that has been quietly winning hearts and souls one incredible vegan and vegetarian burger at a time from its base in the George’s Street Arcade. In keeping with the ethos of its foodie forbears at Powerscourt Townhouse, the tasty fare on offer here is carefully put together using organic grains, pulses, seeds and vegetables sourced from small farms and co-ops. Their hand-made vegan and vegetarian burgers come served in a tartine vegan organic seeded bun, accompanied by lettuce, red onion, pickles, vegan mayo and sugar-free ketchup. Our current fav is the one they call ‘The Improver’ – a Vegan Red Lentil and Brown Rice Burger served in a beautiful bun with lettuce, spiced cucumber, red onion, fresh coriander pickle, vegan Mayo, and date sweetened ketchup. We think the fillings are already pretty generous, but there’s also a chance to top it off on request with a choice of fried onions, vegan or vegetarian cheese. Their opening hours are Monday to Saturday from 11pm to 5.30pm, and we’re reliably informed that these may soon extend to Sundays too. Flippin’ great! @flipvburger GET WASTED SEASON OF SEASIDE FORAGING As we head into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, now is a great time to learn more about the art of foraging. Saturday September 9th sees herb expert Denise Dunne lead a special two-hour introductory workshop, covering everything you need to know about identifying some of the country’s most common native wild plants. In addition to familiarising newbies with ‘The Forager’s Code’ on how to forage safely, the founder of the Herb Garden and the Herb School will also show how edible wild plants can be distinguished from their non-edible counterparts. Later in the month the seasoned forager hosts a session on how to safely identify native Irish coastal plants, herbs, seaweeds and shellfish. Her guided Seashore Foraging Walk includes lots of tips on how these finds can be used to create nutritious wild food dishes, drinks and simple herbal remedies, and as an added bonus, participants will also receive a photo identification eBook covering the plants and seaweeds discovered on the day. The next Seashore Foraging Walks takes place on Saturday September 20th. For bookings visit theherbgarden.ie 38 With the price of virtually everything continuing to rocket skywards, all the indicators show that food waste is one area where cutting costs and saving money might still be possible. Recently released figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Ireland generated a staggering 753,000 tonnes of food waste in 2021, with household food waste accounting for 29% of this amount. The EPA reckons that this translates into an average of 120kg of food waste per household at a cost of roughly €60per month, or €700 per year. While all of this makes for pretty grim reading, the good news is that there are a variety of ways in which this can be remedied, including trying not to generate excess food, and redistributing surplus food to others. Hope also comes in the form of an inspired new cook book by Conor Spacey. The enterprising chef, disruptor and author set about identifying some of the most wasted food items in Irish homes, and then found ways of turning them into tasty, nutritious dishes. In sharing his recipes Spacey is doing his bit to encourage people to think differently about ingredients and waste in the hope that doing so may help change an unhealthy national mindset and reconnect us all to the benefits of real food. His compact recipe book Wasted is crammed with ideas designed to help everyone to turn a corner, stop wasting food and turn perfectly good ingredients into delicious dishes. At the risk of sounding preachy, we could do worse than join him on his journey of discovery to create a better world through food. @blastabooks