Totally Dublin 1
“...in some ways, it could be easier in terms of
the industry to do one thing and just be known for that one thing. But that’s not creatively fulfilling for me.” chives or chervil and make scrambled eggs for my breakfast, adding fresh herbs,” she recalls. She also credits her mother’s friend for shaping her curiosity. “She made everything herself – preserves, chocolates, even crystallized violets she had picked and preserved. I think she had big influence on me.” While her parents instilled a love of gardening, she says her own interest leaned more toward food and cooking. “I wasn’t that into gardening, but I loved cooking. I was always baking, I made cakes, Black forest gateau, gingerbread, coffee and chocolate cakes.” For her, experimenting with herbs and flavours became a way of thinking beyond recipes. “I think being creative and a bit experimental with herbs and spices gives you that openness, not sticking to instructions, but you start to invent your own.” After five years in Australia, Denise returned to Ireland in the early 1990s. She brought a derelict college on an acre and found herself at the crossroads of her life. “ I didn’t just wake up one day and decide I am going to do this. It didn’t happen that way,” she says. I came back and bought a derelict college on an acre and started doing the garden for myself.” “I learned how to do the garden properly. I wanted a beautiful garden like the one I remembered. So, I started teaching myself,” she explains. “Every time I went to a garden centre, I spent so much money on plants, so the first thing I did was create a herb patch and plant some herbs. Because in cooking, I needed herbs in the garden.” The small patch beside the house, shaped among rocks and uneven ground, became her starting point. “I started learning how to grow from seeds and cuttings because I had an acre, which has a lot of space, and I needed a lot of plants. So, it was much cheaper if you grab some seeds and cuttings.” She was educating herself and decided to apply for certified organic status with the Organic Trust. The accreditation was crucial. “You get inspected every year, and there’s a certain set of standards you have to adhere to in terms of what you can use and what you can’t use,” she said. When the Temple Bar Food Market launched in Dublin, Denise was there. “I got a stall there. I bring my hair plants for sale, but then I would also cut herbs and get a secondhand computer and build my first website in 1997.” Holly Pereira mural in Belgrade She was ahead of her time – a woman running a certified organic herb nursery, selling wild garlic, pesto and elderberry chutney, printing labels from a computer, long before “foraging” and “organic” and “sustainable” became buzzwords. Over the years, she has been an active member of several food and sustainability organisations, including The Organic Trust, Slow Food Ireland, and was one of the earliest members of Temple Bar Food Market. She also co-founded the Fingal Food Circle. 24
