Reconnect with local food on your Christmas table

After losing her father, Fiona Egan wanted to refocus on her priorities. Growing up, she baked and cooked out on the farm with her parents - a tradition she turned into a career with her cookery school.

Fiona Egan’s Cloughan Farm & Cookery School in Abbeyshrule was named the Best Cookery School in Ireland at the 2023 Irish Restaurants Awards.

To mark the beginning of the holiday festivities, she will host two cookery displays for family friendly dishes to serve on Christmas Day on December 12 and 14.

Fiona and her husband, Michael, have a working farm. Their cookery school is located beside their home, where they provide hands-on demonstrations.

“We try to focus on seasonality and reconnecting people with where the food is coming from, and how it's produced and of course, sustainability is our key mission,” she explains.
“We also have picked up a number of awards in the last couple of years. And one for being a local food hero, acknowledging the fact that with the local food we're connecting people and educating people as to where the food is coming from.”
After her father, ploughing legend Eamon Egan, passed away earlier this year, Fiona took a step back to refocus - and take the time to grieve.

“Both my parents were a massive influence on me, and my father had lived with me for the last couple of years here.
“He contributed hugely to the development of the cookery school, the farm and the garden,” she recalls.
With this year’s cookery demonstrations, Fiona hopes to afford the “champions”.
“I don't like the word cheap food and I don't like the word budget food. I always say you never know what anyone is going through. So what I tried to do, it's not always the cheapest, but I always do the best value for money and the most nourishing and the easiest that the family can try it into a dish on the table,” she says.

“You could have three or four kids, and you're trying to be everything to everybody. And if you can get the dinner on the table and get all these things done, I think you're a champion. That’s what I'm trying to do, come in and give a few ideas.”
This Christmas, the culinary master has one wish - to slow down and spend time with her loved ones. “We're all so busy.
“If you don't get things done today, you get them done tomorrow or next week. To get time to spend with our friends and our family and to make time in our lives this year. Going forward in 2024, I hope we can make time to sit down and maybe welcome somebody into your house for a cup of tea.”

Fiona Egan will host two displays of Family Friendly Christmas Dishes. The first event will take place on Tuesday, December 12 in the Edgeworthstown library at 6.30pm. At the same time on Thursday, December 14, she will host a second demonstration at the Granard Library.