Kevin and Seamus Sheridan of Sheridan's Cheesemongers have been recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Irish Food Writers' Guild Food Awards.
The brothers started selling cheese at Galway's Saturday market in 1995 and have grown the market for Irish farmhouse cheese by building strong relationships and working closely with producers over the past three decades.
The awards are decided solely by guild members whose nominate and anonymously buy products for tasting before a vote is taken at a guild tasting meeting. Winning products must be produced in Ireland and the main ingredient must be Irish grown or produced.
This year's awards were celebrated at Dublin's Suesey Street with a lunch created by head chef Deniss Lasenko featuring the winning produce.
The winners of the 2023 Irish Food Writers' Guild Awards were:
In Association with
- Food Award: Smoked Lough Neagh Eel, Co Antrim
- Food Award: Velvet Cloud Sheep's Milk Yogurt, Co Mayo
- Food Award: Ballylisk of Armagh, Co Armagh
- Irish Drink Award: Beoir Chorcha Dhuibhne for Béal Bán, Co Kerry
- Notable Contribution to Irish Food: Gabriel Faherty, Aran Island Goats’ Cheese, Co Galway
- Environmental Award: The Wooded Pig, Co Meath
- Community Food Award: Field of Dreams - Down Syndrome Cork, Co Cork
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Kevin and Seamus Sheridan, Co Galway
“When the IFWG Food Awards began in 1993, it was with the aim of promoting and celebrating Ireland’s indigenous food producers and, as Ireland’s artisan food scene has developed and flourished, our core principles have remained true," said Caroline Hennessy, chair of the Irish Food Writers' Guild.
“Guild members have always shared a passion for nurturing a proud and vibrant Irish food culture. Thirty years on from those first awards, we are fortunate to live in a country where there is more attention paid to the food we eat, to who is producing it and how it is produced.
"Many of the winners from the early years are still familiar names today, proof of their enduring quality and we have no doubt that this year’s cohort of winners will continue that legacy.”
Una Fitzgibbon, director of marketing at Bord Bia, which sponsors the IFWG Food Awards, said: “Bord Bia is delighted to support The Irish Food Writers’ Guild as it consistently highlights the outstanding quality, craftsmanship and innovation in Ireland’s artisan food industry through these awards.
"Now in their 30th year these awards have honoured those in the sector that take ingenuity and entrepreneurship to the next level. Congratulations to all those involved in these prestigious food awards and, of course, to the very deserving winners.”
Photo: Group of winners Pat Close, Lough Neagh Fishermans Cooperative; Adrienne Heslin, West Kerry Brewery; Eoin Bird, Wooded Pig; Mark Wright, Ballylisk Dairies; Gabriel Faherty, Aran Islands Goats Cheese; Aisling Flanagan, Velvet Cloud with Nicky Green (left) and Debbie Kelleher (right) Down Syndrome Cork Field of Dreams. (Pic: Paul Sherwood)
