We invite you to join us & get involved in our Burren food story. We are passionate about our food, growing and producing it locally for you to enjoy. Burren Food Trail is more than a listing of quality food establishments in the area – it aims to uncover for you the path that your food takes from field to plate. You can decide for yourself how to follow the trail – stop at every point or else dip in and out along the way, according to your taste, interest and location.
The members of the Burren Food Trail are bound by their commitment to building a sustainable future for the region. 
Each of the featured restaurants offers a Burren Food Trail Signature Dish to
savour. Each member has achieved recognised quality awards and standards, and has also signed up to the Burren Food Trail Customer Promise: you will find staff who are knowledgeable about the regional food story, menus which state the source of local produce, information on local food events and markets as well as a commitment to maximise the use of local ingredients in all prepared food. We are proud winners of the European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) 2015 – Tourism and Local Gastronomy and Irish Restaurants Association Foodie Town 2015 title.
Taste The Burren Events
Date for your diary – Burren Slow Food Festival – May 2023, Burren Food Fayre – October 2023
Don’t just visit The Burren, Taste it!
The Burren Food Trail members organise an annual series of events, taking place at unusual locations around the Burren. They are a celebration of local, wild and seasonal produce of the Burren, as well as a chance to meet the producers, mingle with local people and learn about the Burren way of life.
These events focus, not only on food, but also on the landscape that surrounds it. Each individual event represents a unique opportunity to combine good food with real, authentic interaction with the people who produced or prepared it, or indeed with the surrounding landscape, activities and heritage
The Burren Slow Food Festival 2023
2023 Burren Slow Food Festival to be inspirational for our Wellbeing
The much anticipated annual Burren Slow Food Festival with the timely motto of “Wellbeing and Gut Health” is coming up again at the end of May with a line-up of knowledgeable and inspirational speakers, chefs and food producers.
One of the speakers will be June Curtin from the sea-swimming group of Snámhaí Sásta in Spanish Point who set it up for her own wellness and that of other people in the community.
Pius Murray from “Walking with Pius” will talk passionately about walking and the effects on our wellbeing whilst Sinéad Ní Gháirbhith from the Cheese Press in Ennistymon will show the audience how to make cheese.
Carol Gleeson from the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark will expand on GEOfood, a brand that was launched at last year’s festival. Seafood producer Conor Graham from Flaggy Shore Oysters will talk about his oysters which fall into the unique category of GEOfood.
Cookery demonstrations are at the heart of the festival with head chef Peter Jackson from the Roadside Tavern and Ryan Fitzpatrick from Wild Catering at Doolin Cave. Executive Chef Jamie from Hotel Doolin will be exploring the bountiful food options that a 30 mile radius gives them.
The kind and quality of food we eat can determine the state of our health, a fact that Edel Breslin, chef & founder of Oir Tonics, will emphasise with a gut-healing recipe and a summer mocktail.
Apart from these and other speakers, a wonderful display of food products and crafts will be highlighting the bounty of food produced in the Burren and further afield. The organisers strongly advise to “bring shopping bags for the annual Lisdoonvarna Farmers Market”. Kombucha from Hurst Botanicals, young vegetable plants for GIY projects, honey from the Sliabh Aughty, a super-tonic from Oir
Tonics, amazing balsamic vinegars from Wildwood Balsamic in Mayo, smoked salmon from the Burren Smokehouse and more will be available for sale. Wild Catering will be refreshing the festival-goers with barbecued delicacies as well as delicious sweet and savoury treats at the on-site café. The Burren Slow Food Festival ties in with many more activities in the Burren around the subject of wellbeing, be it on a physical or mental health.
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The Burren Food Fayre at the ‘Burren Winterage Festival’ October 30th 2022
For the first time, this year’s 2022 Burren Food Fayre will be hosted on a farm in the heart of the Burren, in conjunction with the Burren Winterage weekend. It will be a great opportunity to showcase the food producers of the Burren and celebrate our unique farming tradition, of walking the cattle to their Winterage pasture. The event took place on Sunday October 30th and was sponsored by ‘Calor Futuria’, as part of a year long sponsorship of the Burren Ecotourism Network.
With food demonstrations, tastings and a cookery session by Chef Robbie McCauley from Gregans Castle Hotel as well as storytelling and music sessions it promises to be a great day for all the family. Those who take part in the Winterage walk, can enjoy the food of the Burren on their return.
This year the event will highlight GEOfood – the concept was launched in Ireland earlier this year and promotes food that is sourced and produced in UNESCO Global Geoparks. So far nine producers have signed up to the brand – which means they must source their ingredients in the GEOpark region. The brand emphasises the connections between local food and the food traditions and geological heritage of the region where the food is produced.
It aims to strengthen local livelihoods by connecting local food producers, restaurants, and retailers to each other. GEOfood increases opportunities for local people and visitors to savour and appreciate quality local food. Learn more https://www.burrengeopark.ie/geofood/
The producers are Burren Gold Cheese, St Tola Irish Goat Cheese, Burren Premium Beef, Burren Smokehouse, Burren Fine Wine and Food, Flaggy Shore Oysters, Linnalla Pure Irish Ice Cream, Burren Free Range Pork and Wild Kitchen.
Burren Food Fayre events
- Cooking Demonstration with Robbie McCauley of Gregans Castle Hotel
- Cooking Demonstration with Chef from Hotel Doolin
- Food Tastings by the Producers from the Burren Food Trail
- Storytelling with Marie McGauren from her new book, ‘Stones and Stories’
Tickets available at https://buytickets.at/burrenbeotrust/761620
The Burren Slow Food Festival May 2022
The first in-person festival since 2019 will see the official launch of the GEOfood initiative in the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark. The second half of the festival is dedicated to the exploration of Ukrainian food culture.
The festival will kick off with a Seafood Journey to Inis Oírr on Friday night. On Saturday, the launch of the GEOfood initiative will be followed by fascinating talks by experts and tastings of delicacies by local GEOfood producers. In the afternoon, a foraging walk will be offered in the park in Lisdoonvarna. The Burren Slow Food Banquet will provide a wonderful end to the second day of the festival.
On Sunday, the limelight will be on Ukrainian food culture with a cookery demo by Ukrainians, followed by a demo by renowned chef Jess Murphy from KAI restaurant Galway and Niamh Fox (formerly from Little Fox, Ennistymon). They will cook a Ukrainian recipe using local produce.
Location:
The Pavilion, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare
V95 YW1CBurren Slow Food Festival 2022
For more information go to https://www.slowfoodclare.com/festival/
The Burren Food Fayre Oct 23rd – Oct 24th 2021
Food lovers from all over Ireland are in for a treat this autumn, as the Burren Food Fayre is returning for a series of unique food and farm visitor experiences this October bank holiday weekend.
The events, which are organised by the Burren Ecotourism Network, mark its 10th year in operation this year, with a return to in person events. Last year’s event had to be staged virtually.
The events take place between October 23rd and October 24th and coincide with the Burren Winterage Festival that celebrates the ancient custom of out-wintering cattle on the upland areas of the Burren, and which is organised by Burren Beo.
Small groups of visitors will be able to prebook different itineraries, which will take them on a food trail across the length and breadth of the Burren. Five different experiences have been created, featuring a variety of different producers.
These include Burren Gold cheese (produced by Aillwee Cave), St Tola Goat Cheese, Burren Smokehouse and Taste the Atlantic, Flaggy Shore Oysters, Wild Kitchen, Stonecutters Kitchen, Burren Brewery and Burren Distillers as well as a Burren tasting menu at the Cliffs of Moher.
There will also be an opportunity to take part in a diverse range of farm tours, including the Burren Farm Experience in Boston, Linalla Ice Cream and dairy farm in New Quay and Caherconnell Fort and Sheepdog trials in the Burren, all highlighting the distinctive farming practices of the Burren region.
All Burren food experience events are available to book on https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ireland–burren/festivals/
Of if you want to go to one event, please book directly with each of the producers listed to check availability on the day.
Taste the Burren through it’s unique food experiences!
The Burren Slow Food Festival 2021
This year, our Burren Slow Food Festival took place on Facebook from April 29th to May 5th with food producers and chefs taking part in a series of online pairings celebrating the fertile rock of the Burren. Later in the year, the 10th Burren Food Fayre will take place live on October Bank Holiday, which will involve food demonstrations from the producers and chefs of the Burren.
These events are supported by Calor Gas, Clare County Council Festival Funding and by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
