Cork on a Fork: An Irish Foodie’s Dream Festival

There’s one thing I love more than no other, and that’s food.

I love eating it, I love making it, I love taking pictures of it and posting it on TikTok. So when I got the opportunity to go to a festival all about food (eating it and making it), I was there.

Cork on a Fork took over the Real Capital this summer and it was a pure spectacle of grub, gatherings, and gorgeous events all across the city.

Myself and my partner headed down for a couple of nights, staying in the beautiful Imperial Hotel. Steeped in history and old world glamour, the hotel has hosted countless people of note over the years including Princess Grace of Monaco, JFK, and even Michel Collins the night before he died.

Our room was a Junior Suite, a stunning space with a lounging area perfect for chilling out, and a king size bed perfect for having an incredible night sleep.

We did both of those things, in between heading to a few different events for the festival. The first was the VQ Shared Table, an annual event that sees hundreds of guests from across the country come together for a sharing experience featuring the best culinary delights Cork has to offer.

VQ Shared Table is usually held outside on the street, as hundreds take a seat and enjoy their meal amidst the backdrop of the city. But Ireland being Ireland, the weather wasn’t great so we were moved inside to the Metropole Hotel, where the set up was just as impressive, and the food just as delicious.

Dishes included gazpacho, cheese stuffed bread, butternut squash terrine, feta stuffed aubergine, and lemon posset (we went for the veggie option, naturally). We left ridiculously full, but not full enough to not go for a cocktail across the road in Cask.

We risked being completely taken out by hangovers the next day, and if it wasn’t for the foraging workshop we’d booked in for, we might have stayed in bed the entire day.

But we didn’t, and we made our way across the city to Fitzgerald’s Park where we met Chloë Dempsey, a woman who’s an expert in fermenting, foraging, and all things growing.

She took our little group around the park, teaching us all about horticulture, nature, and exactly what we could forage from the outdoors (providing it wasn’t exposed to things like dogs and other dirt). Later, we strolled towards Proby’s Kitchen to try some foraged dishes ourselves and to see what all the fuss was about.

There we had some homemade bakes made with herbs fresh from the restaurant’s garden, local mussels drenched in njuda sauce, and an elderflower fizz that honestly made me reconsider the way I drink prosecco.

The entire experience was a trip highlight. Chloë was so knowledgeable, so approachable, and so into nature that it changed the way I look at parks, greenery, and the outside world in general. Now when I walk down the road I notice the weeds, berries, and flowers that can all be picked and turned into something delicious – all for free!

That night we had our final Cork on a Fork event: Hysterical Histories in Amicus Restaurant. Learning about history is all well and good, but when you can learn about it through original song, with a couple of drinks and some traditional Irish food in front of you, that’s going to be the better option.

The show was all encompassing. We learned about Cork’s 1,500 year history, the people that make the city, and of course, how to speak like a Corkonian. There were a lot of kids in the room, and some tourists too, who had come along to try a classic Irish stew and Baileys cheesecake.

We opted for the colcannon potato cake, a veggie option that had been specially crafted the event itself – giving non meat eaters the chance to indulge in a dish that still had Irishness at its core.

And so ended our run of Cork on a Fork. We headed back the Imperial for one last sleep (and one last divine breakfast), before making the long journey back to Dublin.

One thing was for certain – we weren’t hungry anyway.

You can find out more about Cork on a Fork here. This writer was offer a stay in Cork for the festival in exchange for a review.