Normandy Food Tour 2023: three dates to discover french food

Be prepared to try food from our French neighbours this summer. Organised by the Normandy Tourist Board, the Normandy Food Tour will be arriving on the shores of Ireland this June Bank Holiday. Food trucks with Normandy specialties, masterclasses from Normandy chefs and the rock band For The Hackers will land in three locations with Norman heritage.

The Best of Normandy food

Products displayed by Saveurs de Normandie. Image by Léo Lemasson.

The Normandy Food Tour will bring the very best of Normandy’s foods, drinks and music to The Digital Hub in Dublin on Saturday, June 3 from 12pm to 7pm, to the historic Cathedral Square in Waterford on Sunday, June 4 from noon to 7 pm and to the Quayside of New Ross town on bank holiday Monday, June 5 from 11am to 6pm.

Normandy food trucks will introduce you to the Normandy cuisine with delicious dishes or desserts with tastings available all day long. Chez l’Couz combine Normandy beef with creamy camembert and Neufchâtel cheese in a bun, served with fries.

Grignot’Malin will be serving up traditional French crêpes and galettes (buckwheat pancakes) filled with local products like camembert, Pont-l’évêque, caramel or apples. “It is a great way to display French and Normandy products”, says Emilie Lecompte from Grignot’ Malin. The chefs from The Fish Truck will cook stir-fried beef with carrots, Normandy fisherman’s cake, wraps with vegetables and cakes with salted butter caramel.

As France is famous for its cheese, the Normandy Food Tour allows you to discover classics like Camembert, Neufchâtel and Pont-l’évêque at Fromagerie La Dégusterie. The Fish Truck will serve stir-fried beef with carrots, Normandy fisherman’s cake, wraps with vegetables and cakes with caramel with salted butter. Saveurs de Normandie will promote Normandy products and will display camembert, Normandy butter, meat, vegetables, biscuits, cider and apple juice from Normandy brands.

If you want a touch of sweetness after, you can head to Caravanille and their delicious fresh brioches topped with Normandy delicacies. You can also try Cara-Meuh’s caramels, fabricated directly from the farm, La Maison Du Biscuit’s cakes, Jeannette’s madeleines and financiers and many more.

Traditional brews will also be on offer and visitors can enjoy a cider-tasting experience with Cidrerie de la Brique. Calvados, a specific type of apple brandy, will be displayed at Chateau du Breuil and Busnel distilleries. La Mont Vinette, a bar in a vintage caravan, will also be offering samples of their unique cocktails like Mojito Normand, Kir Normand or Sangria Normand.

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Masterclasses

A demo stage will see a schedule of fabulous Normandy chefs that will be cooking both traditional and inventive cuisine including ‘Escalope à la Normande’, Teurgoule rice pudding along with the soft and sweet brioche. You can attend free Masterclasses throughout the whole day with sampling some of Normandy’s best exports available. Each afternoon a family-friendly crepe demonstration activity will be showcased.

Joining the food and drinks producers are the Normandy Tourist Board who are eager to build upon the historic Norman connections and to share the heritage and cultural offerings available in the beautiful Normandy.

Commenting on the upcoming Normandy Food Tour, Director of Normandy Tourism Michael Dodds says, “We are very excited to take the Normandy Food Tour to Ireland. We value our shared heritage with Ireland and we look forward to building upon those connections this June. It is the first time that the Normandy Food Tour will travel to Ireland and it is genuinely a real treat for festival goers, with the very best artisanal foods and drinks of beautiful Normandy on offer along with a flavour of our culture and of course our shared heritage.”

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The band For The Hackers is excited to come

For The Hackers playing at the Normandy Food Tour 2022. Image by Léo Lemasson.

The French musicians For the Hackers will be performing for the very first time in Ireland! These indie-pop-rockers have been active for about a decade now, and have played more than 200 times before in France.

The band already experienced the Normandy Food Tour last year in England and is excited to go for a second round, as Axel, the lead singer, explains: “We wanted to come for this second tour because of the team. When we left for more than a week in England for the tour we saw everyone all day, it created friendships. We are so happy to follow them again, and, as a rock band, to go to a country that loves rock music as much as Ireland. This is a human adventure and a great challenge for us.”

For Axel, another challenge is to appeal to the Irish people while singing is French. “It is interesting for us to gather non French speakers”, comments Axel, “I don’t have a good English accent or a lot of vocabulary but I want to make people jump in front of the stage and participate. We want to gather people with music.”  Another surprise awaits the audience as a surprised Irish guest band will go on stage.

Hard workers, they have been working on this tour everyday for many weeks to give the best of themselves on top of their solar-powered bus. The band, that has recently released their last single “Ton étoffe” consider itself as “French U2’s with a touch of electro. We were influenced by Coldplay, U2, Téléphone (a French rock band), Feu! Chatterton and Phoenix.”

The Normandy Food Tour is a free-to-attend family-friendly event with live music, free cookery demos, tasting opportunities and more. See https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/normandy-food-tour/ for more details.