Cork City was buzzing over the past week as thousands of people of all ages flocked to participate in Cork on a Fork Fest, a diverse celebration of food and drink. Organised by Cork City Council, this unique festival brought together Cork’s vibrant food community to host events that showcased the city’s culinary heritage and unique food culture, dining experiences, and home-grown produce.

Now in its third year, Cork on a Fork Fest featured a remarkable 85 chefs and a broad range of local producers, restaurants, hospitality staff, sommeliers, distillers, brewers, and other businesses over five days. The festival hosted more than 70 food-centric events, a significant portion of which were free.

The 2024 festival saw standout moments, including the VQ Shared Table event, which welcomed 400 diners to share a meal of Cork produce at a 550-foot-long table on MacCurtain Street.  This impressive dinner was a collaboration between 22 chefs and 47 staff from local restaurants, pubs and hotels. Other notable events included the Pop-Up Harvest Feast at Glenbrook Farm, led by Chef Pamela Kelly from Farmgate, and a foraging tour of Fitzgerald Park and The Lee Fields with The Glass Curtain, highlighting the edible bounty available on your doorstep in Cork City. Additionally, tasting trails introduced festival-goers to some of the city’s lesser-known culinary gems and food history.

Families were treated to a host of fun activities, such as a pop-up farm in the city centre, family cooking demos, a honey-themed afternoon tea with Hanna’s Bees, a Children’s Food Trail, sensory cooking classes, a farm picnic, and much more.

The festival reached its peak over the weekend with a bustling festival market at Emmet Place, featuring 26 stalls from Cork producers and businesses like Ardsallagh Cheese and Ballymaloe Foods. The festival marquee also drew crowds with an exciting lineup of hourly cooking demonstrations and food talks from some of Cork’s top culinary talents.

These included renowned chefs like Clodagh McKenna, Rachel Allen, Hell’s Kitchen USA winner Ryan O’Sullivan, Zero Waste Chef Orla McAndrew, Chef Takashi Miyazaki of Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Ichigo Ichie, Chef Rob Krawczyk of Michelin-starred Restaurant Chestnut in Ballydehob, Rob Fitzpatrick, Market Lane, Aishling Moore, Goldie, Harrison Sharpe, Elbow Lane Smokehouse & Brewery, Rebeca Recarey Sanchez, St Francis Provisions, Victor Franca of Nua Asador, Chris Braganza, Spice Genie, Shauna Murphy of Michelin Star rated Terre at Castlemartyr Resort, and Meeran Manzoor, Rare 1784, and more.

For families, the market area also offered picnic tables, a play street, face-painting, and a ‘Grow Your Own Veg’ seed planting station to keep children entertained.

This year introduced the Cork on a Fork Drinks Stage at Cork Opera House, a fresh addition to the lineup. Attendees enjoyed free tastings from a variety of Cork drink producers and participated in Bar Chats like “All Things Drinks” with Irish Distillers, Ali Dunworth, Kinsale Mead, Rebel City Distillery, and Kate Ryan from Flavour.ie. Other highlights included a wine and food pairing event with Cork’s top sommeliers, a Whiskey Chats Live podcast and tasting, and a conversation with master distiller Noel Sweeney and tasting of Flatley Whiskey.

The Cornmarket Street Market (the Coal Quay) also got a boost of family fun over the weekend with a pop-up Rumley’s Farm that showcased the story of farm to fork, giant outdoor games with Let’s Play Cork, a shared picnic lunch on the new Urban Mirror Table installation, and facepainting.

The Cork on a Fork Beer Fest, organised by Franciscan Well, was also new this year and saw free dockland brewery tours, a Cooking with Beer dinner at The Woodford, a Tom Barry’s Icecream Sunday (made with beer) and more.

Cork on a Fork Fest emphasised sustainability with its farm-to-festival ethos, showcasing local produce and talent while encouraging reduced food waste. Sustainability-themed events included an opening morning business of food breakfast in partnership with the Irish Examiner and KPMG looking at the Future of Irish Food; the Cork Food Policy Council launched their Sustainable & Healthy Food Policy for Cork City at the festival; and there were numerous talks like “I Soiled My Plants” talk exploring the Cork Urban Soil Project (CUSP) with Virginia O’Gara from My Goodness, and discussions about community gardens with Green Spaces for Health; in addition to Zero waste cooking demonstrations by Orla McAndrew.

Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Dan Boyle, said “Now in its third year, the festival continues to grow at an incredible pace. We are not only seeing increased awareness locally and nationally, but Cork on a Fork Fest is also beginning to attract visitors from across Europe coming especially for the festival. We are deeply grateful to all the chefs, producers,  people working in hospitality, volunteers and businesses that came together to showcase Cork’s extraordinary food culture. We are working with Fáilte Ireland to create a food destination plan to position Cork nationally and internationally as Ireland’s food capital and Cork on a Fork Fest will play a crucial role.”

Cork on a Fork Fest is not just a festival; it’s a unique celebration of everything that makes Cork’s food scene special.  Cork is incredibly lucky to have almost 60% of the country’s artisan producers in the wider Cork region and the English Market in the heart of the city.

Run by a partnership of Cork City Council and local businesses, communities and producers, Cork on a Fork is supported by Fáilte Ireland, Pure Cork, Cork Business Association, the IHF Cork Branch, Cork Airport and a host of event sponsors.

For more see www.corkonaforkfest.ie or follow @corkonaforkfest to be the first to hear about the 2025 festival.