There's a Cork 'flavour' to this week's Food Matters TV series

CORK food writer Regina Sexton and legendary Ballymaloe chef Rory O’Connell feature in the second episode of Food Matters on RTÉ1 on Wednesday at 8.30pm.

It’s an episode all about following the seasons - presenter Michael Kelly says if we truly want to make a difference in sustainability, this is one area we need to improve on.

Eating food when it’s at it freshest is fundamental, the less we rely on out of season imports the more we can grow and achieve locally. This is at the heart of food sustainability.

Kelly starts off by talking to Sexton, food writer and researcher, about the history with food here in Ireland and how we once managed to follow the seasons pre-famine and make the best use of food during the hungry gap.

The presenter also heads to the world-renowned cookery school of Ballymaloe to chat to chef and food lecturer O’Connell about the importance of eating seasonally when it comes to chefs, their food and cooking.

He also takes a trip to Dublin to meet lecturer Dr. Máirtín Mac Con Ionmaire who was awarded Ireland’s first PhD in food history.

Then we land back in Waterford to GROW HQ, where Kelly gets to sit down for a real seasonal meal, and according to the head chef JB - if it’s not in season... it’s not on the menu.

The episode of Food Matters also tackles the subject of the economics of seasonality with economic analysts Jim Power, and we looks at the impact marketing has on people’s perception on seasonality with Damian O’Reilly.

To finish the episode, Kelly heads to Kerry to talk to Lisa Fingleton about a very interesting challenge based around seasonal and local food called the 30-day food challenge, where Lisa can only eat ingredients that come from Ireland.