Cork chef: I love the buzz of a market, so I opened my own food truck

MEADBH Halton was born in Toronto but finished her schooling in Shannon at the same school her parents attended.

Meb (the nickname her mother coined) was precocious with food and at a very young age started reading cookbooks. Her grandfather gifted her with her first cooking lesson.

“He used to slice tomato and microwave it with eggs. Two minutes in, stir, and then another two minutes! Wayyy too long for eggs but at the time I loved it.

“I also remember the first time I saw toast come out of a toaster and was amazed with the transformation of bread into toast. This fascination with transforming an ingredient from one form into another has never left me.”

Her fascination developed into skills.

“Growing up, I used to always ask for cookery stuff for birthdays, so I’d get a wok one year, and a different pot another year. I loved it! And by the time I was a teenager I had a collection and would cook for friends’ parties.”

When it was time to finish school, she wasn’t sure of what she wanted to do.

“It was my Home Economics teacher that actually suggested, you know, you’re really good at cooking, you could do that! And then I went to the career guidance counsellor and suggested cheffing and she immediately said, no! She talked about the long hours and stress and she was right!” Meb laughed.

You have to be a particular type of person to enjoy the environment of cheffing.

It took some time, but Meb eventually decided to fully steer into the cookery career. She moved to Dublin and started a four-year Level 8 in Culinary Arts.

“There wasn’t very much vegetarian cuisine being taught for the course – we had, like, one vegetarian class a year. About two-years in, I researched and read a lot about the meat industry and just decided, nah, I’ll pass on that. But it’s hard to switch to vegetarianism, I guess it needs to be the right time.”

At college, Meb was mainly taught a lot of classic French cuisine. Were there any classic vegetarian dishes taught?

“No, not really. From the few vegetarian classes we had, I later learnt that the recipes we used were actually taken from a variety of great vegetarian restaurants.”

Meb went to visit her sister in Vancouver whilst studying and searched around for kitchens where she could do an internship. She found one of the foremost, top ranked vegetarian kitchens in the world, The Acorn Restaurant.

Being from the western coast of Canada, they used a lot of unusual ingredients which excited her, such as locally foraged ingredients, and a lot of Asian stuff also. A short while into her internship, she was given more responsibility and quickly assumed the role of hardcore chef doing a 15-and-a-half-hour shift once.

I’ve never done it since, but at least I can say I’ve done it! A strange way chefs show off is by talking about how much they’ve worked!

She was primed for kitchen life when Denis Cotter of Paradiso snagged her talent. Within her first year at the landmark Cork city restaurant, the senior members of the brigade left. When she arrived Eneko Lopez was the head chef.

“It was said, whoever takes on the sous chef role will probably take on Eneko’s role when he leaves – I was like – it’s not going to be me! Then it was me,” she laughed.

Meb was young at this point to take on the head chef role as she was only 24. But the talent was clearly there as she navigated the menu whilst introducing seasonal dishes and infusing her own creativity into the restaurant.

“It became a lot when I realised how little head space I had. I was essentially just working and thinking about work and sleeping. Managing people was tiring, although I still always loved the cooking side of things.

“I would always spend my Saturday mornings at Douglas Market and just really enjoyed the place. I felt I lost the community feel I need in my life and found it hard to make friends in Cork. 

So I eventually decided to start my own food truck.

“I work at two markets now, with two-and-a-half days of prep or so. And I’ve actually been making friends and I feel like I’m becoming part of the community.

“My first day at the market was terrifying because of parking the trailer! I was so panicked but luckily Rupert was there to help me into place. Now I can park the trailer in my driveway, which is only slightly wider than the trailer!” Meb explained with a proud little happy hand gesture.

“Staying creative is a challenge because people get used to what you have and they want to keep having it, so probably the Bánh Mì will stay permanently, but I’ve already changed out the Pho for the Summer Spring Rolls.”

Meb is raising the standard of an already high standard market with her culinary talent and skills.

Meb’s Veg Truck can be found Thursdays at Mahon Point Farmers Market and Saturdays at Douglas Farmers Market, also online @mebsveg.