Grace Tierney has been passionate about food for as long as she has been passionate about words (and that is longer than she can really remember). As a child her parents moved her straight from milk onto adult food after she nearly leapt from her high-chair onto their plates. She hasn't looked back since.

She's a keen cook. She has been growing her own herbs, fruit, and vegetables organically since she was 15 and her unofficial family motto is 'I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like'. She makes her own jams, pickles, wine, bread, soup. Very little comes from a packet in her house but she knows how to do it on a budget, how to involve her young children, and how to keep it reasonably healthy. She eats out more than is safe for her waistline and delights in sharing cooking tips and advice on great eateries. Her idea of a day well spent is one tasting local cuisines, exploring food markets and delis, and tottering from wine-tastings.

'If the soup had been as warm as the wine, if the wine had been as old as the turkey, if the turkey had had a breast like the maid, it would have been a swell dinner.'

Duncan Hines, American food critic, author of books on food

Grace's Food Writing (full details here)

Her non-fiction has been published in Ireland, the UK, America, and Australia. She turned her passion for food into restaurant reviews for various venues in print and online media, including 'Food and Wine' and 'The Dubliner'. Her lunchbox tips made it onto the RSPCC Web site. Her food essay about becoming a vegetarian was published in the anthology 'Simple Pleasures of the Kitchen'.

'Let's face it - English is a beautiful language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat'

Anon.

Grace's Recipes & Tips

Courgette and Blue Cheese Cannelloni (a family and dinner party favourite and perfect for freezing)

'The gentle art of gastronomy is a friendly one. It hurdles the language barrier, makes friends among civilized people, and warms the heart.'

Samuel Chamberlain

Grace's Food Links

• Pam White's excellent Web site and newsletter about the art of food writing

• Farmers Markets in Ireland and don't miss the the Saturday market beside the cathedral in Galway City or the weekend market in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin

• The Saturday Kitchen - Saturday mornings aren't the same without this foodie show

• Chefs I admire -

  Jamie Oliver, simple Italian-influenced cookery

  Rose Elliot, prolific author of vegetarian cookbooks since 1967

• Conversion Page for US vs European measurements (this is a work in progress)

• The Accidental Small Holders

• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, despite the mouthful of name, is a man on a mission. Following his quest to small-hold on television in River Cottage, Dorset was a delight but I love him for his recipes, advice about growing your own veg (and hunting and gathering). His passionate rants about food production and consumption are a reminder to the world that we are what we eat, so we should take care. He's one of the few people I know of who's passionate about dragging vegetables out of the side-orders ghetto and into centre-stage. If this doesn't inspire you to change the way you encounter food, nothing will.
  

'A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins'

Laurie Colwin

All photography and text on these pages, except when otherwise indicated, are copyright Grace Tierney 2003 - 2009

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