Some 400 agri-food producers and chefs from all corners of Ireland are furiously preparing to create Ireland on a plate for the 20,000 delegates and journalists at this year’s Web Summit.

The Web Summit kics off on today in the RDS. Good Food Ireland is providing exclusively Irish artisan food to those 20,000 delegates over the three days of this enormous and ground-breaking conference, all in a specially-built food village in Herbert Park.

It started last year when Paddy Cosgrave, founder of the Web Summit, visited Margaret Jeffares of Good Food Ireland on her farm in Wexford, and exploded 10 days later into a celebration of Irish food that wowed international guests at Web Summit 2013. Continuing the momentum of last year’s hugely successful partnership, food takes centre stage again with this year being an even bigger showcase of the best of local Irish food and produce from all four corners of the island.

Some 14,000 guests from all over the world (including 1,200 international journalists) will enjoy exclusively Irish artisan food on the Tuesday of the Web Summit, 14,000 on Wednesday, and 10,000 on Thursday, the largest audience ever assembled to experience this demonstration of all that is good about Irish ingredients.

There are also private events, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, which will be showcasing Irish food to smaller groups, making up an additional 16,00 guests per day, and depending on the delegate, guests can experience food by up to 60 different Irish chefs and producers in any one day.

Margaret Jeffares, founder of Good Food Ireland, says Good Food Ireland members have gone into overdrive to meet the requirements of each day of the Food Summit with Good Food Ireland, but the challenge is a pleasure, as there is nothing more satisfying than telling the story of Irish food in a very real way to an appreciative audience. “What we are doing at the Food Summit is not just important for each individual business, but for the reputation of the whole country as a food island.”

Over the course of the Food Summit with Good Food Ireland, chefs will create over 54,000 kgs of hot food dishes.
There will be 1,000 vegan meals prepared daily.
There are 3,500 Ulster soda farls being served at the Food Summit with Good Food Ireland, 6,000 Irish oatcakes and 7,000 Waterford blaas.
9,000 jars of yoghurt are being prepared.
There will be 18,000 slices of cooked meats served over the course of the event.
Almost 2000 kgs of Irish farmhouse cheeses are being readied.
One single producer is supplying 10,000 Irish apples, and another is bringing 9,000 bags of crisps.
One farmer is bringing 39,000 baby potatoes on day one of the Food Summit with Good Food Ireland, and 4,000 baby carrots on day two.
There will be over 10,000 handmade chocolates served.