An Irish surfer, Fergal Smith, who turned his hand to organic farming has featured in the latest video released in a popular online food documentary series.
The video documentary was created by award winning American filmmakers Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine as part of their series ‘The Perennial Plate‘.
Filmed along the Wild Atlantic Way, the new video profiles Smith and Moy Hill Community Garden, based near Lahinch in Co. Clare.
Following his professional surfing career, Smith decided to try his hand at organic farming. Attempting to reduce his carbon footprint, Smith is now focused on creating a sustainable, organic lifestyle based on Ireland’s land and waves.
Filming along the Wild Atlantic Way as well as hearing these real life stories made an incredible combination for film, according to filmmaker Klein.
Doing a story about pro-surfers who decided to reject the jet-set lifestyle of travelling the world in order to stay home in Ireland and build a farm and a community in Co. Clare was a no brainer for a great story.
“It’s the kind of story we are always looking for, the stunning visuals of surfing under the Cliffs of Moher combined with the positive journey over to a slower life and settling down to grow organic food,” he said.
Filmmakers Klein and Fine, together with their team member Hunter Johnson, spent two months investigating the local food cultures of Ireland.
The Perennial Plate team hopes to create a total of 10 videos on Ireland which will include episodes highlighting stories of local producers as well as a visual montage of Ireland.
These videos will then be shared with the documentaries online followers, with the series having amassed close to 20m views on Vimeo, Youtube and Facebook.
Meanwhile, the publicity gathered from this series of videos could prove beneficial for both food and tourism in Ireland, according to Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Food John Mulcahy
Fáilte Ireland is continually looking for ways to get Ireland’s unique food story out there and we were delighted to have The Perennial Plate over to explore the culinary landscape of our country.
“We hope this further chapter in their series of food videos appeals to their millions of fans around the world and whets the appetites of many potential future visitors,” Mulcahy said.