September 19, afternoon.

Food Fair—Irish music

We were enticed into this Belfast Food Fair by the sound of Irish music, the first we’d heard (but it was only our third full day in Ireland).

They were handing out tons of samples of everything: sausages, cheese, potato dishes, yogurt…
bakery goods, dips, sandwiches, ethnic food…
And beer! This is Smithwick’s booth.Magners Cider was just around the corner. The only one we really liked was the pear, and we liked it so much the hostess handed us a bottle of it under the table “to sneak in your backpack for a picnic”.
Each of the craft ciders from Carsons Cider had samples of the apples they were made from on display. My favourite version was made from Bramley apples.
They also had a lot more alcoholic samples available: all sorts of whiskeys including my fave, 10 Year Bushmills Smooth, along with Baileys Irish Cream and more craft beers. Each time you had a boozy sample you got a stamp – as you can see we were well-stamped by the end of it.
This Ballyoak Soft Smoked Cheese was my very favourite cheese by far!
We went outside to listen to the music that had lured us in the first place and I kept running back for more soft smoked cheese (and ‘craft’ crackers).
The sole female member played the traditional Irish drum…
and later the spoons.
The fiddlers really got into it!
We had planned on going to a late lunch but were more than full from all those samples so we danced off in search of a 19th century pub called the Kitchen Bar.

More on our 2015 trip to Ireland.