Helping local food producers ‘find their voice’
With wellbeing as the core theme of the fourth and most recent addition to the Book Hub Publishing Group’s Mental Health For Millennials book series, local Cathy Fitzgibbon, aka The Culinary Celt, has contributed a culinary chapter on the topic.
According to Cathy, who hails from a dairy and tillage farm in Cas
tlekevin near Killavullen, with everyone in lockdown, now is an opportune time to get the message out on the important role of food on mental health and wellbeing, something which she offers in her second contribution to the book series.
“From an early age, I’ve always had a passion for educating and sharing my knowledge and back to basic truths about food. With my brand The Culinary
Celt, I help others rediscover a more positive love, appreciation and understanding around food.
“I’ve been working in the media industry in the area of marketing for the past 22 years, so with this expertise, I work with food producers to help them find their voice in the food industry and support them at a local level,” Cathy told TheAvondhu.
Cathy moved into the marketing sector and undertook a Masters Degree in Cork Institute of Technology, which she completed part-time over a two year period.
Then, in 2018, she presented her Business Studies Marketing Master’s thesis, ‘Destination Cork: A New Frontier for the Culinary Curious Tourist’ at the annual worldwide Conference Association of Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS) in Copenhagen.
“My published work in this area highlighted the importance of branding Cork as a food tourism destination using a collective stakeholder approach. In my findings, regional disparities between North, South, East and West Cork were discovered when it came to branding the county as a whole to the domestic and international tourism market.
“In particular, I found it very interesting that North Cork, where I am based here, had lagged behind in terms of this overall collective branding,” Cathy said.
Being one of only two Irish people presenting at the conference, Cathy began making strides on marketing Cork as a food destination
“It showcased Cork on a world stage. A lot of people at the conference didn’t know Cork had a food culture and didn’t know Cork existed as a food destination,” she said.
EATING PRODUCE IN SEASON
Cathy’s brand, ‘ The Culinary Celt’ was born out of her love of food, nature and the want to share knowledge and back to basic truths about food
As food is an extremely important factor in relation to wellbeing, Cathy maintains that the narrative needs to move away from dieting culture to eating more mindfully, locally and with the seasons.
“I’ve been in marketing for the last 22 years and I’ve seen how food companies market their products, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good for you. My idea is eating locally and eating seasonally.
“For example, vegan products at the moment are marketed as something very healthy. I buy my meat from a local butcher and I think that’s much better than buying an avocado that has been imported,” she added.
With multiple reasons why so many teens and young adults are having unhealthy relationships with food and having difficulties communicating with peers, parents and professionals, her contribution - ‘The Millennial Appetite for Culinary Wellness’ to this new book in the series aims to help readers gain a better understanding about the importance of food in relation to their overall wellbeing.
With a variety of local producers on our doorstep, Cathy also spoke about the importance of marketing smaller local producers, which is something she volunteers with at the Killavullen market.
“I work behind the scenes and I upload on their social media. I was a stallholder there and sold natural beauty products that my friend supplied, but I stopped doing that and now I help with social media.
“At the moment, it’s such a challenge for small producers, so I try and help in any way that I can and try to give them exposure, because many of these producers don’t have big budgets for marketing. Producers are good at producing and don’t always know how to market, so it’s all about trying to help these smaller places,” she said.
With two contributions to the Mental Health For Millenials book series now under her belt, Cathy is now working on her own book which she hopes to release later this year.
“Working from home during the lockdown, I have more time, so now I’m working on my own book title, a ‘Mindful Eating and Gratitude Journal’ that will be out later this year,” Cathy added.