Call to support local businesses
THE coronavirus lockdown gives people an opportunity to examine how they spend their money and to spend more of it on locally produced goods and services, according to Blas na hÉireann chairperson Artie Clifford.
Artie, who has pioneered the support of local food business in West Kerry and throughout Ireland with his work at Blas na hÉireann (The Irish Food Awards), sees the coronavirus crisis as a unique opportunity. “We have time now to look at how we make our decisions and how we spend our money. If you can find local, then shop local,” he said.
Speaking about the benefits of supporting local businesses, Artie added: “When you shop locally you buy from a family and you create jobs in your area... It creates a healthy environment if everyone is doing well.”
Meanwhile, Artie and the Blas na hÉireann team are continuing with preparations for this year’s awards, the finals of which are due to take place in October and because of the disruption caused by Covid-19 restrictions they have extended the early bird pricing for entries to the end of April.
The Blas team continue to provide supports to local producers and are one of the many companies that have
adoptedd online tools to continue their business.
Blas are using a video conferencing technology called Zoom to replace their year round training sessions and despite some initial teething problems they have found it works very well. One of the issues they had to deal with early on was limiting the number of people signing in. “The Zoom conferencing allowed 100 people in each meeting but by the time everyone connected and introduced themselves, most of the hour was gone,” said Artie.
Meanwhile this week the Blas na hÉireann Producers’ Champion Award 2020 was awarded jointly to Darina Allen, Rory O’Connell, and Rachel Allen for their work in supporting local producers and educating people about quality local food.