Country’s first Oyster Experience is launched
Local food entrepreneur Aisling Kelly has launched Ireland’s first Oyster Experience in Sligo town.
The Sligo Oyster Experience is the brainchild of Aisling who saw a gap in people’s knowledge and understanding of how oysters were being produced in Ireland, and moreover, in Sligo Bay.
The country’s first dedicated oyster trail and interactive visitor centre was officially opened last Thursday evening.
“I’m thrilled the Oyster Experience, -which has been developing as an idea for some time - has finally come to fruition,” said Aisling.
“It’s only the beginning, I’m really looking forward to developing it further and introducing a whole new audience of both locals and visitors to Wild atlantic oysters and Sligo Bay,” she added.
Aisling received funding from the BIM administered Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) investment, a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, and support from BIM’s and Fáilte Ireland’s Taste the Atlantic initiative to get her idea off the ground.
Sligo Oyster Experience begins with a short walking tour, crossing the Garavogue river that runs through the town and out to Sligo Bay where oyster production has taken place for generations.
Owner and manager, Aisling Kelly, wearing a sturdy oyster glove, provides live oyster shucking demon- strations and tastings for visitors where she describes the sharp brine and rich finish of local Wild Atlantic Oysters and highlights the shell’s distinctive purple hue from the minerals found in the surrounding Atlantic seabeds of Sligo Bay.
CEO of BIM Jim O’ Toole, welcomed the opening of the visitor centre and said: “The vision for Taste the Atlantic is to provide visitors the opportunity to explore, understand and get to know how the wild Atlantic waters influence the production and taste of some of Ireland’s seafood.”
To date, 21 producers form part of the Taste the Atlantic seafood trail that stretches from the Inishowen Peninsula at the top of Donegal to Oysterhaven Bay in Cork.
Bookings can be made online at www.sligooysterexperience.ie.