Bon voyage to Fáilte Ireland’s “food champions”, who will travel to Prince Edward County in Canada next month on a food tourism benchmarking trip.

The lucky food explorers are Anthony Creswell (Ummera Smokehouse); Brid Torrades (Café Osta/Só Sligo); Colin Jephson (Ardkeen Quality Food Store); Donal Doherty (Harry’s Restaurant); Fergus O’Halloran (The Twelve); JP McMahon (Cava, Aniar, Eat Gastropub); Mark K Murphy (Dingle Food Market); Oliva Duff (Headfort Arms Hotel); Pádraic Óg Gallagher (Boxty House); Ruth Healy (URRU); Siobhan Ní Ghairbhith (Inagh Farmhouse Cheese); Sylvia Meulmeester (Greene’s Restaurant/Cork Food Week); Therese McDermott (Waterford Festival of Food); and Yvonne Carty (Hey Pesto!).

The 14 were selected from almost 160 nominations from the public. On their return from Canada, they will work with their local community to build Ireland’s reputation as a food tourism destination.