COLM TOBIN: When it comes to all the socialising at Christmas, I’ve too much on my plate

I WAS at a lovely family lunch last weekend to celebrate an important anniversary and it was my first time at an Irish hotel-style gathering in a little while. The food in this place was straightforward, delicious and no-nonsense and we all had a wonderful time together.

I did notice, however, something that I haven’t been always conscious of in the past on occasions like this and came at me like a bolt from the blue on Sunday.

The volume of food that is laid on in these places can be absolutely crazy.

We were all particularly conscious of this because we were a medium-sized group in our own private room and all the food that was brought in was for us and only us to consume.

It’s fair to say that a sizable proportion of it went back to the kitchen, not because we are particularly fussy eaters or because the standards weren’t high, but simply because of the pure volume of the stuff.

There were copious side plates of delicious buttery mash and roasted vegetables that went untouched.

And because there were a lot of kids in the party, you know how much of their food inevitably gets returned, even when they are doing well. But still, their plates are stacked high.

Ever since we got the brown bins in at home in Dublin, which allows us to put all our food waste out to be taken away for industrial composting, I’ve been conscious of how little goes in our general waste now that food is out of the equation.

And in a world where our food consumption is coming sharply into view, this feels like a fairly huge elephant in all of our dining rooms.

Hotels can lead the charge against food waste and surely save themselves raw materials, energy and a lot of money in the process.

The relentless Irish need to roll out industrial amounts of food in hotels and restaurants is something that needs to be looked at. In a week where reports from the Penny Dinners in Cork City spoke of lengthening queues filled with those who have to choose between paying the rent and eating, and where the UN’s main recommendations at Cop28 were curbing meat overconsumption and food waste, eliminating deforestation and capturing carbon in the soil, it feels like we all need to be getting with the programme.

It’s a first-world problem, I know, but as we are only too well aware now that the problems of the first world are becoming everyone else’s problems too, and vice versa, we badly need innovative schemes to counteract this post-famine urge to lay on glutinous amounts of food that all ends in terrible waste.

I’m not sure how hotels can do this, but I’m guessing some more careful and responsible menu planning and honesty with customers would be a start. When you eat in France, you rarely leave a restaurant stuffed to the gills after even a three-course meal – it is all measured carefully to provide just enough for the average diner. I reckon that’s something we could all emulate, both at home and when we’re out.

What a whirlwind

WE’RE not in Kansas anymore when we’re seeing hurricanes tearing slates off roofs and damaging cars and boats in Leitrim, are we lads?

These little mini-tornados seem to be happening more and more, or maybe we are just hearing more about them. Either way, it was another reminder of the challenges ahead and the fact that maybe the weather will start to supersede the news headlines in the years ahead. Gladly, there were no casualties and none of the boats ended up somewhere over the rainbow …

Feels like ‘Haven

SPEAKING of The Wizard Of Oz and fantastical events taking place in dream-like scenarios, I presume ye all saw the Castlehaven heroics over the weekend?

They will be meticulously reported in the sports pages, no doubt, but stories of the ‘Haven have a special place in my heart, being half Castlehaven myself with one side of my family coming from Union Hall.

I followed them more closely in years gone by when an older Cahalane and Maguire were togging out, not to mention a few handy lads they liberated from Kildare, performing heroics on a national stage.

But last weekend’s thriller against Dingle was probably the comeback to beat all comebacks. There’s something in the water over there, and resilience and a togetherness that few other places emulate. May it always be the case. And best of luck to them at the next stage.

Farmer David right on trac’

YOU could be getting completely depressed about the climate reports in the news but there are always so many good news stories of innovation that also give you hope.

The one that caught my eye this week was a report about a Roscommon farmer and inventor called David Doran who has prototyped an AI tractor as an affordable solution for small farmers who wish to embrace innovation. The iTarra machine, which comes from the Irish for tractor, tarracóir, is half the size of a regular tractor and is fitted with an onboard computer as well as cameras that allow it to work fully autonomously. It has the potential to save loads of energy, not to mention making life easier for very hardworking farmers out there. We’ve come a long way from the horse and plough ….