Pictured from left: Past Ambassador Sarah Browne, with 2025 Ambassadors, Oisín McMahon, Charles Stefferson, Laura Anna Hand, Kieran Bolger, Shauna Sweeney and past Ambassador, Rebecca Sweeney.
Photo: BIM
A new cohort of five young chefs have been chosen as Irish seafood "ambassadors" for 2025 by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency, in collaboration with Chef Network Ireland.
The chefs, ranging in ages from 18 to 24, each won a place as "Taste the Atlantic Young Chef Ambassadors", an immersive programme aimed at promoting Irish seafood, now in its fifth year.
The programme of activities will see the new Ambassadors become familiar with Ireland's seafood producers based along the Wild Atlantic Way, a 1600-mile (2600 km) route along Ireland's west coast.
According to BIM, which announced the successful chefs via a press release on 28 May, the ambassador programme will feature site visits to oyster and mussel farmers, in addition to learning at first hand about seafood smoking and fishmongering.
The participants will also receive in-person mentoring from the Michelin starred Irish chef, JP McMahon and Master Fishmonger, Hal Dawson, BIM said.
"Through the programme, spread over a four-month period, the five selected chefs will benefit from on-site learning with Taste the Atlantic seafood producers and training in social media, culinary and fish handling skills with experienced industry mentors. Each chef will be teamed up with a Taste the Atlantic producer to learn in-depth about their process and collaborate to create recipes with their product," Chef Network Ireland explains on its website.
The aim of the programme, according to the organisers, "is for the participating chefs to become champions of seafood and food tourism along the Wild Atlantic Way". As part of their participation, the chefs will be collaborating with seafood producers to create social media, videos and other content promoting their products, as well as developing recipes and new seafood dishes.
Applications for the programme were received from across Ireland, and the final five chefs were chosen based on their applications plus an interview process, BIM said.
The Taste the Atlantic Young Chef Ambassador Programme is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, under the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund 2021-2027 (EMFAF).
