119,000 attend Bloom
Bord Bia also welcomed a delegation of chefs and media from Hong Kong to experience the varied food offering at the event. The chefs are recent finalists in an EU-funded culinary competition which challenged Hong Kong chefs to design a two-course beef and lamb menu, fusing Eastern and Western flavours.
They were joined by a high-profile Chinese social media influencer, Lingluo, who relayed her experience at Bloom and in Ireland to her 1.8 million followers.
Earlier this year, over six million Chinese consumers tuned in to watch her interview the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed and Bord Bia’s Chief Executive Tara McCarthy. Following their day at Bloom, they enjoyed a trip around Ireland taking in locations such as West Cork and visiting farms and factories to see the quality of Irish food production first-hand.
This follows a recent week-long trade mission to China and Hong Kong led by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Bord Bia.
“This is a great opportunity to continue to raise the profile of Ireland as a source of quality food and beverages as we look to expand the range of exports into China and Hong Kong,” said Tara McCarthy, “Following other promotional activity in these markets, we want to highlight the credentials of Ireland’s food and drink sector from a food safety, sustainability and authenticity perspective in order to develop a unique selling point for Irish product.
“China is now Ireland’s third-largest market overall while Hong Kong is one of the most exciting places in the world for cuisine right now which is a great fit for Irish food and drink and we think there’s a real opportunity for us to contribute to that developing food culture.”
After taking seven weeks to build, it will take 14 days to clear the Bloom site and according to Bord Bia, plans and preparations are already well underway for Bloom 2019, with many show gardens, sponsors and designers already signed-up. Bord Bia has also confirmed that Bloom will take place from Thursday, May 30th to Monday, June 3rd 2019.
