Faces of Galway 16/100

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Meet Deirdre from Galway 

Local entrepreneur Deirdre is bringing a local superfood to our daily diets. When I met Deirdre she was dressed for a run. Having ran half marathons and competed in triathlons it is apparent Deirdre takes her fitness seriously and as a nutrionalist she is of course going to pair that with the best possible foods. 

So forget about importing Goji Berries, we all need to be eating locally sourced seaweed. Deirdre is the lady behind the NORI and SMRT products (for more details see here) whose aim is to make sure the food we eat is lower in salt and sugar but higher in nutrients and essential minerals. Seaweed is known worldwide as a superfood as it contains 97 nutrients and is both a prebiotic and a probiotic. Most importantly it is a good source of iodine and this is what initially attracted nutritionalist Deirdre to it in the first place. Having five children of her own she wanted to develop food that would help support the healthy growth of children; seaweed is perfect for this. After working with Dr Stefan Kraan the SMRT bar was developed. Due to the high energy content it has become more of an energy bar then a snack for kids and local adventurer Gavan Hennigan (Faces of Galway 8/100) has been known to eat them in his preparation for his Solo row of the Atlantic. 

With her husband James (described as a forager), Deirdre tries to incorporate all locally sourced food into their menu at their restaurant Mulberrys in Barna. So why don't you head in to this award winning restaurant for a taste of locally sourced foods cooked to perfection.