{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcast.worldfoodtravel.org%2Fepisodes%2Fep-84-santina-kennedy-ireland-made-by-makers-QbyFKjU_","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Ep 84. Santina Kennedy - Ireland Made by Makers","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/75bd8cd5-6d0c-4285-8f36-1cd9cbd6c82d/08924ae8-9a9b-449e-a911-ad458ec2c3c8/santina-20kennedy-20-20redo-20-2.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"In this episode, Erik Wolf speaks with Santina Kennedy, an award-winning Irish food consultant, producer champion, and storyteller whose work bridges food history, culture, and contemporary experience design.\n\nSantina shares her unconventional journey from banking to café ownership, and ultimately to a vocation that did not exist when she was young: interpreting Irish food culture through storytelling, events, and strategic collaborations. She reflects candidly on delayed purpose, entrepreneurship without capital, and why genuine hospitality matters more than polish or scale.\n\nThe conversation explores Ireland’s overlooked food narratives - from tenant farmers and kitchen workers to everyday staples like potatoes, butter, and bread - and how these stories can be brought to life through immersive experiences in galleries, estates, and public institutions. Santina also dives deeply into Irish whiskey, explaining how history, resilience, terroir, and innovation are expressed in mash bills, grains, and pairing traditions.\n\nA standout theme is Santina’s advocacy for St. Brigid as Ireland’s original food and hospitality patron, and her work elevating Brigid’s legacy through food, drink, poetry, and craft. The episode concludes with a thoughtful discussion on regional food networks, particularly County Wicklow, and why Ireland must first teach its own people to value their food culture before expecting visitors to understand it.\n\nThis is a rich, reflective conversation about identity, resilience, and the power of food to tell the true story of a place."}