West Cork food culture is in Karen Coakley’s DNA. Born and raised in Bantry, her life is steeped in the rugged beauty of the Beara Peninsula and the people who pioneered today’s modern Irish cuisine.
A love of great Irish produce and the renaissance of the Irish restaurant scene inspired Karen to document her life and recipes through Kenmare Foodie.
Since 2018, she has branched out into Kenmare’s gourmet tours, where guests can try their hand at making baguettes at Maison Gourmet, sample beautiful handmade cheeses, enjoy guided wine tastings with sommeliers, and more. I did.
In 2022, Karen’s tour, which made a comeback after the difficult times of the coronavirus pandemic, was selected as one of the top 10 gourmet tours in Europe. For the upcoming summer season, she’s growing in confidence with the launch of her new tour in Killarney and private tours around her beloved Beara Peninsula.
I caught up with Karen to learn about her journey from stay-at-home mom to TV personality, tour guide, and business owner.
“I moved to Kenmare from Bantry in 2000. [husband] Vincent and his two boys, Karen and Aodan. Then, in 2007, we had twin boys, Rory and Connor, and I was a stay-at-home mom,” Karen says.
I dedicated my life to cooking for my family, ensuring they had access to the best ingredients and home-cooked meals every day. I used to work part-time at a restaurant, but I’ve always had a passion for food.
Growing up in West Cork, the variety and abundance of produce was second nature to me and I have always had a love for it. It’s in her blood.
“Growing up in West Cork, you have food coursing through your veins. But it wasn’t until I retired that I realized how much of an effect it had on me. We were looking for local produce, and in 2000 Kenmare had great restaurants, but there wasn’t as much produce as there is now.”
Karen Coakley conducts one of the tours.
Karen, who grew up in Bantry, worked part-time as a checkout at Supervalu. She remembers Jefa Gil handing her things like duras cheese and gabine chorizo at the register that he made right in front of her.
“When you grow up feeling it, it becomes part of who you are. I was incredibly inspired by the women in West Cork who were making amazing things with milk,” Karen says.
“I remember going to Manning’s Emporium in Ballylicki when I was about 18 and he had a really nice loaf of bread there. I asked him what it was and he said it was sourdough. It was 1990. West Cork already had food like this and the region was leading the way. It made me who I am.
“Ireland is a great place right now in that local produce is available everywhere and it’s really great to see that.”
In 2012 Karen started attending the Kenmare Food Festival.
“That led me into the world of social media, where I chatted with everyone in the gastronomic world: chefs, producers, journalists.”
From there, she launched Kenmare Foodie. Initially it was a recipe blog and a way to share her life in Kenmare with Vincent, her four sons and her family pets.
Five years later, Karen appeared regularly on RTÉ’s Today Show, creating her own recipes and further spreading the message about West Cork and Kerry produce.
However, this gourmet tour started completely by chance.
I’ve always wanted to do something with food tourism. [food tours] That was easy. I had several conversations with friends and they said that since I have a passion for food and Kenmare, I should definitely consider a gourmet tour.
The tour started as a must-do for Karen on Wednesday. She said, “I want to get out of the house and away from my kids. I can get away from the kitchen sink and make a little money and share a little bit of my passion.”
From that sliver of an idea, Karen worked diligently over the years to develop the food tourism side of her business, which now forms the basis of her brand. People visit Kerry from all over Ireland, the UK and the US, especially to meet Karen, take tours and experience the Ireland she portrays through her social channels.
Karen Coakley’s photo from her tour.
“Kenmare Foodie just started as a scrapbook for me. It was the beginning of me trying to find a space and an identity for myself outside of just being a mom and someone who started the fire and made dinner. “I did,” she explains.
While Kenmare food tours remain her main product, Karen has also worked closely with Forte Ireland as part of the West Cork and Kenmare Destination and Experience Development Plan (DEDP) working group. Ta. And the work is starting to pay off. Private Her tours on the Kerry side of the Beara Peninsula cater primarily to the market of American tourists taking the holiday of a lifetime in Ireland. Recognizing that Killarney was ripe for Gourmet Her tours, Karen launched a new twice-weekly Gourmet Her tour this year. There.
“I’ve always loved Killarney,” she says. “When I was a kid we always used to come to Killarney in our caravan on holidays. I love it here and it’s the place with the highest number of tourists per capita in Ireland outside of Dublin. Especially with Covid-19. A lot has happened with food since the pandemic and Killarney has undergone a huge transformation and is really leading the way for Ireland in its sustainability charter.”
However, Karen still enjoys a following from people who book her on tour because of her social media presence.
“When I held the tour in Kenmare for the first time on Wednesday, I noticed that people were coming from Macroom, Cork and Killarney who were following me on Instagram. “He made a recipe for me and wanted to meet me and cook for me.” Tour with me.”
I have followers in the US and UK who book food tours because they follow me on social media. I often think that’s silly, but it’s great!
“I also build personal cooking cases,” Karen says. “Recently, I received a booking request from an American family staying in Kenmare to give a cooking demonstration in their rented house. But before I could begin, they gathered around me and their mother told me She gave me a drawing from one of my favorite photos of her swimming in the ocean. It turned out they were believers. She spent months drawing it to give to me. I cried my eyes out! In America, I couldn’t imagine someone doing that for you and booking you a meal. Her husband made us a nice cheese board. Now we’re friends on Facebook!”
Karen chatting with tourists.
Karen says that what people want from food tourism has changed significantly since the coronavirus outbreak.
“Food tourism is entering a new era,” she says. “People want immersive experiences, they want unique experiences, and they want authenticity. Younger generations are sustainability-minded and very concerned about their food and where it comes from. All of this shows what I am about and what my tour is about.”
Since starting Kenmare Foodies, Karen’s sons have grown. Karen is in her 30s, Aodan is in her 26s, and Connor and Rory are now 16s. But home life hasn’t changed much, Karen says.
“The only thing that was different for them was that I didn’t cook much last summer, which was a big shock.
There was a time when I was always cooking, but now I just can’t do everything. You can’t just make money and keep cooking dinner.
“I’m still very close with them and they go home regularly. For a year and a half during the pandemic, they’ve all been at home. It’s been a challenge for them, especially the two older ones. It was tough for them because they had to leave their old lives behind and move back home. But it was also good because they had time to figure out what they wanted to do. ”
Ahead of the new touring season, Karen has unveiled a new look website. This is Kenmare Foodie’s one-stop shop for everything from food tours and private cooking classes to her recipe collection. This project was fully funded through the Digital That Delivers program with Fáilte Ireland.
“We are excited about our new website,” says Karen. “I would tell anyone involved in food tourism to work with Fáilte Ireland. Without the support they gave me I wouldn’t be here now.”
Karen has built a successful business and well-known brand out of nothing but a desire to share a common passion for food and family life and learn as she goes, all while juggling a busy family life.
There’s never a right time to start a new chapter, try something new, or invest in yourself. But if it’s something you really want to do, Karen says, the only obstacle to achieving it is yourself.
“When the idea of doing a food tour came up, I had it in my head for a long time. I kept saying it was a crazy idea. No one would ever go on a gourmet tour, How can I make it work?
If something is spinning around in your head, it may turn negative and you may end up walking away from it.
“But one day I went for coffee at Maison Gourmet, a bakery that was part of a food tour in Kenmare. [the proprietor] Emma. When I told her I was thinking of starting a foodie tour, she immediately said that was a great idea and that we should take the group to a bakery and make baguettes.
“Once Emma said that, I realized it might not be such a bad idea and I took it from there.
“If you work with people who believe in you and it doesn’t feel right, it’s not for you. You have to feel satisfied with what you’re doing.”
