Diversity is the future of food

JP McMahon is the well-respected owner of Michelin Star restaurant, Aniar, and also Cava Bodega and Tartare Café & Wine Bar in Galway. His contemporary and innovative approach to food and his support for local food producers is exemplary. But more than that, his passion and ability to continually move with the times is what sets him apart. 

“For me, diversity is key when thinking about the future of food,” he says. “The future of food is also about connectivity. We have enough food in the world to feed everyone, yet 50 percent is wasted or not utilised, so we need better networks of distribution.”

According to the restaurateur, in business it’s important to continue to look at new ways of doing things. “I follow my own vision of being self-employed,” he says. With Aniar, McMahon is constantly looking at new ways to explore food and that drives him to try to create a better food movement in Ireland.

When asked to what extent he thinks the future of food will be influenced by the past, he says we can learn a lot from the past and use that information to project into the future. “At Aniar, we're very interested in wild food and foraging, and while we can't go back to a time where people only foraged, we can learn from it and bring that into the future.”

McMahon adds: “My work allows me to improve continually, and to modify the ways in which I think about Irish food. Aniar is not a fixed state… it is a continual process that changes along with my own vision. I always want to better myself and learn more, and through Aniar I can do that."

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