JP backs garden plan

CLONDALKIN-born superstar chef, JP McMahon, is backing a poverty-fighting campaign that puts nutritious vegetables on children’s plates in one of the world’s poorest countries. 

The world-renowned chef and owner of Michelin-star Aniar, as well as other Galway restaurants Cava Bodega and Eat Gastropub, is supporting Kitchen Gardens, a community based initiative run by aid agency Concern Worldwide that tackles child malnutrition in Burundi, Central Africa. 

The restaurateur, author and television personality – who was a winning mentor on RTE’s Taste of Success series – launched the new project for Concern recently.

The 38-year-old married father of two is encouraging people to think of those in greater need in Burundi where 9.2 million people (83 per cent of the population), live in poverty. 

The Failte Ireland ambassador for Irish food believes the Kitchen Gardens project should inspire everyone to grow their own nutritious and healthy food.

Accompanied by his daughters Heather (8) and Martha (4), he said: “Europe has taken so much out of Africa.

“It is our duty as Europeans and Irish people to give something back.

“I think Kitchen Gardens is a genuine and excellent idea because it taps into that connection to growing food that a lot of us never have to think about at all.

“It supports people in great need in growing their own farms for the future, making them more self-sufficient and strengthening their community.

“This project gives us a sense of fulfilment that we are actually helping people to produce their own food because aid can only do so much. 

“It should also inspire us in Ireland and wherever we are in the world to grow our own food.”

He added: “Every home should have, at the very least, a herb garden, even if all you have is an apartment with a window sill or balcony.”

JP is urging people to support Kitchen Gardens on the crowdfunding website Generosity.com where the target is to raise €20,000 to benefit 200 families or over 1,000 individuals.

Concern works with the Burundi government to provide the items needed to assemble the gardens and provides training to members of the community who share their new skills and knowledge with others.