ON THE ROAD before 7am — by 10am, safely arrived at the National Ploughing Championships, all TheJournal.ie had had to eat was couple of crickets and a dried locust.
Breakfast rolls were also available —as was every variety of food you might expect to find at an Irish field-based festival in 2014… But there was journalism to be done — and sometimes, dammit, that involves chomping down on invertebrates…
This year’s ‘Ploughing’ is taking place at Ratheniska in Co. Laois, not a million miles away from site of the annual the Electric Picnic at Stradbally.
Over 200,000 people are expected over the next three days to check out the action — of which, the ploughing is just a tiny part.
Virtually everyone who’s ever likely to ask for your vote or your business is represented here by now — from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to AIB and Bank of Ireland.
President Michael D and the Garda Commissioner are expected later — but for media types at a loose end as the event opened its doors, there was only one place to head for breakfast — the Rentokil ‘Pestaurant’, offering all manner of dried and candied delights from scorpions to ‘Larval Worm Snax’ (TM).
Apparently the the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation have tipped insects as a potentially valuable source of food for an ever growing global population — at least, that was the official line being trotted out in the press release by the folks at Rentokil.
It’s also great marketing of course — and everyone from RTÉ to Today FM was queueing up to try the Pestaurant fare (expect to see George Lee sampling the delights on today’s Six One.
TheJournal.ie’s verdict?
Not unlike dried cardboard.
You could live on it, at a push.
But there are a lot of venues nearby hawking breakfast rolls and ‘artisan’ chicken wraps — so maybe just swing by the locust tent for an appetizer or two (they’re free).
For more from our politicians – and the fare in the field – follow Daragh Brophy on Twitter @daraghbroph and @TJ_Politics
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