Why Natural Wine?

Aisling Costello, Jan 2022

At Good Day Deli we are committed to supporting production methods that minimise their impact on the environment, and that doesn’t end at the local and organic produce that we use in our dishes. All of the carefully selected wines on our beautiful wine list are natural or certified organic, biodynamic or all of the above.

But what is a natural wine and how does it differ from commercial wines? In short, natural wines are wines created with very low intervention, nothing added and nothing taken away. These wines are at their core, simply fermented grape juice. While natural wines are becoming more and more trendy and artisan it is important to know that this is not a new way of making wine. In fact it is the oldest production method of wine, being given a renaissance by contemporary wine makers who are interested in the history of viticulture and who place the conservation of the soil, vines and integrity of the grapes at the fore. 

Natural wines contain no added acids, sugar, tannins or chemicals and little to no added sulphur. These wines are unfiltered, so the natural yeast and microbes from the fermentation process remain. Natural wine differs greatly in this way from commercial wine, which can contain up to 72 additives - none of which are required to be labelled on the bottle. It is also important to remember that there is no such thing as a sulphate free wine as some sulphites are formed by the natural yeast during fermentation. Of course, this means that natural wines sometimes can taste quite different to the tenner bottle you might grab from the shelf in the supermarket.

Natural wine’s flavour profiles are often pouring with a bright acidity, giving them a fresh and vibrant taste. As our friend and mentor Colm McCann; head sommelier in Ballymaloe house and our point of contact with our amazing supplier Le Caveau would say, with natural wines they really do taste alive! There is usually some individuality between bottles of the same wine and sometimes what some might call “imperfections”, but these differences are truly an expression of nature and should be embraced with a sense of adventure. Natural wines are usually created by one passionate individual and small scale independent growers in close connection with nature, each bottle is like a little love letter from the vineyard to you.

Organic viticulture is a system that is aimed at omitting man made compounds in farming such as synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and genetically modified produce. It focuses on prevention rather than cure - the principles of this type of farming include canopy and soil management. Organic viticulture and biodynamic farming go hand in hand, biodynamics is the idea that what you take from the earth you must put back in some way - a symbiotic relationship between farmer and the land. These two principles of wine making increase biodiversity, soil structure and nutrient content and cultivate stronger microbial activity and root growth. In short the farmer, soil, environment and customer all benefit! 

Our stunning natural wine list has been carefully curated to uphold the beliefs of Good Day Deli and pair beautifully with our winter menu. Having one wine of each colour ensures you that it has been rigorously hand picked by us and makes the choice easy for you! My personal favourite is our red wine; “Out” by Judith Beck, an amazing natural winemaker who follows the principles of biodynamics and organic viticulture closely and cares deeply for the health of the vines. She uses herbal remedies such as growing stinging nettle around the vines to ensure soil health and to ward off pests. Beck’s vineyard is in Burgenland, the most easterly part of Austria on a family estate of 20 hectares. She focuses on the traditional Austrian grape varieties, many of which had fallen out of favour with commercial wine production and breathes new life into them with her dynamic and delicious wines. Out is an amazing blend of 60% Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt grapes and presents a bright and juicy red wine which ends with spiced and savoury notes. A perfect pair with the Big Reuben Burger, Huevos Rancheros or our Te Mata Sharing Board, the bright acidity cutting through and complementing the rich, savoury flavours. 

If you’re looking for something celebratory our beautiful pet nat (Pétillant Naturel, natural sparkling wine) is also by Judith Beck. “Bambule!” dances across the palette. A pet-nat is a fabulous and authentic sparkling wine, with no additives and not pumped with CO2 that gives you the aggressive bubbles of a prosecco. The light and natural bubbles are more akin to something like a kombucha, and the perfect palette cleanser. Each year the grape varieties change in “Bambule!”, this year the blend is 70% Muskat Ottonel (a 19th century crossing produced in the Loire from Chasselas and Muscat de Saumur) and 30% Neuburger. This beautiful fizz is a dry wine with gorgeous herby notes and is perfect with our Hibiscus Poached Pear Pancakes for an special brunch treat, and complements the caramelised apples and whipped Ardsallagh goat’s cheese on our Kia Orana Apple Bruschetta perfectly.

Our specially selected white wine is 100% pinot blanc grapes, hailing from the amazing producers at Domaine de l’Achilée in the renowned wine region of Alsace in eastern France, where the Dietrich family have been farming their land since 1600. In 1999, they converted to entirely organic and biodynamic viticulture. Achilée is the French word for yarrow, which is a plant very useful in biodynamic farming that grows on their vineyard. This beautiful zesty white wine is lively on the palette and exudes bright notes of yellow fruit and white pepper, the perfect match with the delicate flavours of our lightly battered hake in the Kai Moana Fish Tacos. The vibrant acidity of this wine goes beautifully with the creamy labneh and subtle spices of our Winter Fritters.

For something very special and different, why not indulge in a glass of Voria Rosato Pet Nat? This beautiful, cloudy rose coloured pet nat is made from the little known Perricone grape on the Porta del Vento vineyard, overseen by Marco Sferlazzo in Camporeale, Sicily who follows a non-interventionist approach at the winery. This lively pet nat is refreshing and delicious with notes of strawberry, raspberry and grapefruit with a citrusy kick. This beautiful wine gets its hazy appearance from being unfiltered, giving it its unique and exciting character. A vibrant wine, it’s beautifully paired with rich flavours such as the delicious GDD Smoked Beetroot Benny. 

Last but certainly not least, we have an interesting red wine which illustrates the innovation, comradery and cooperativeness of the natural wine community. The Big Bunch Theory Fresh Impression Rouge is a blend of grapes that producer Patrice Béguet sourced from biodynamic viticulturists after much of his own harvest was ravaged with frost right before the harvest. The Fresh Impression rouge consists of 60 % Grenache Noir from Claude Ughetto (Provence) - 30% Gamay from Domaine Landron Chartier (Loire-Atlantique) and 10% Ploussard, from Patrice's vineyards. Lively notes of red berry and cherry with a smokey characteristic and mineral edges match beautifully with the GDD Buddha Bowl.

So why drink natural wine? Because it’s bringing wine making back to basics, embracing the rich history of viticulture and preserving the integrity of the grape, the soil and the passion of these winemakers. And happily, because of their low sugar and sulphite content, natural wines can actually be less harsh on the body (i.e: less of a hangover if you overindulge!). Don’t be afraid of the sediment, it’s an integral part of natural wine and it will put hairs on your chest. Once you go natural, you never go back!

Please Wait To Be Seated | How good is your coffee?

What’s the difference between Speciality Coffee vs Commercial Coffee?

At Good Day Deli we are coffee fanatics and we know that our customers are too, travelling from far and wide for the perfect flat white made with fresh, aromatic West Cork Coffee. The coffee business is booming and has never seen such a demand before. At GDD we only use speciality coffee,  which is coffee that has been graded and tested by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCA). 

Commercial grade coffee has fewer quality checks and it is often a blend of different coffees and origins. Speciality coffee offers far more choice and information about the coffee being used, one can carefully select their coffee based on the process, the region and the roast. Speciality coffee is traceable through each process back to the farm it came from and therefore is usually far more sustainable. Although commercial coffee is cheaper than speciality, this is because with speciality coffee you are paying for great taste and quality, hard work and living wages of the producers. Furthermore, the individual and depth of flavour of speciality coffee is unbeatable. 

Our Supplier, West Cork Coffee

At the moment we have a beautiful Ethiopian coffee from Mustefa Abakeno on the Beshadu farm in Western Ethiopia, roasted by Tony in West Cork Coffee. This is an organic, washed coffee with bright and vibrant acidity and notes of grapefruit, orange, caramelised brown sugar and tamarind spice. It is truly delicious and I have to try and hold back from having several cups a day!

Environmental Impact of Commercial Grade Coffee

Unfortunately, while we are all getting our buzz on from a delicious cup of joe, the massive demand for commercial grade coffee has damaged our environment to a huge degree. Understanding the relationship between the environment, communities and coffee plants are essential to make thoughtful and considerate choices for your morning fuel and the world we live in.

 Coffee beans are the seeds inside the cherries on the cofea plant and these marvellous evergreen trees are native to tropical countries - the home of the last remaining tropical rainforests. Coffee is a $10 billion industry and is this area’s second largest export commodity after palm oil. With surging demand, the practices used to cultivate these plants at a large scale are detrimental to these precious ecosystems and the local communities who rely on them for survival. Due to this massive market, farmers have no choice but to cut through the delicate rainforests to plant more coffee trees and increase their yield. The chemical buildup and loss of shade in the rainforest creates detrimental ecological effects such as soil erosion and chemical fertiliser run-off; polluting land and water, resulting in barren land and the death of much forest and aquatic life. Furthermore, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, each cup of high-yield commercial coffee requires 140 litres of water to produce. 

Mass production of coffee is not only severely damaging to our ecosystem but also to the communities in the countries where this coffee is produced. According to conservation.org, 120 million people rely on coffee for their livelihoods. Exploitation of these local farmers and communities is rampant to keep the prices of coffee “low”, thus ensuing in desperation to produce more coffee to try to earn a profit. This manifests itself in further deforestation, child labour and exploitation and the use of low-quality cheap pesticides which are harmful to the ecosystem. The demand for coffee continues to grow, importantly in countries like China and India which historically would favour tea. The destruction of the rainforests releases carbon into the environment, directly and heavily contributing to climate change, which in turn makes the conditions in these coffee growing countries more adverse. 

Luckily, as the market for coffee surges, so does the human interest in protecting these ecosystems and their inhabitants and the focus on sustainable coffee production has increased tenfold and revolutionised the industry. You can wipe your tears away knowing that ethical and sustainable coffee production is not only possible, but it’s booming! At Good Day Deli, our focus with coffee is that it’s fairtrade, delicious, sustainable and actively improving the lives of the dedicated farmers and communities who grow it.

Our supplier, West Cork Coffee, ticks all of these boxes. They are dedicated to working with the WCR (World Coffee Research Organisation) and donate a % of the costs of the beans to sustaining the coffee supply chain and to enrich the livelihoods of the producers and also works often with women only producers. The beautiful speciality coffee is roasted to perfection by Tony at his roastery in Inishannon, West Cork and delivered to us fresh each week. As mentioned earlier, we currently have a stunning, bright washed Ethiopian coffee on the bar at the moment. Mustefa Abakeno owns 18 hectares of land and a wet mill near Agaro in the Jimma area of West Ethiopia. A lack of water in the area has informed Abakeno’s processes at the farm, allowing the cherries to ferment only for a short time and then moving them to a drying bed - innovation in the face of adversity! At the Beshadu farm, Mustefa also processes coffee from his neighbours’ farms and has recently registered as an exporter so he can sell directly to buyers!

As with most issues that arise around sustainability, the prospect of what your single cup of coffee can be contributing to is extremely daunting. To put your mind at ease, choose fairtrade coffee from a trusted speciality producer like West Cork Coffee so you can be sure that sustainable practices are in place and the quality of life for the producers is at the fore. See you soon for a guilt-free latte!

Please Wait to be Seated | Giving Veganism A Go

Good Day Deli is a Sustainable Foods Deli serving a mix of local, seasonal, organic and fair trade foods with a commitment to sustainability throughout our food chain. We believe that good food choices are a tangible way to take responsibility for the environment and drive demand for sustainable food systems.

We are mainly a vegetarian cafe and about 50% of our dishes are or can be made vegan. As a vegetarian of 10 years, I (Clare) really admire those who are vegan. For anyone considering the switch, it’s important not to feel that it is an all or nothing approach - small but sure changes to our food choices can have big benefits for the environment. 

Aisling has been a vegan for just under 2 years and here is her experience - “Becoming vegan can seem a little bit scary or unfeasible for some people. People often tell me they could never give up cheese or ice cream or chicken nuggets after a night out. I always thought the same way and that an insatiable craving for cheese would cause the inevitable failure of any attempt to go vegan. So I gave a couple of unenthused attempts at veganism and would consistently return two or three days later with my tail between my legs and a block of parmesan in hand - my valiant attempt to save the world completely ruined and unsalvageable.

For me the key to success was to eliminate the all-or-nothing mindset mentioned earlier. I stopped trying to become a militant vegan overnight and (mostly for fear of said militant vegans catching me in a ‘lie’) dubbed myself “as plant based as possible”. I phased things out gradually starting with having oat milk in a coffee instead of cow milk, this naturally lead to me slowly ending my long term relationship with cheese. The thing to remember is reducing your intake at all is helping in the long term and it’s ok to eat cheese 2 out of 10 times when you would usually have had it 10 out of 10 times. There is no omnipotent, omnipresent vegan deity smiting those who dare eat an egg once a week.

I personally feel so much healthier in myself since going vegan, and it’s possible at any age (I am a huge fan of Pádraig Howley on Instagram who is documenting his vegan journey!). Vegan meat substitutes can be great to get started on your journey or for a bit of comfort food, but they’re highly processed and vegetables are actually far more versatile! The hardest thing is to just get started and once you do you’ll realise how much fun it is to cook vegan food, as you really have to engage with the flavours and taste as you go - it really leads to mindful cooking and I promise it is possible to forget what cheese tastes like” 

There is a wide range of research to demonstrate that animal based foods are more resource intensive than plant based foods in terms of land use, water use and GHG emissions. Cutting out meat has huge benefits for the environment, but it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook in terms of the “foodprint” of your food. Lifecycle assessments assess environmental impacts across the whole supply chain, analysing water use, energy use etc. at production, processing, packaging, transport, storage and waste management. A study on the UK vegetable market found that the impacts of fresh vegetables that are air freighted are five times higher than vegetables produced domestically. However, in some cases it is better to import vegetables as opposed to growing them domestically in intensive heated greenhouses, even when transport is considered. Food systems are complex, you can only make the best decision based on the information available to you, and that’s a super way to start.

Our recommendation on how to ensure that plant-based or any food choices are sustainable is to “Think Thrice for Sustainability” by asking yourself the following questions.

1. How is my food produced?

   1. Protect Nature: By choosing organic, it means that the producer is protecting our land, biodiversity, soils and waterways on our behalf for now and for future generations. Where possible, choose local growers who focus on regenerating soils by avoiding chemical fertilisers and pesticides, using natural inputs instead. This also improves water quality in our rivers and estuaries.

   2. Choose Value: Cheap food can cause climate change, biodiversity loss, soil and water degradation. Sustainable food has environmental, economic and social benefits that are sometimes reflected in slightly higher prices, i.e. the true cost of food. Choose value over price when you can to protect natural resources and livelihoods. Loss leading strategies by large supermarkets can compromise the prices producers receive for their products and make it harder for smaller growers to compete.

   3. Choose Whole Foods: It’s tempting to default to highly processed plant based meat substitutes which are tasty. However, these aren’t always better for you or the environment. Our chefs take time and energy to hand make our vegan burgers and fritters from scratch starting with raw ingredients such as organic lentils and seasonal vegetables with no additives or preservatives. 

Is my food local or imported?

1. Buy Local and Seasonal: Choose local, seasonal food when you can. You’ll support a local food system with low food miles, low emissions, appropriate land use and a local economy supporting communities and creating jobs. Do you need sweet potato fries from the US, or would hand cut potato fries from Ireland do the trick?

2. Check Your Foodprint: Think about where your food comes from, who grew it, how it was grown and the natural resources used for the food to travel to your plate. At Good Day Deli, we have never served avocados. Demand from the Western world means that production of avocados has resulted in deforestation and water use issues affecting communities in countries such as Mexico. Avocado emissions are 5 times more than a banana, but are still lower than meat. If you can’t give up avocados (let’s face it, they are delicious), make sure to look for fair trade, organic avocados to make sure you’re supporting the local communities, and don’t let them go to waste!

3. Question Supply Chains: Ask, research, educate yourself. If imported, choose organic and fair trade when possible, so communities and the land where the food is grown is protected.

How is my food packaged and stored?

1. Think Reusable: Avoid plastic when possible and choose no packaging or reusable options such as glass and tote bags. But, make sure to reuse to make your decision worthwhile or at a minimum recycle. Glass is infinitely recyclable and an example of circular resource. Ireland has good infrastructure for recycling glass which saves a lot of carbon dioxide and other natural resources rather than making it from scratch.

2. Compost Correctly: Compostable containers are only compostable if put in a brown bin. Otherwise, they are pretty much like using a single use container and can contaminate a recycling bin. Compostable is better than plastic, but it’s only a good choice if you dispose of it correctly.

3. Waste Not: At Good Day Deli we are aiming towards zero waste and always looking at ways to improve our systems. We have almost eliminated cling film by using air tight containers for storage. In terms of prep waste, we look at ways to reuse clippings with fermentation or pickling. Our hibiscus soda is made using the syrup from our poached pears, which would otherwise be wasted. Egg whites are used for roulades, carrot clippings are used in our carrot cake and tomato off cuts are used for our in house ketchup. How you store your food prolongs life, limits food waste and allows you to get creative! 

Although consumers show care for the environment there is still a gap between concern and action due to price, lack of knowledge and limited availability. Having these 3 simple questions on your mind when you shop will help you make choices that are better for you and the environment.

Please Wait to Be Seated | GDD's Snippets on Sustainability

In the run up to March 2020 we had so much planned to make 2020 the year where we shared and discussed all things on sustainability that reached our customers in interesting and digestable ways! Tribituaries with Ray Foley was just kicking off with a super line up of conversations on nature, Patrick had started his podcast “Please Wait To Be Seated” with plans to interview everyone from our suppliers, to our guests and we were brainstorming ideas on how we could make “sustainability” more tangible in how people experience Good Day Deli day to day during service!

So much has changed since then. But, we can’t wait any longer for lockdown to end because who knows when that will be. So, Aisling, who you all know as an amazing front of house team member in Good Day Deli, has started a blog sharing snippets on sustainabilty. Aisling, hailing from Kilkenny, but now firmly rooted in Cork, is super interested in sustainability which she loves being able to explore in Good Day Deli. For the next few weeks, Aisling will be writing a short blog post each week covering anything from Sustainable Fishing to Veganism. This week, Aisling is kicking things off with a blog post on the topic of Production and Consumption, one of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Hope you all enjoy!

PRODUCTION + CONSUMPTION

Good Day Deli’s ethos has always been to make good food choices for ourselves and for the environment, to make food choices that nourish our bodies while positively impacting our habitat. This mindset is prioritised in all aspects of Good Day Deli and imbibed throughout the restaurant in all aspects of production and service. Sustainability as an ethos requires effort, commitment and patience, something the team at Good Day Deli are no stranger to! Beginning a journey with sustainability does not mean you need to immediately go home and purge your home of all plastic and reinvent yourself as a zero-waste household by tomorrow. The simplest way of trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle is to begin with your choices in food, making conscious choices about where your food comes from and how it was produced.

In 2015 the UN released its 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, it is an agenda adopted by the United Nations to ultimately promote peace and prosperity for the world and unsurprisingly, food consumption and production are heavily featured. While Good Day Deli can’t be a frontrunner in terms of all of the goals, we continue to do what we do best, promote good food choices with our delicious menu and ingredients, aim to drive demand for sustainable food and spread the word!

The UN’s 12th Goal for Sustainable Development is to “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”. To us, this means using produce that is grown locally, organically, seasonally and ethically produced as much as possible as well as using these resources efficiently and limiting waste. Locality and provenance ensure GDD’s food is as fresh as it can be by shortening the supply chain and cutting out air-miles as much as possible. Furthermore, this strategy promotes local suppliers who are celebrated in every dish.

Long-term trade relationships and friendships are formed with our suppliers, some of whom we’ve worked with since opening in Dec 2017. For example, Colm from Horizon Farm in Kinsale provides us with the best quality leafy greens for our dishes. He has been using natural methods to farm for over 10 years and dedicate 10% of their farm to biodiversity, feeding and sheltering pollinators; bees, insects and birds. Richard’s Farm is a certified organic farm based in Mallow and supplies us with an abundance of both Irish and imported organic fruit and veg. Other local suppliers include Meallagulla Orchard who supply our delicious apple juice and apple cider vinegar fresh from their luscious orchard 25 minutes away in Ovens, Hayley Power who hand blends our beautiful organic loose leaf teas in Cork, and fresh fish caught off the coast of Cork by Ballycotton Seafood in the English Market.

While we are lucky that Ireland is a bountiful country in terms of our produce, it is lamentable that we don’t have the weather to grow the coffee beans we are so passionate about in Good Day Deli. Luckily Tony from West Cork Coffee does that bit of the work for us; sourcing organic and ethical coffee beans from all over the world that hold the wellbeing of the farmer, the land and the community at the fore, roasting them to perfection and hand delivering them to Good Day Deli, where he will usually stay for a coffee and a chat with the team.

If we don’t have the weather for coffee, that means unfortunately grape vines for a GDD brand wine aren’t exactly feasible. Fortunately we work closely with the team at Le Caveau Wine Merchants to choose the perfect organic, biodynamic wines to pair with each of our delicious dishes. While these products are not local, we seek out only the best and most sustainable produce from the countries where they out-source, thus not only promoting the message of sustainability at home, but driving the demand in other countries too. 

By working suppliers that are smaller, eco-conscious producers and located close to us, not only are we ensuring that our environmental impact is lower, but these close friendships give space for collaboration and innovation with our suppliers and therefore we provide the best food and experience we can for you! 

Tributaries | Our Waterways

For a long time we have taken our waterways for granted.

We both care about waterways for cultural, biodiversity, aesthetic and recreational values as well as depend on waterways for household, industrial and agricultural uses. How can we protect them now and into the future?

In recent years there has been significant progress in raising awareness and tackling sources of pollution.

However with a rising population, increasing agricultural output and aging infrastructure are we making a difference?

Come along next Wednesday to our first session of the Tribituray Nature Talk Series and hear from Ray O’ Foghlu and three experts in the area.

Kevin Motherway | Executive Scientists, Cork City Council

Lucy Taylor | Ecologist + Author Ireland’s Seashore

Catherine Seale | Water + Community Officer

These talks are free with 50 places on a first come basis. The talks will be held in Good Day Deli Garden Cafe, Cork City. Please access by coming to the Douglas Street entrance of Nano Nagle Place from 5.45pm where you will be guided to the cafe.

Coffee + cake will be available for purchase between 5.45pm and 6.15pm. The talks begin at 6.15pm and finish at 7.30pm. Parking is available in and around Evergreen Street - there is no on site parking available for these talks.

We look forward to seeing you here!

#tributaries #naturetalks #education #gooddaydeli #nanonagleplace

Last Minute Sustainable Gift Scramble

If you are like us, and looking to make better gift choices this Christmas, we have a little retail shelf full of gorgeous gifts ideas for the conscious consumer in your life!

From local honey to bee wax food wraps, Irish wood coasters and Irish linen napkins, we showcase some of the best local, sustainable producers and craftspeople in Ireland today!

Check out our 15 Sustainable Gift Ideas, that are all available here in Good Day Deli!

Support local minimal waste + low environmental impact producers!

A voucher for Good Day Deli can be used to buy all of the gifts listed, as well as a tasty treat for your foodie friend.

Guests love our bespoke pottery by Cork ceramicist Luke Sisk. We stock his 6oz and 8oz cups, as well as jugs and sugar bowls that can be combined for a perfect gift.

We have served West Cork Coffee since we opened in Dec 2017. Tony sources organic coffee on our behalf and works with our team to ensure that it will suit the palettes of our guests in Good Day Deli. We always have a selection of retail bags here for our guests to take home.

We also stock home brewing equipment such as V60s, Aeropress and Clever Drippers!

We love the design of the Frank Green reusable coffee cups - minimalist, cool colours and a nifty for your bag with a no spill top. We stock the 8oz cups as well as their reusable water bottle!

Hayley Power is local herbalist who has created a hand blended organic tea especially for Good Day Deli. This fragrant tea is full of holistic benefits and is a warm hug with flavours of apple, lemongrass and chamomile. We stock resuable jars of the Good Day Deli blend, which we will refill for you when you run dry!

Plastics need to go, especially single use cling film. Milbee beeswax food wraps are a perfect solution, and they are made in Ireland!

Chopping boards are perfect gift, and can be bought in many places. But be aware that often the wood is not Irish and potentially not from a sustainably managed forestry. Mark Donnelly and Sara Leslie have hand made these incredible chopping boards and coasters with Ash and Oak trees from Cork. These carefully designed pieces are a rare treat with a real story.

We use Hivemind Honey on our Hibiscus Poached Pear Pancakes and the flavour is incomparable to any other honey we’ve tasted to date! They are Irish beekeepers, based in Myrtleville, and are passionate about responsibly harvested, local honey. 

Steph from Punch and Fable has one of the best colour palettes in the country, and we get to wear these uniquely colourful earings everyday to uplift our spirits. We stock a wide range of colours and sizes which are hand made in small batches by Steph, a local Cork girl!

Enrich and Endure’s Irish Linen aprons have been a part of Good Day Deli’s identity since the very beginning. Bring your A-Game to Christmas dinner with these colourful linen napkins that are handmade here in Ireland.

Challenges to our biodiversity are everywhere. We need more native flowers and native trees!

This pack of 20 seed bombs contains Irish native seeds that can be strewn across your garden to create a colourful explosion of Irish wildflowers!

Our lovely neighbour Sean in Badly Made Books creates these beautiful notebooks and planners working with local artists and using recycled paper. These are a super little stocking filler to kick start a sustainable 2020!

A shameless plug for my sister’s personalised book company Writing For Tiny. These bespoke books for Children are all about communicating changes, worries and milestones to the smallies in your life and can only be purchased and personalised online at www.writingfortiny.com. These hardback books are keepsakes to be treasured.

Last but not least, local screen print artist Emma O’ Hara is currently exhibiting “Heat” in Good Day Deli, to draw awareness to climate change. Emma’s screen prints are hand made here in Cork in Cork Printmakers and all pieces currently in Good Day Deli are for sale, with 100% of payment going directly to Emma.

Happy Christmas Everyone! Here’s to a sustainable 2020, with a commitment to protecting the environment now and for our future generations!

Changing Futures | Tues 26 March

Can we imagine a better, sustainable future?

In the last night of our current “Nature Talks” series, we ask local thought leaders who are exploring new pathways through their work and lifestyles. What are their objectives, ethos, opportunities and challenges? And what can we do to get involved and apply lessons learned to our own lives?

Hear about the Future of Sustainable:

Cities – Kevin Burke, Transport Planner

Universities/ Organisations – Maria Kirrane (UCC Green Campus)

Markets/Shopping – Jack Crotty (Neighbour Food + Rocketman)

Urban Community Growing – Emma Looney (St Stephen’s Sustainable Food Lab)

These talks are free with 50 places on a first come basis. The talks will be held in Good Day Deli Garden Cafe, Cork City. Please access by coming to the Evergreen Street entrance of Nano Nagle Place from 6.30pm where you will be guided to the cafe.

Coffee + cake will be available for purchase between 6.30pm and 7pm before the talks begin. Parking is available in and around Evergreen Street - there is no on site parking available for these talks.

See you there!

Sustainable Food | Tues 19 March

Sustainable food systems meet current demand for food with production methods and supply chains which are carefully managed in order to also meet the demand and values of future generations.

The aim of sustainable food is to provide for the wellbeing of all, with respect for livelihoods, health, the economy, the environment and animal welfare.

Join this discussion on what Sustainable Food means in the Irish context and how to incorporate the ethos of sustainability into everyday decisions.

These talks are free with 50 places on a first come basis. The talks will be held in Good Day Deli Garden Cafe, Cork City. Please access by coming to the Evergreen Street entrance of Nano Nagle Place from 6.30pm where you will be guided to the cafe.

Coffee + cake will be available for purchase between 6.30pm and 7pm before the talks begin. Parking is available in and around Evergreen Street - there is no on site parking available for these talks.

See you there!